George W. Bush's first term as President of the United States
George Walker Bush's first term as President of the United States began on January 20, 2001, when he was sworn in as the 43rd President of the United States after defeating Al Gore. This first term ended on January 20, 2005, when he was re-elected for a second term, defeating John Kerry. This first term was marked by the September 11 attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 and by the start of the war in Iraq in 2003. However, the first event that marked this term occurred during the presidential elections, where the The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that there was no room for a new recount of votes in the state of Florida, giving the victory to the Republican Party with a narrow result. This event caused the end of the manual count, to be replaced by the electronic count. These objectives were later translated into the policy called Bush Tax Cuts and the national security strategy of the United States of America, which was signed after 9/11. Similarly, in its early days it postponed the initiatives of the previous president regarding health care for American retirees.
Economy
The first year of Bush's first term was marked by the economic recession of 2001. This recession, which began when Bill Clinton was still president of the United States, did not begin to be discussed until the September 11 attacks., since it was expected to be able to reach a "soft landing" in the economic aspect. With this recession, the main objective of Bush's economic policy was to reduce taxes, which were called Bush Tax cuts.
The public deficit also marked the first term of George W. Bush as president of the United States. At the beginning of his term, the US budget had a surplus of 236.4 billion dollars. However, during his first term, the highest budget deficit in the history of the United States was reached, reaching 450,000 million dollars in 2003. This fact was due, according to Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, to the increase in military spending, the economic recession that the country was going through in those years and the bankruptcy and scandals of large business corporations.
Bush Tax cuts
One of Bush's goals during his first term as President of the United States was to reduce taxes, which resulted in two laws enacted in 2001 and 2003 that modified and reformed US tax policy. These reforms were popularly known as Bush tax cuts and mainly reduced income taxes, taxes on dividends, and wealth taxes. The first was the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA). families and alleviate the economic recession that the United States was going through. Regarding the 2003 law, the emphasis was placed on the growth of companies, the creation of two million jobs and favoring investor confidence in the markets. George W. Bush defended his tax cuts as follows:
"To stimulate the economy, Congress does not need to spend more money. What it should do is cut taxes."
| Rent | Prior to the reforms | Gravamen following the 2001 and 2003 reforms |
|---|---|---|
| Less than $17,000 | 15% | 10% |
| $17,001 - $68,000 | 15% | 15% |
| 68.001$ - $137,000 | 28% | 25% |
| 137.001$ - 209,000 | 31 per cent | 28% |
| 209.001$ - 374,000$ | 36% | 33% |
| More than $374,000 | 39.6 per cent | 35% |
| Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | ||
Eron Bankruptcy
The bankruptcy of the energy multinational Eron was the first scandal to hit George W. Bush in his first term as president. The energy company unexpectedly went bankrupt in November 2001, causing the company's 20,000 employees to lose their jobs and 4,500 retirees to lose their savings, as they were deposited in Eron shares that fell in value from $85 to less than $1 on a regular basis. unexpected. This bankruptcy prompted an investigation where it was discovered that the executive president together with the auditing company Arthur Andersen had hidden, falsified and eliminated documents that reflected the bankruptcy situation that the multinational was going through. This allowed the company's executives to sell their shares and obtain million-dollar benefits before the bankruptcy of the energy multinational occurred.
This company was closely linked to the White House, as the president of Eron Kenneth Lay was a close friend of George W. Bush. In addition, the multinational had donated more than half a million dollars to Bush's political campaigns and 100,000 more dollars when he arrived at the White House, being the largest contributor of Bush's political career. These events led to Bush and his cabinet becoming involved in Eron's bankruptcy. Also influential in the Eron scandal were confessions by the White House that Eron executives had informed them of the company's financial situation. However, the affected cabinet members explained that the President had not been informed of this situation.
After this scandal, George W. Bush expressed his support for the investigation that the Department of Justice carried out to clarify the scandal of the sudden bankruptcy of the seventh company in the United States in annual business.
"The president thinks it is vital for the Department of Justice to continue the investigation wherever he or she is directed, whoever leads and does whatever it is to investigate any bad performance."
International Relations
International relations during the first term of George W. Bush dealt with his relations with different supranational organizations, since his Administration had the objective of establishing the United States as the world Superpower. In this sense, in the year 2002, the United States The United States stopped collaborating with the International Criminal Court by not signing its ratification. In the same way, it also established non-collaboration with this court as a mandatory condition for those countries that benefited from US aid programs. However, the milestone that marked international relations in this period of time was the start of the war of Iraq, which was one of the priorities of Bush and the Republican Party.
9/11 attacks and invasion of Afghanistan
Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, known as 9/11 or 9/11, George W. Bush delivered a series of speeches to comfort the American people and announce a war on terror. On September 21, 2001, 10 days after the attack, Bush delivered a speech before both legislative chambers where he announced that the war against terrorism would not end until the last terrorist group did not exist, having all the diplomatic and international organizations to end "terrorism of global reach." And he demanded the immediate surrender of Osama bin Laden.
"And we will pursue the nations that provide aid or asylum to terrorism. All nations of all regions now have to make a decision: either they are with us or are with terrorism [...] From now on, any nation that continues to embrace or support terrorism will be considered by the United States as a hostile regime [...] Our nation has been warned, we are not immune to attacks. We will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect Americans [...] As long as the United States remains strong and determined, this will not be an era of terror. It will be an era of freedom here and around the world."
The Bush-announced war on terror began with the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. On October 7, 2001, Bush gave Afghanistan an ultimatum calling for the immediate handing over of Osama bin Laden, threatening the Taliban regime, who governed the Asian country at that time, to undertake military actions. Faced with the refusal of the Taliban government, Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan which started the war. In the same way, Bush approved the shipment of humanitarian aid to the Asian country. In September 2002, after the war in Afghanistan had begun, George W. Bush approved the national security strategy of the United States of America where it was specified that the United States The United States would act only in the right of its own defense and its own interests, without prejudice to the position of international organizations in this regard. Also included was the right to take preventive action against terrorist groups. In the strategic document signed by Bush it was explained that the United States would stand by the weak countries that fight for their freedom.
"The United States will remain with any nation that is determined to build a better future while seeking the rewards of freedom for its people. [...] While the United States constantly strives to secure the support of the international community, we will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, by exercising our right to self-defence and by resorting to preventive action against terrorists, preventing them from harming our people and our country."
Invasion and Iraq War
During 2003, President George W. Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein's government possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed a serious threat to the American people. Bush assured in March of that same year that they were prepared, together with their allies, to end the suffering of the Iraqi people and destroy Iraq's chemical and biological weapons. The weapons of mass destruction were the trigger and justification on the part of the President of the United States of the invasion of the Asian country and the consequent war. Similarly, Bush also justified the preemptive strike on Iraq because of suspected ties between Al Qaeda and the Iraqi government at the time.
On March 16, 2003, at the Azores summit, George W. Bush together with his allies Tony Blair and José María Aznar gave Saddam Hussein's regime an ultimatum, demanding that it disarm or leave the Asian country or, on the contrary, the The country would be intervened militarily to overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein. The next day, George W. Bush gave a speech giving the regime leader 48 hours to fulfill the ultimatum.
"All decades of deceit and cruelty have come to an end. Saddam Hussein and his children must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in a military conflict that will begin when we decide. [...] It's too late for Saddam Hussein to remain in power. It is not too late for the Iraqi military to act with honor and protect their country, allowing the coalition forces to enter peace in order to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.[...] The terrorist threat to America and the world will diminish at the time when Saddam Hussein is unarmed. "
Finally, on March 20, 2003, the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent war by the United States government took place under the protection of UN resolution 1441 of the year 2002, which established a vacuum as to whether the use of military force was protected or not.
Immigration
During his first term, George W. Bush initiated a proposal to modify the Immigration Law of the United States. With it, he hoped to regularize the situation of irregular immigrants living in the United States. It is estimated that in this period there were between 8 and 12 million immigrants, a large part from Mexico. The reform proposed by the president in 2004 had the objective of regularizing the situation of undocumented immigrants on a temporary basis, exercising jobs in which there were no nationals available. In this way, their situation would be temporarily regularized and they would be allowed to be with their spouse and children, if they had any. In the same way, requirements were also proposed for these temporary workers, such as the payment of a registration fee and the obligation that the employer be responsible for them.
"As a nation that values and depends on immigrants, we must have immigration laws that work and make us proud."
This proposal received a response from the then President of Mexico Vicente Fox who assured that the initiative did not meet the standards and expectations of his nation, although he considered it a good start.
During the second term of George W. Bush, this proposal was rejected by the United States Senate, which caused its discussion to be delayed until after 2008, the year in which the presidential elections were held and the presidency ended by George W. Bush.
Social policies
Education
Regarding education, the great reform carried out during George W. Bush's first term was the No Child Left Behind (LCLB) policy. However, he also carried out another series of educational initiatives such as the promotion of segregation between the sexes in public schools, allocating a part of the budget items for this and granting aid to schools that applied this initiative.
No child left behind
This is the second major policy carried out in George W. Bush's first term. "No child is left behind," in Spanish was an educational policy that was signed on January 8, 2002. This policy amended the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and is the legislation that governs the guidelines from pre-school through high school. George W. Bush himself explained that "too many of our most needy children and youth are being left behind." With this reform, annual exams began to be required to measure the results of schools in all 50 states of the country However, this reform did not constitute a structural change or a variation of the subjects or the study plan, but meant the establishment of a scale of results for the schools. Schools that did not achieve this minimum of results in two years would receive a warning and their students would have the possibility of changing schools. If this situation did not change in a period of 4 years, the school would be closed or the teachers renewed. This reform of the ESEA also introduced the Early Reading First initiative to develop the reading capacity of American pre-school students, expanding the federal resources dedicated to this cause in a total of 300 million dollars per fiscal year. With these initiatives approved during his first term, President George W. Bush intended to improve the performance of public schools in 12 years and improve the quality of the teaching staff through an allocation of $2.8 million.
Health
Medicare
The federal Medicare program was the subject of reforms during the first term of the 43rd President of the United States. Approved in 1965, it constitutes medical assistance insurance for those Americans who are 65 years of age or older. December 2003, through the Medication Prescription, Improvement and Modernization Law. This reform allowed the inclusion and rivalry of private insurers with the retiree assistance program. This reform was the subject of numerous criticisms from the Democratic Party, who stated that it was "a right-wing project to privatize Medicare." These criticisms were answered by the Republican Party, who explained that the reform "is the biggest step to make Medicare a modern system". This reform caused many American companies to cut or remove retiree health care from their coverage before the reform went into effect. In 2003, approximately one third of the companies with more than 500 employees offered the medical assistance plan for retirees who did not have Medicare, as opposed to 1993 where the percentage of companies was at 50.
In the same way, through this reform aid was also introduced to cover the cost of prescription drugs, specifically, during 2004, the government launched annual aid of $600 per person to those beneficiaries with less income.
Abortion
On November 5, 2003, President George W. Bush signed a law that punished and prohibited abortion after the first three months of pregnancy. This practice, called "partial birth" (PBA) began to be punished with up to two and a half years in prison for doctors who practiced it. With this law, the interruption of pregnancy was limited in any circumstance, since the interruption due to danger to the life of the mother was not contemplated. The President of the United States said in an earlier speech that "we will fight anyone who tries to ban it [the law] through the courts".
In response to legislation signed by the president, on April 25, 2004, hundreds of thousands of people rallied in the streets of Washington to defend abortion rights. This demonstration was led by the then Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, who during the march asked for the vote for the Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States John Kerry and pointed out during her speech that: "This government is full of people who despise sexual harassment laws, who believes that the salary difference between men and women does not exist and who believes that the legalization of abortion is the worst abomination in our constitutional history".
Ultimately, this legislation banning the "partial birth" was declared unconstitutional by a United States federal court. Federal Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton ruled in her ruling that this law could not be applied to the Federation of Planned Parenthood, a nongovernmental organization that runs the clinics where much of the abortion is performed in the United States.