Relations With Congress
In his inaugural speech, Fox said that his Presidency marked a new era of relations between the three political branches. "The President will propose, and the Congress will dispose", he said. This implied that Fox would respect the separation of powers and negotiate with Congress.
The first major controversy occurred during the discussion of comprehensive tax reform that included a value added tax of 15% on all products, including food and medicine, to replace the complex system of discretionary exceptions that still exists today. Congress rejected Fox's proposal.
From then on, relation between the Legislative and the Executive were strained. Lawmakers from opposition parties admitted they had a hard time dealing with Fox, while lawmakers from Fox's party claimed that there were "legislative excesses".
In his final state of the union address in September 2006, leftist lawmakers prevented Fox from speaking. He became the first president to not read his report before Congress and instead gave a televised address to the nation.
Read more about this topic: Fox Administration
Famous quotes containing the words relations with, relations and/or congress:
“I only desire sincere relations with the worthiest of my acquaintance, that they may give me an opportunity once in a year to speak the truth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What a man sows, that shall he and his relations reap.”
—Clarissa Graves (1892–1985?)
“What have Massachusetts and the North sent a few sane representatives to Congress for, of late years?... All their speeches put together and boiled down ... do not match for manly directness and force, and for simple truth, the few casual remarks of crazy John Brown on the floor of the Harper’s Ferry engine-house,—that man whom you are about to hang, to send to the other world, though not to represent you there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)