A July 24 Associated Press article by James Prichard reported that Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (AZ) “originally opposed Bush's tax cuts, but he advocates extending them now because he says repealing them would amount to a tax increase.” The article also reported that McCain “said Democrats who hold a narrow majority in Congress want to raise taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars by repealing President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.” The article added that “if elected president, he [McCain] would repeal the alternative minimum tax [AMT] and keep government spending in check using vetoes and line-item-veto authority.” But the article gave no indication that Prichard had asked McCain, or that McCain had spoken, about how he proposed to make up for the decrease in revenue that would result from repealing the AMT and extending the Bush tax cuts.

President Bush signed the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 after it passed the Republican-controlled Congress. The tax cuts are set to expire in 2010 absent congressional action; any action to extend them would require finding money to pay for the extension or allowing the deficit to grow as the latest White House and congressional budget projections reflect. A February 7, 2006, Washington Post article about Bush's five-year budget projections reported that "[i]n 2011, the last year of the White House's projection, the deficit would again begin to rise, to $205 billion, reflecting the cost of extending Bush's tax cuts beyond their 2010 expiration date." On May 17, the Post reported that in making their recent budget proposal, congressional Democrats “assume some of Bush's signature tax cuts would expire on schedule in 2010, prompting Republicans to accuse them of plotting one of the biggest tax increases in history.”

This is not the first time that the media have allowed McCain to talk about cutting taxes without challenging him on how he would make up for the lost revenue. For instance, during the May 3 Republican presidential debate on MSNBC, moderator Chris Matthews asked each Republican candidate “to mention a tax you'd like to cut, in addition to the Bush tax cuts, keeping them in effect.” McCain responded: “The alternative minimum tax is obviously eating Americans alive, and it's got to be repealed.” McCain did not explain how he would keep the Bush tax cuts while repealing the AMT, nor did Matthews ask. From the May 3 debate:

MATTHEWS: OK, let's start with an enjoyable down-the-line, OK? I want each candidate to mention a tax you'd like to cut, in addition to the Bush tax cuts, keeping them in effect.

[...]

MATTHEWS: Senator McCain?

McCAIN: I'd give the president of the United States the line-item veto on these bills as well as spending bills. The alternative minimum tax is obviously eating Americans alive, and it's got to be repealed.

Another one -- another one I think is important is a $3,000 tax credit for people to be able to purchase health insurance. So low-income Americans will have access to health care, which is an amazing and difficult problem today. And a simpler, flatter fair tax so that Americans don't have to spend $140 billion, as they just did last April, to prepare their tax returns.

The Hill reported on June 8 that Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who also advocates repeal or scaling back of the AMT, “has insisted that a repeal should be revenue-neutral,” and Senate Finance Committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) “said it was important to make sure the AMT repeal does not make the budget deficit worse.” From the June 8 article in The Hill:

[Sen. Charles] Grassley [R-IA] has repeatedly argued that an AMT repeal should not be subject to pay-go rules because that kind of volume of AMT revenue was never supposed to be collected in the first place. The TRC [Tax Relief Coalition] praises him for that position in its letter, which argues that imposing new taxes to pay for AMT repeal could hurt economic growth.

But Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) has insisted that a repeal should be revenue-neutral, which means it must be paid for by other tax increases or spending reductions. Rangel has also suggested that increasing taxes on the wealthy could offset the AMT repeal.

The TRC letter also praised President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which it said spurred economic growth. Most Democrats are not inclined to extend those tax cuts when they expire in 2011.

At the beginning of the year, Baucus said he would look for possible offsets when he and Grassley introduced legislation repealing the AMT. He also said it was important to make sure the AMT repeal does not make the budget deficit worse.

A similar AP article on July 23 about McCain's speech also failed to provide context for McCain's response and did not address how McCain intended to pay for the repeal of the AMT.

From the July 24 AP article:

Republican John McCain says that if elected president, he would repeal the alternative minimum tax and keep government spending in check using vetoes and line-item-veto authority.

[...]

McCain said he would fight for line-item veto power, which the Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional, but wouldn't hesitate to use the veto as it now exists to crack down on spending.

“Give me the pen, and I'll veto every single pork-barrel bill Congress sends me, and if they keep sending them to me, I'll use the bully pulpit to make the people who are wasting your money famous,” he said.

McCain, long a crusader against so-called pork barrel spending, said Democrats who hold a narrow majority in Congress want to raise taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars by repealing President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.

McCain originally opposed Bush's tax cuts, but he advocates extending them now because he says repealing them would amount to a tax increase.

“I believe we should keep income and investment taxes low by making the tax cuts currently on the books permanent,” he said. “I think we should protect Americans from partisan Democrat tax increases by requiring a three-fifths majority vote. But if I am president, the same veto pen that works on pork-barrel spending will send those partisan taxes right back to the Congress.”

Jason Moon, a spokesman for the Michigan Democratic Party, chided McCain.

“McCain's top fundraiser (Tom Loeffler) and his new campaign manager (Rick Davis) are both lobbyists who made their fortunes lobbying for exactly the type of pork projects McCain is now railing against,” Moon said. “This is exactly the type of hypocrisy that he brought to his do-anything-to-win campaign, the same tactics that drove the 'Straight Talk Express' straight into a ditch.”

The Straight Talk Express is the name of McCain's presidential campaign bus from his unsuccessful 2000 bid for the White House. Rolled out earlier this year in an effort to help reinvigorate his current campaign, the bus has been parked again because of a lack of money that has also led to dozens of layoffs in his campaign.

Economic Club member and McCain supporter Pat Dwyer, 57, of St. Joseph, said he wanted to see how well the senator conveyed his message Monday.

“I think some people don't understand where he stands on some things,” Dwyer said.