No Escaping the Red Ink as Bush Pens '04 Agenda
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON and EDMUND L. ANDREWS

Published: November 29, 2003

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 ? President Bush is heading into 2004 facing a growing budget deficit, frustration among some Republicans about what they see as a lack of fiscal discipline and a challenge in putting together an election-year agenda that will not plunge the government all the deeper into debt, lawmakers, analysts and administration officials say.

…To avoid criticism that it is making the deficit even worse, the administration is focusing attention primarily on initiatives that would have little or no budgetary cost in the next few years, officials said. These include new tax-free savings accounts, which could be set up in a way that would actually generate additional tax revenue for several years before creating substantial revenue losses down the road. [P6: emphasis added]