Grassley asks President for help on tax bill

A frustrated Senator Chuck Grassley today called on President Bush to do more to help persuade Congress to pass a far-ranging tax bill. The measure includes an extension of the tax break for ethanol fuel and it closes some corporate tax loopholes. “It’s going to happen with or without the president’s help, but it seems to me like the president will want to be manning an oar instead of riding along as a free rider,” Grassley says. Grassley is the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, the panel that writes tax law. But Grassley’s ire over the bill isn’t just directed at President Bush. Grassley says democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and his runningmate John Edwards both say on the campaign trail they support the provisions in the bill. Grassley says “they ought to come back and cast their vote for ’em.” Kerry and Edwards are both members of the U.S. Senate. Grassley says democrats may not want the bill to pass the Senate because then the republican President would be able to sign a bill that includes energy and job-creation plans.