[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 5 (Monday, February 5, 2001)]
[Pages 239-241]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Republican Congressional Leaders and an 
Exchange With Reporters

January 30, 2001

Legislative Agenda

    The President. It's an honor for the Vice President and the 
Secretary of Treasury and myself, and OMB Director, to welcome the 
leadership in the House and the Senate on the Republican side. We've had 
a wide-ranging discussion; discussed tax relief and how we can pay down 
national debt and have tax relief, which all of us around this table 
firmly believe we can do.
    We also discussed the fact that there's a lot of Americans who have 
got a lot of consumer debt, and we must be mindful of those hard-working 
Americans. And part of the tax relief package is to allow people to 
better manage their own finances with their own money. We had a 
discussion about education.
    We discussed, particularly the leader and I and Members of the 
Senate, discussed the need to get our nominees through the Senate. And I 
hope, in the spirit of bipartisanship, there will be no further delays 
on the confirmation process for John Ashcroft and other nominees of 
ours. I certainly appreciate how fast the Senate worked, initially, but 
it's time for the delays to end. It's time for a vote on all our Cabinet 
officials.
    This is--will be a series of conversations we'll have throughout my 
tenure, and I really enjoy this. It's been a good, frank discussion.

Interest Rates/Tax Cut Legislation

    Q. Do you think the Fed should cut rates now, sort of stimulate the 
economy? And in the discussion of tax policy, there has been some 
disagreement between the White House and the Speaker and others over 
whether you should have one big package of tax cuts or to do it in 
pieces.
    The President. First, Mr. Greenspan needs to make his decisions, 
independent of what I think. I learned a pretty good lesson

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during the transition, and that was I had commented out loud about one 
of the actions he took. That's the last time I'm going to comment about 
the actions that Mr. Greenspan takes. He's an independent voice and 
needs to be an independent voice.
    Secondly, we did discuss the timing of the tax relief package and 
how best to move it through the House, where to originate. And as I told 
the Speaker and the chairman and the leadership, that we are interested 
in success, that the most important--most important--criterion for how 
the tax package is handled is whether or not it will succeed. And these 
are the Members who are going to have to work to get it out of the 
House. So we're listening to their strategy.
    Q. What is the best timing for presenting the tax proposal, sir?
    The President. Again, that's going to be up to the leadership. 
Obviously, it depends upon--it's the middle of our budget. As you 
noticed, the head of the budget committees are here; we're talking 
budget. Taxes must fit into a budget, which they will.
    The answer to any of our initiatives, of course, is, as soon as 
possible. [Laughter]

Earthquake Assistance to India

    Q. Mr. President?
    The President. Yes sir?
    Q. Good morning, sir.
    The President. How are you doing?
    Q. Good. Thank you.
    The President. I thought you had abandoned us for a while. 
[Laughter]
    Q. Are you happy with the progress you're making in reaching out to 
world leaders, or do you plan to change the pace of that at all?
    The President. I've got a steady pace. I'm calling as I can. I 
talked to the Prime Minister of India today. It was a phone call that I 
was going to make, regardless of the natural disaster that took place 
there. Obviously, a lot of the conversation today was about the aid that 
our country is sending: A 747 from AID has landed this morning; another 
one is on its way; we're sending some military planes over, as well. I 
assured him that our Nation was deeply concerned for the citizenry that 
had lost their lives. It was not the appropriate time to discuss policy 
beyond that.
    And I will be making other calls, touching base with world leaders. 
I'll do a lot of that, of course. Good diplomacy really depends upon 
good personal relations, whether or not we agree with each other on a 
lot of issues or not. And I'm going to continue the diplomacy that 
reaches out to people on a regular basis.

Attorney-General-Designate John Ashcroft

    Q. On Senator Ashcroft, are you worried that there are going to be 
more--do you feel he's going to be confirmed, still?
    The President. I do believe he's going to be confirmed. But one of 
my charges is to run the executive branch of Government. And it's 
important for our Cabinet officers to be confirmed so they can start 
doing their job of organizing their departments. Once we get our Cabinet 
officials through, I'm sure I'll be speaking to the Senate about moving 
the number twos and threes through, as well, so that we can take hold of 
this Government.
    And one of the things I'll be doing when our Cabinet meets is 
talking about the need for each Cabinet member to be fiscally sound with 
the taxpayers' money. It's hard to deliver that message when somebody 
hasn't been confirmed. So I would just hope there are no further delays. 
There's been a lot of discussion, a lot of debate; there's been a lot of 
questionnaires presented and answers filled out; and it's now time for 
the vote, it seems like to me.
    Q. Did you get the Vice President a birthday present?
    The Vice President. Not yet. [Laughter]
    The President. As a matter of fact--[laughter]--some used coffee 
cake, perhaps, Mr. Vice President? [Laughter]

Note: The President spoke at 10:35 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Treasury Secretary-designate Paul 
H. O'Neill; Office of Management and Budget Director Mitchell E. 
Daniels, Jr.; and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of India. A tape 
was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.

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