Talent sworn in as U.S. senator

WASHINGTON -- New Missouri Sen. Jim Talent officially began his work by defending President Bush's top priorities -- tax cuts and the potential war in Iraq.

Talent raised his right hand and took the oath of office Tuesday as lawmakers returned to the Capitol. Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond was at his side, and Vice President Dick Cheney swore him in.

President Bush was 700 miles away, but the economic plan he proposed in a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago grabbed attention on Capitol Hill. Bush will be seeking more than $670 billion in tax cuts to boost the economy.

The plan surprised lawmakers because they expected it to cost half as much. But Talent called it "a good first step."

"It's good, long-term tax relief for a broad cross-section of people," Talent said.

Democrats insisted that most of the package's benefits would help wealthy Americans.

"It doesn't include any meaningful assistance to middle-class families during these difficult economic times," said Missouri Democratic Rep. Dick Gephardt.

Talent refused to be drawn into a discussion of who would benefit most from Bush's proposals.

Package for everybody

"I liken this to when we're giving the kids dessert, and I'm giving them ice cream, which they like, and then Kate looks over, and Michael got more ice cream," Talent said. "I'm not going to measure the little pieces of this because the idea is, this is jobs, this is economic growth, this is a prosperity package for everybody."

Bush proposes to eliminate federal taxes on stock dividends, cut income taxes sooner than scheduled and issue rebate checks to 34 million low- and middle-income parents.

Bond responded warmly to Bush's proposal, although he acknowledged there will "probably have to be some compromise." It will need 60 votes from the Senate, where there are 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats.

"I'm going to be interested to see how the president's plan is laid out," Bond said. "I will be taking a particular interest in the impact on small business. Some 20 million small businesses are taxed at individual rates, so rate relief for individuals means encouragement for small businesses."

Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, the No. 3 House leader, predicted swift action on the economic plan: "This president realizes that an economy is only as strong as its workers, so the first order of business has to be getting more Americans to work."

Besides tax cuts, lawmakers were buzzing about the potential war in Iraq.

"We are slowly but steadily exhausting the alternatives short of an invasion of Iraq," said Talent, who will be serving on the Armed Services Committee. "And unless Saddam Hussein turns around and decides to keep the commitments he made a decade ago, the last time he was beaten, it may well be necessary to do this."

Talent said Hussein, the Iraqi leader, poses an immediate threat, but he said the public probably needs more convincing about the need for war.

"Probably there is some communication we still need to do there, particularly about the danger of him getting a nuclear weapon," he said. "On a level of generality, yeah, I think they're ready for this, and I think they believe there is a need for it."

Committee assignments are not finished, but Talent expects a seat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and possibly the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senate Aging Committee or Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Bond will serve on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where he chairs the subcommittee that will write the next highway bill, and the Appropriations Committee, where he oversees spending on housing and veterans programs. He may serve on the health and education committee, and colleagues also expect him to become a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In the House chamber, all nine of Missouri's House members were sworn in. That includes Gephardt and Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton, who were each sworn in for the 14th time.

Skelton's granddaughter, 2-year-old Sarah Elizabeth Skelton, held the family Bible on which Skelton placed his hand, then slept on his lap.

And Rep. Jo Ann Emerson said the oath while holding her 4-month-old grandson, William Curtis Leger, who is named for her late husband. Mrs. Emerson replaced longtime Rep. Bill Emerson in 1996 after he died of lung cancer.

Also sworn into the House were Republican Reps. Todd Akin, Sam Graves, Kenny Hulshof and Blunt and Democratic Reps. William Lacy Clay, Karen McCarthy and Gephardt.

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