Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley took part in a forum in Washington D-C today on the “First 100 Days of President Bush’s Administration.” Grassley, a republican, praised Bush for keeping his campaign promises to introduce legislation on education reform and prescription drugs. Grassley says Bush “has made tax relief the cornerstone of his agenda.”Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a democrat, has criticized the Bush tax proposal for doing too much to help the wealthy. Harkin claims it would offer 40-percent of the tax breaks to the top one-percent of income earners. Grassley says he doesn’t want to “play around with numbers,” but knows the plan will help everyone.Grassley says his guiding principles are tax fairness and simplification. He says he’ll zero in on eliminating the so-called marriage penalty, reducing estate taxes and reducing marginal rates. He says American taxpayers are already doing more than their share.Grassley says with the projected surplus of five-point-six trillion dollars, including two-point-five trillion set aside for Social Security, there’s three-point-one trillion available for tax relief.
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