Bush Meets Congressional Leaders
Dec. 3 -- — As lawyers in Tallahassee argued the fate of thousands of contested ballots before a Florida judge, George W. Bush and running mate Dick Cheney met with two of Congress’ most influential Republican leaders Saturday.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott joined Bush and Cheney at the Texas governor’s ranch in Crawford. In their first meeting since the election, the four men discussed a 2001 agenda including issues such as Medicare, prescription drugs and potential tax relief.
They talked briefly with reporters, expressing confidence that Bush eventually will emerge the victor in one of the closest presidential elections in history.
Today on ABC’s This Week Andrew Card, Bush’s prospective Chief of Staff, shrugged off criticism that Bush may be moving too quickly and too surely with his transition in light of the unresolved election.
“He will be the next president of the United States, I have every reason to believe,” said Card. “But he is not acting with arrogance. He’s acting with responsibility to put together a team so he’ll be ready to be president January 20th (Inauguration Day).”
The Republicans met for three hours Saturday as Vice President Al Gore’s legal team tried to convince a judge in Florida to allow a hand recount of up to 14,000 disputed ballots. Today, the second day of the trial, Bush attorneys resumed their arguments against a hand recount.
Catch Word: Bipartisan
Whether Bush or Gore ultimately wins this election, the next president will face the daunting task of dealing with a Congress divided almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats. With that in mind, Bush and his advisers are now stressing “bipartisan” with greater frequency.
“We won’t be playing games with each other. I’m confident we can get [our agenda] done quickly,” Bush said Saturday.
Cheney and Bush sat casually around the fireplace at Bush’s ranch house with Lott and Hastert. During his campaign, Bush had distanced himself from the congressional leaders, billing himself as a Washington outsider.
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