The nation’s democratic governors, including Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, are attacking Republican President George Bush’s economic policies. Vilsack and the other democratic Governors are meeting this week in Chicago. Vilsack says nearly nine million Americans are unemployed. Vilsack says there’s been a 57 percent increase in the unemployment rate since January of 2001 — when Bush took office. Vilsack says it appears as if the unemployment is chronic, since over two million of those who are unemployed have been jobless for over six months. Vilsack says the tax cut Bush has pressed through Congress aren’t the answer. Vilsack says “President Bush’s reliance on tax cuts is somewhat akin to giving Sammy Sosa a whiffle ball bat and asking him to hit a Roger Clemons fastball.” Vilsack says the tax cut “looks like it’s going to work, but it’s not.” Vilsack says the federal government should increase highway spending, and make other infrastructure investments as a means of creating construction jobs. Vilsack says it’s not about tax cuts for the wealthy, but about putting people to work. Vilsack and the other Governors also say they are growing more concerned about the ballooning federal budget deficit. New figures released today predict the federal budget deficit will reach 455-billion dollars — a 50 percent increase from the estimate made in February.