Bush official touts accomplishments

Kevin Rademacher

Friday, June 18, 2004 | 10:58 a.m.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow stopped in Las Vegas this morning to tout the nation's economic recovery and highlight job creation. It was the perfect place to deliver that message, he indicated.

Snow pointed to new unemployment figures that showed Nevada's jobless rate fell from 4.3 to 4.1 percent last month.

"At this pace you're going to be down in the threes pretty soon," he said, adding that Nevada also added 4,000 jobs in the most recent monthly reporting period.

"It's nice to be in a place creating jobs with (the) people creating jobs," Snow said to a gathering of the Nevada Hotel & Lodging Association. "Anybody who thinks America is unable to create jobs needs to come out here to Nevada."

Snow credited the economic surge to the Bush Administration's tax cut and sound management of the nation's monetary system by the Federal Reserve.

The economy, he said, is "hitting on all cylinders."

Nevada Democratic Party officials were quick to question Snow's rosy picture of the economy.

"Most Nevadans haven't felt the effects of the Bush tax cut because it was targeted to the wealthy," said Jon Summers, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, who added that 46 percent of Nevada residents saw less that $100 from the tax cut.

Summers went on the claim that about 20,000 Nevada seniors are paying more for Medicare and that the number of uninsured Nevadans rose by about 100,000 to 419,000 since Bush took office. He also said Nevada has maintained the third highest bankruptcy rate in the nation.

"It doesn't sound like a healthy economy," Summers said.

Snow also used the opportunity to press for tort reform. He said the nation's penchant for lawsuits and high jury awards is "a menace to job creation." Tort reform, he added, also is needed to address a national health care system that has become "prohibitively costly."

Snow also said that the Treasury will extend its a provision of the Terrorism Risk Assurance Act that requires insurers to make available coverage for terrorism-related losses. That provision was set to expire in December. It will not be extended for one year.

In a lighter moment in the presentation, Rossi Ralenkotter, who will soon assume the top spot at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority, invited Snow to Las Vegas next year to unveil the Treasury's new $100 bill in association with Las Vegas' centennial celebration.

"I'd be delighted to," Snow said, adding with a laugh, "Who would you like on that bill?"