GOP in Sync on Budget and Gonzales
GOP congressional leadership officials on Monday were planning a joint defensive effort this week on moves by the Democrats to take down Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and to approve a budget that ends President Bush's tax cuts.
Top aides from both chambers said it was the latest example of the coordinated message-making approach the GOP has taken since becoming the minority. On the Gonzales front, the GOP will step up claims that the attorney general is being targeted in a political assault headed by Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate Democratic election chairman.
"We'll be calling out Schumer for being head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and working on the Gonzales ouster," said a top Senate GOP official. While few Republicans will defend Gonzales, they plan to line up to accuse Schumer of making a federal case out of the fired prosecutors controversy for political gain.
Meanwhile, House and Senate leaders plan this week to mount a claim that the Democratic budget alternative to the Bush package includes a historic tax increase because it doesn't continue the president's cuts.
"We're getting ready for budget battles this week," said a key GOP aide. "Republicans will be in sync on the budget issue by calling it the largest tax increase in American history." They also plan to compare it to the early Clinton administration tax increase, which was trimmed after a public outcry.