Bush Avoids Most Budget Issues in State of the Union Address

President Bush steered clear of most fiscal issues during his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

After announcing that "the tax relief you passed is working" early in his speech, the president went on to urge citizens to petition Congress to make the tax cuts passed in 2001, 2002 and 2003 permanent. As it stands now, virtually all the tax cuts instituted under this administration are due to expire in two to six years.

In an attempt to revive a suggestion first floated more than a year ago, , President Bush made a passing reference to his administration's proposal to allow workers to divert some of their payroll taxes from Social Security and instead invest the money in individual private accounts. This idea never gained any traction in Congress. ...