In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush outlined new economic policies and encouraged Congress to support his plan to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.
Bush said Tuesday the additional troops will be deployed mostly in Baghdad, where they will assist Iraqi forces in clearing and securing neighborhoods.
“We did not drive Al Qaida out of their safe haven in Afghanistan only to let them set up a new safe haven in a free Iraq,” he said. “Whatever you voted for, you did not vote for failure. Our country is pursing a new strategy in Iraq – and I ask you to give it a chance to work.”
College Republicans chairman Andrew Hill said he has faith that Bush would pull the additional troops out of Iraq if the situation does not improve, and said he thinks the president has made a good decision.
“He really tried to tell people that ‘I’ve looked at all the options here and this is the best option we have for success,’” Hill said.
Bush also proposed expanding the size of the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 troops over the next five years. He suggested creating a volunteer-based Civilian Reserve Corps which would function like a military reserve that would train civilians to serve abroad.
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said he heard nothing new in the president’s discussion of the war on terror.
“He wants to actually escalate the war over the best advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, senior military officers, bipartisan members of Congress – the majority of the American people, even the Iraqi prime minister say that’s a bad idea,” DeFazio said. “Now it’s up to Congress to stop it.”
Bush also proposed some changes to his economic policy, pledging to balance the federal budget and eliminate the deficit in the next five years.
University senior Ian Spencer, an independent, expressed skepticism with Bush’s economic plan.
“I’m not sure how you can increase spending, decrease taxes and eliminate the deficit at the same time,” he said.
Bush outlined a plan to reduce taxes for families who receive employer-provided health insurance and give a tax deduction to families who need to purchase private health insurance.
Bush’s second proposal on health care would create federal grants for states that provide health care to all citizens.
DeFazio called the health insurance tax deduction a “gift to the insurance industry” and said that the plan is just a way to provide tax breaks to the wealthy under the guise of providing more insurance coverage.
Bush also discussed the creation of a temporary guest worker program. He said his plan would help border patrol by ensuring people who want to work can cross legally, giving border agents more time to focus on capturing criminals and drug smugglers.
The president highlighted changes to his energy policy, saying that America needs to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. He set a goal of reducing gasoline consumption by 20 percent by 2017, something that, he said, could be accomplished by the use of alternative sources of energy. Bush suggested relying more on clean coal, solar, wind and nuclear power.
“(Bush) talks about using wind and solar power as if it’s a new issue,” said University student Mike Pearson, who watched from the residence halls. “It’s not his opinion; he’s only addressing it because people have been lobbying for it to happen for a few years now.”
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Moriah Balingit and Jill Kimball contributed to this report