Reid, Ensign split over support for Bush plans

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 | 8:59 a.m.

Nevada Sens. John Ensign and Harry Reid issued sharply contrasting assessments of President Bush's performance to date, with the Republican Ensign giving a thumbs up and the Democrat Reid expressing disappointment.

In separate meetings Monday with the Las Vegas Sun's editorial board, freshman Ensign and Reid, the Senate minority whip, also disagreed on proposed federal tax cuts and on whether there should be a federal cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.

Ensign said the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have gone "a long way toward proving the character of George Bush."

"Since he's been in office I've been much more impressed with him because he truly stands for what he believes," Ensign said. "While you might disagree with him, I respect that. He's a real good listener."

Reid, though, said that the president's performance has been a "disaster" on the domestic front, with a $7.2 trillion budget surplus when he took office turned into a deficit the senator expects will exceed $500 billion this year. He also said that although the United States' military effort in Iraq was sound, the Bush administration has been a disappointment on the diplomatic front, particularly in Europe.

"Secretary of State (James) Baker went to Europe 10 or 12 times before the last Gulf War," Reid said. "Secretary of State (Colin) Powell went once."

With President Bush proposing at least $550 billion in federal tax cuts over the next 10 years, Ensign said he believes it would take at least $500 billion in cuts along with a slower pace of government spending to help the economy.

But Ensign said he also believes the economy is already sound.

"It just needs a little boost," he said. "A lot of it is psychological. The stock market anymore is based on emotion. Right now, the emotion is keeping it from recovering as much as it should."

Reid said he, too, favored tax cuts but no more than $175 million. And he said those cuts should benefit primarily the middle class through such means as addressing the marriage penalty and child deductions. Reid said he was told by Warren Buffet that the billionaire investor would make $390 million if the Bush tax cut plan was approved.

"He said, 'What should I do with $390 million' and I told him to give 390,000 people $1,000 apiece," Reid said.

"Giving tax cuts to the Warren Buffets of the world would not stimulate the economy."

Ensign is the sponsor of a bill that would allow individuals to take a tax deduction from income based on the Social Security taxes they pay. He said he wants to eliminate double taxation, terming such taxation "stupid." Ensign said he favors a tax cut on dividends, saying it would be particularly helpful to small businesses.

The Republican also said he favors continued spending on infrastructure such as roads to keep the economy moving.

"Continuing infrastructure investment is a good thing and it will make the economy more efficient," he said. "The less time a truck spends in traffic the more it saves the economy money."

To stimulate the economy, Reid has proposed that the country spend $10 billion to create 470,000 public works jobs. He said that that proposal has the support of the nation's mayors.

"Reno just learned that it doesn't have the spending to do what needs to be done to its sewers, which will create problems downstream," Reid said. "Fortunately we have a new water system in Southern Nevada, but the state of New York is desperate to do something with its systems."

On an issue that Nevada has seen first-hand, Ensign renewed his call earlier this year for Congress to adopt a federal $250,000 cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. But Ensign said he did not believe he could yet muster the 60 votes required to override a Senate filibuster from opponents of such tort reform.

Ensign said that once such tort reform cleared legal challenges, he believes that the skyrocketing insurance premiums paid by Southern Nevada physicians would more closely approximate the lower rates paid by doctors in states such as California. Reid said he opposed caps at the federal level and believes the issue should be left up to the states. Reid praised Gov. Kenny Guinn for calling a special session of the Nevada Legislature last year to approve new tort reform for the state. The Democrat said he supports Nevada's new tort reform law.

"One size doesn't fit all," Reid said. "All these people who are states righters shouldn't meddle in what goes on in our court system."

Reid said Congress instead should investigate ways to reform the insurance industry, which he said hiked doctors' malpractice insurance premiums after suffering poor return on investments. The Democrat said that the insurance industry -- as well as Major League Baseball -- are the only industries exempt from federal anti-trust laws. This gives insurers the ability to manipulate their prices, he said.

"There was no crisis until St. Paul pulled out of here," Reid said, referring to the dominant insurer that abruptly pulled out of Nevada in 2001. "In Nevada, the crisis was caused by the insurance industry."

As for the Middle East, Ensign, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that rebuilding Afghanistan may be tougher than rebuilding Iraq because the former has more tribes and less infrastructure.

He also said he supports tough talk with Syria on terrorism issues, taking advantage of the leverage the U.S. gained from its military success in Iraq.

Reid's take on Syria is that there are many options, including economic sanctions, that should be tried before talk of a possible war with that country.

"Syria has gotten the word," Reid said. "The talk coming from Syria over the past couple of days has been positive. We'll work things out with Syria. If not, things have to be done. We can do a lot in economic terms."