October 22, 2002.  "Are you better off than you were two years ago?" Rep. Gephardt asked.  With mid-term elections two weeks off, Gephardt sought to keep economic issues front and center even as the possibility of a war with Iraq and the Washington area sniper filled the news.  "If Republicans win control of Congress, the American people can expect more tax cuts for special interests like Enron, and little attention to the real economic problems in people's lives," Gephardt warned.  He summarized the five points of the "Plan for Promoting Economic Growth" that he had presented in an October 15 speech to the Economic Policy Institute.
	Plan for Promoting Economic Growth A short-term stimulus that invests in school construction and other vital needs; One-time rebates and tax cuts immediately to working families and for company investment;  A long-term, fiscally responsible plan to ensure long-term balanced budgets and fiscal discipline;  Legislative reforms to create one set of rules in corporate America and protect people's pensions; and  An increase in the minimum wage and extension of unemployment insurance for those who have lost their jobs.

Copyright © 2002  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.