Bush Says He Will Veto Bills That Overspend Or Raise Taxes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ President Bush toured a bun bakery here Thursday and warned Congress he'd veto any government spending bill that he thinks is excessive. <br/><br/>``You can't keep making

Thursday, July 19th 2007, 12:50 pm

By: News On 6

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ President Bush toured a bun bakery here Thursday and warned Congress he'd veto any government spending bill that he thinks is excessive.

``You can't keep making buns if the Democrats take all your dough,'' Bush joked in a speech shortly after taking in the aroma of fresh bread at a bakery that supplies fast-food restaurants.

Bush said the Democratic-led Congress should pass appropriations bills and make sure they keep spending in check, a key concern of his conservative base.

``I've got the right to accept whether or not the amount of money they spend is the right amount,'' Bush said during the speech about his federal budget priorities at the Gaylord Opryland Resort Hotel and Convention Center.

``If they overspend or if they try to raise your taxes, I'm going to veto their bills,'' he said.

Bush used charts and graphs projected on large screens to explain the differences between Republicans and Democrats on government spending. He claimed that Democrats want to raise taxes and find more ways to spend taxpayer money, but said he wasn't ``bashing anybody.''

Seven of the 12 annual spending bills have passed the House but none have passed the Senate, and it's clear that the Oct. 1 deadline to get all the bills enacted will be impossible to meet. The House is slated to pass an eighth bill, funding education, job training and health programs.

But it was Republicans in the Senate on Wednesday who blocked an attempt by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to begin debate on a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security. And Bush was silent last year when his GOP allies controlled Congress but failed to pass all but two spending bills before calling it quits in December.

``We project if we can continue to have fiscal sanity it Washington, D.C. that we we'll be in surplus by the year 2012. ... And I believe we can do so without penalizing the small business sector, or the large business sector for that matter,'' Bush said. ``And particularly we can do so without penalizing the families and the individual taxpayers in the country.''

In his brief tour of the Nashville Bun Co., the president took in the smell of warm bread that filled the humid air in the plant. He hugged and posed for photos with workers and watched small lumps of dough roll by on a conveyer belt.

The company supplies its top customer, McDonald's Corp., with enough hamburger buns to feed most of the Southeast and the Caribbean. It also makes the English muffins for Egg McMuffins. The company and its sister, Tennessee Bun Company, also bake for Chili's, KFC, Pepperidge Farm and O'Charley's.

The war in Iraq wasn't far from Bush's mind. When the president stepped off Air Force One, he was greeted by Army National Guard Sgt. James Kevin Downs, 21, of Kingston Springs, Tenn., a double-amputee and burn victim who sat in a wheelchair on the tarmac. He was injured in Iraq by an improvised explosive device and rocket-propelled grenade.

``He's a good man,'' Bush said later during his speech. ``We're going to get him some new legs and if he hurries up, he can outrun me on the South Lawn of the White House.''

A few dozen anti-war protesters, including some carrying signs that said ``Impeach,'' gathered near the bun plant.

``We want our voice out there because we know the conservatives have totally dominated the talk on the war,'' said Tamara Ambar Losel, development and education coordinator for the Nashville Peace and Justice Center.