Brushing off a pretzel-induced fainting spell with jokes and pranks, US President George W. Bush pushed trade and tax cuts on Monday as cures for recession, calling his prescription "economics 101."
Less than 24 hours after choking on a pretzel, blacking out and falling off a couch in the White House family quarters, Bush began a two-day, three-state trip to the American heartland, saying he felt "great" but sporting a scrape on his left cheek.
Turning to the serious business of the ailing US economy and rising unemployment, the Republican president defended his 10-year, US$1.35 trillion tax cut that Congress passed last year.
Some Democrats now say that, in the face of renewed federal budget deficits, the long-term cuts should be delayed.
"That would be a disaster for the American economy and we're not going to let it happen," Bush said.
He also pushed for passage of a stimulus package that Democrats have bottled up in the Senate, approval of an energy plan and "opening up the world to American products."
Bush called his proposals basic principals that would create jobs. He tried to nudge Congress into setting aside party politics in an election year and put "a little extra oomph" back into the economy by adopting them.
"It's economics 101, except sometimes people in Washington haven't taken the course," Bush said.
Bush wants the Senate to pass trade promotion authority legislation, which would give him the right to negotiate agreements that Congress could approve or reject but not amend. The measure passed the House of Representatives by a single vote in December last year.
"I'm confident we need to open up markets, not close them down," Bush said. "I'm confident we've got to get my friend [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to buy John Deere products. I'm confident what this nation needs is to level the playing field and have trade that'll create jobs all across America."
Deere & Co, a 165-year-old firm that does business in more than 160 countries, fell victim to the sluggish economy last year, reporting its largest quarterly operating loss in more than a decade. The Moline plant has laid off 80 employees.
Bush, who has spent most of his time since the Sept. 11 attacks on the US working on the anti-terror campaign and the war in Afghanistan, used his trip to Illinois, Missouri and Louisiana to send an election-year message that he was not neglecting the many Americans hit by the recession and struggling to find work.
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