Bush meets with Greenspan, Hill leaders

Tom Raum

Monday, Dec. 18, 2000 | 8:44 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Visiting the nation's capital for the first time since the election, President-elect Bush met with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, called on congressional leaders and stood by his $1.3 trillion tax-cut plan.

"I talked with a good man right here," Bush said Monday morning, placing a hand on Greenspan's shoulder after a breakfast meeting of almost an hour. "We had a very strong discussion about my confidence in his abilities."

Neither responded to questions about Bush's tax-cut plan, which was expected to be a topic of their meeting. Greenspan talked privately with Bush for about 15 minutes and the two also met with vice president-elect Dick Cheney, Larry Lindsey, an economic adviser likely to join the new administration, and other advisers.

Then Bush headed to Capitol Hill and began meetings with House and Senate leaders of both parties. He hoped to overcome resistance to his tax package, saying there is more justification than ever for big tax cuts with the economy slowing.

"I look forward to making my case, and visiting with as many members of both parties as I can. And it's going to be an interesting couple of days," Bush said Sunday as he left Texas.

Bush will pay courtesy calls Tuesday on President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, his campaign rival. Bush also will interview prospective Cabinet members before returning to Austin, Texas, that evening.

Condoleezza Rice, named by Bush on Sunday to run his National Security Council, was also in town - to "find an NSC staff," she said.

Although Bush believes the U.S. military is overextended and wants to review military commitments, he will keep the nation's promises to its allies, she said. "No one is going to cut and run," Rice told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Bush has said he's standing by his proposed tax cut, even though Democrats strongly oppose the plan as too costly - and even though some top members of his own party have suggested it is too unwieldy.

But Bush suggested the plan might be just the prescription for a slowing economy.

Bush and Cheney have hinted that the economy may be headed for a recession.

Asked in advance of the Greenspan meeting if he thought the Fed chairman shared those views, Bush said:

"I'll let him speak for himself. One of the things I'm certain that I should not do as president-elect is to try to put words in the mouth of Alan Greenspan."

Greenspan last summer was critical of the size of Bush's tax cut, and some members of Bush's father's administration have suggested his tight-money policies in 1990-91 contributed to the elder Bush's defeat.

Before leaving for Washington on Sunday, Bush named Rice his national security adviser and Texas Supreme Court Justice Alberto Gonzales as White House counsel.

He also announced that his longtime communications director, Karen Hughes, would become counselor to the president and help oversee "strategic planning."

The appointments came a day after he named retired Gen. Colin Powell his nominee as secretary of state.

Both Powell and Rice are black. Asked whether he was trying to send a message by including among his first appointments two blacks, two women and a Hispanic, Bush said: "You bet, that people that work hard and make the right decisions in life can achieve anything they want in America."

Rice told CBS' "Early Show" that Bush has "believed in inclusiveness all his career. ... I think you'll see a reaching out to the African-American community."

Incoming first lady Laura Bush got a jump on her husband in visiting the White House, accepting an invitation from Hillary Rodham Clinton to have tea together in the residence Monday morning.

Powell, meanwhile, visited with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for more than three hours Sunday afternoon at her Washington home to discuss foreign affairs.

Bush said his meeting with congressional leaders would be "the beginning of a dialogue that is crucial to get some positive things done."

After a bitter five-week legal battle over the election and as the first president to serve since 1888 without having won the popular vote, Bush must reach out to Democrats if his policies are to gain approval in a nearly evenly split Congress.

Despite Democratic opposition to his tax-cut plan, Bush said he believes it is "important as an insurance policy against any economic downturn."

The trip to Washington is the first in six months for Bush, who campaigned as an "outsider" during the election and often criticized Washington ways on the stump.