Tonight President Bush will give his State of the Union address. It will be an opportunity to convince Americans that the Republican party is on the right track when it comes to running the country. New Hampshire's congressional delegation - four Republicans - will be looking for the President to return to the party's core values and take on some tough domestic challenges. NHPR Correspondent Julie Donnelly has more from Washington.
On Capitol Hill, certain phrases become, well, unavoidable: these days, it's fiscal discipline.
That's because as Republicans deal with a widening ethics crisis in the run up to the 2006 elections , they've decided to put infighting aside and embrace a core Republican value -small government.
The problem is that so far, President Bush hasn't been THAT kind of Republican. He signed off on expensive Energy and Highway bills, which both New Hampshire Senators voted against. He built the largest agency in the federal government - the department of homeland security. And he spearheaded the costly prescription drug benefit for seniors.
But New Hampshire Congressman Jeb Bradley says he expects the President to give fiscal responsibility top billing in his State of the Union speech tonight.
" the budget will probably be front and center. as a member of the budget committee, I'm going to be very interested to hear the President's perspective. We need to be very careful spending dollars, although we have to make sure we have the money for the war on terror and providing for the nation's veterans."
Another member of the New Hampshire delegation with his eye on the bottom line is Senator Judd Gregg. As the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Gregg will be looking to trim big programs like Medicare and Medicaid this year.
He says he's interested to hear what the President has to say about Health Savings Accounts. The tax free accounts help people save for out of pocket health expenses. Senator Gregg says they could induce consumers to spend less. He says the growth of health care spending is not sustainable, and that the time to act is now.
"what should drive it is that the baby boom generation is getting closer to retirement, and most of the policy makers in this country are part of the baby boom generation and we should feel a personal responsibility not to leave our children and our children's children with this bill"
Other bills New Hampshire's lawmakers worry about are bills for home heating oil. All four members of the delegation are pushing for more dollars for the low income heating assistance program. President Bush might not mention that immediate concern but for the longer run, he has said that part of his speech will emphasize the need to develop alternative fuels. In the past, President Bush has focused much of his attention on ethanol, which is produced in the midwest. But Congressman Charles Bass says if there's a bill entirely devoted to alternative fuels, New Hampshire will come out a winner.
"the fact that New Hampshire doesn't produce oil, gas or coal, means that by definition, we will benefit from any legislation that promotes any other energy source like nuclear, perhaps offshore drilling, and biomass, wind and solar"
One key reason for the focus on alternative fuels, is President Bush's desire to reduce the country's reliance on foreign oil. Much of the President's speech is expected to be devoted to forign policy and the war on terror. He'll talk about what has been achieved in the war in Iraq, and the security challenges that still remain.
And amidst controversy about his domestic spying program, the President will ask congress to move quickly on a separate but related matter, the Patriot act . Key provisions are set to expire on Friday.
New Hampshire Senator John Sununu is part of a small bipartisan group of Senators who held up the bill in December, forcing a temporary extension. Now it looks like Congress will seek a second extension for another six weeks. Senator Sununu has been meeting with White House staff and says he's confident a resolution will come soon.
"I think we can resolve these differences and improve the bill and get a package that can be signed into law. We need to get this done and behind us, so that we can begin to work on the other very important issues that the President will talk about tonight"
Ultimately, it's not the State of the Union address, but those issues, and how they unfold over the next several months, that will affect public opinion and answer a key question facing lawmakers -- whether voters want to return a republican congress to washington in the Fall. .
For NHPR News, I'm Julie Donnelly in Washington.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo