PHILADELPHIA -- U.S. President George Bush, addressing a group that lobbies for small government, promised Thursday to veto Democratic budget hikes.
"What I'm telling you is, is that there's a philosophical debate in Washington, and the bunch now running Congress want to return to the tax-and-spend policies of the past that did not work then and will not work in the future," Bush said in his speech to the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council in Philadelphia. "And that's why I plan on using my veto to keep your taxes low."
The president also said that he and his generals need more time in Iraq to determine whether his strategy is working. While he said he understands the "angst" U.S. citizens feel about the war, he once again argued that Iraq is key to the war on terror.
"I wouldn't ask a mother's child to go into combat if I didn't think it was necessary to protect the American people to stay on the offense," he said.
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