Everything after the election.
Another broken promise by GWB.
He might make No 1 as worst president ever.

Bush administration takes emergency steps to avoid debt ceiling

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush's administration weathered a
pre-election mauling as it announced emergency measures to skirt a 7.38-
trillion-dollar debt limit.

In a letter to Senate majority leader Bill Frist, Snow said he was
immediately suspending payments to a federal employees' retirement scheme,
the Government Securities Investment Fund (G-Fund).

The missing money would be repaid in full later, with no net effect on the
fund or retirees, he promised.

The treasury secretary said he was forced to take the emergency accounting
step because Congress had not acted on his August 2 request for the
government's legal debt limit to be raised.

Any move by Congress to raise the debt limit could be politically
embarrassing.

Democrats pounced on the news as evidence of fiscal mismanagement by the
administration, less than three weeks before Bush faces Democratic
challenger John Kerry in the November 2 presidential election.

"George Bush continues to make history for all the wrong reasons: He's the
first president to go without creating a new job since the Great Depression
and now he's run up more debt in shorter period of time than all the
presidents combined in the 200 years from Washington through Reagan," said
Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer.

"On top of that, this is the third time he's broken his promise not to
raise the debt ceiling. His fiscal mismanagement is taking its toll on
America and it's time for a fresh start," he said in a statement.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi described Snow's manoeuvre as "a
shameful admission" that the administration's economic policies had failed
the American people.

The overall US debt -- the total, accumulated financial liabilities of the
country -- now amounted to 7.38 trillion dollars, she said.

"The Republican leadership knew that the debt limit would be reached this
month but did not want an embarrassing vote on raising the debt ceiling
until after next month's election so Republicans are now resorting to
extraordinary accounting measures to avoid that vote."

Pelosi said the Bush tax cuts for "an elite few" were unaffordable, and
corporate tax breaks for companies that exported jobs abroad had failed to
create jobs.

"The president's disastrous economic policies are just creating record
deficits, higher interest rates, a drag on the economy, and a legacy of
debt for our children. It is time for a change," she said.

Snow called on lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling by mid-November, which
would be well after the election.

"Given current projections, it is imperative that the Congress take action
to increase the debt limit by mid-November, at which time all of our
previously used prudent and legal actions to avoid breaching the statutory
debt limit will be exhausted," Snow said.

"I know that you share the president's and my commitment to maintaining the
full faith and credit of the US government."

In the year before Bush came to office, his predecessor Bill Clinton
produced a 236-billion-dollar annual budget surplus.

In fiscal 2004, ended September 30, Bush's team is estimated to have
incurred a record annual budget deficit of 415 billion dollars, according
to the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The official 2004 budget figures, showing the gap between annual government
spending and income, are due this week.

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