In his address to the nation on Tuesday, President Bush will call on lawmakers to make healthcare more accessible. Experts say he is also likely to again urge Congress to make his tax cuts permanent and to embark on Social Security reform. Here is a look at some of his expected proposals, which, if implemented, could have a direct effect on your wallet.
Make tax cuts permanent
Make tax cuts permanent
Since 2001, President Bush has signed into law a series of tax cuts, including lower tax rates on income, capital gains and dividends. Unless lawmakers choose to extend them, the tax breaks will expire after 2010. The president is likely to call once more on Congress to make his tax cuts permanent.

But he's not likely to push as hard to extend income tax breaks for high earners since that's "in play as a give-up for Republicans" in budget negotiations with Democrats, said William Beach, director of data analysis at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Critics say making the tax cuts permanent will only add to budget woes as policy-makers wrestle to get control of an expected surge in costs from Medicare, Social Security and possible reform of the Alternative Minimum Tax.

Bottom line: President Bush may have a harder time convincing Congress to preserve breaks for upper-income households than he will for middle and lower income taxpayers. That's because some of his tax cuts - such as the higher child tax credit, the creation of the 10% tax bracket and increased marriage penalty relief draw bipartisan support.

Sources: Brookings Institution, Heritage Foundation, Stanford Group, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Kaiser Family Foundation, Tax Foundation, Cato Institute

Health insurance

Tax cuts

Social Security
Follow these guidelines and feel confident that you'll be making the right financial decisions. (more)
Snagging a new job is about more than having the right skills and suit. (more)
Employers seem to have the better hand in pay negotiations. But here are 6 ways to better read the cards they hold. (more)

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.