2001 US press briefings
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
12:40 P.M. EDT
MR. FLEISCHER: Welcome back, everybody. It's a pleasure to welcome you back to the White House for a Friday briefing before Labor Day Weekend. I've got a rather lengthy opening statement today. I'd be pleased to take questions following it, but there is a lot going on that I want to get into in terms of the fall overview, as well as look at the week ahead, next week, and some additional items.
One, the President arrived in the Oval Office at 7:10 a.m. this morning, and has had a series of briefings very much focused on the fall agenda. And the President is looking forward to a very busy, substantive and productive fall.
The President is going to focus like a laser beam on the economy, education, opportunity and security this fall. Security meaning retirement security, health security, and of course, national security. But those four are going to be a very important, broad theme of what the President seeks to accomplish, working with the Congress. And he will remain focused on the economy, education, opportunity and security.
Specifically, the legislation that's pending before the Congress deals with education. And there is a bill currently in conference that the President is looking forward to working with the Congress on. Getting the patients' bill of rights agreement through the conference and signed into law. Having Senate action begin on the faith-based initiative to help people who are in poverty and people who need help in life.
Energy legislation that's been passed by the House. The President is looking forward to action in the Senate, so we can make America more energy-independent. Trade promotion authority will begin this fall. It's a very important initiative that focuses on both the economy and opportunity. And, of course, the appropriations process will come to conclusion this fall. And the President is looking to make certain that Congress honors the budget agreement; does not bust the budget, does not spend too much.
Nothing is more important in the President's opinion than to get the economy going and growing, and if Congress is willing to abide by budget agreements and not bust the budget, it will be a very valuable contribution to economic growth.
There will be several other major legislative initiatives, some dealing with the environment, brown field legislation, for example, that the President is going to work hard on.
Beyond the immediate congressional calendar, the President is also, along with Mrs. Bush, going to be launching this fall a major initiative on reading, helping families so that children are able to read.
The President will also launch an initiative that is very much a tie-back to what he first articulated when he ran for governorship of Texas back in the mid-'90s, dealing with communities of character. That's another way to look at the importance, throughout our society, both in people's lives and through legislation, issues involving personal responsibility, issues involving the fabric of our society.
The President will focus -- and when I talk about communities of character, the President will focus on issues involving citizenship, good citizenship, tools for parents to help parents, and youth development, helping make sure that children are raised well in a society in which it's often difficult for parents.
And that's, in summary, the agenda that the President is going to focus on this fall. Each of those issues, of course, falls into that broad category of the economy, education, opportunity and security.
A little bit on upcoming scheduling events. At 2:50 p.m. today, as you noted, we added an event to the schedule this morning. The President and Mrs. Bush will participate in launching the new White House website -- WhiteHouse.gov, one word, and this will be a new, highly interactive website with an improved search engine that's going to be very helpful to the public, to researchers, to reporters. It will contain Spanish content. And also, for the first time, it will include a children's site, a kids' site. It's called WhiteHouseKids.gov, all one word.
The President's pets -- Barney, Spot, India and Ophelia, the long-horned cow will be the tour guides for children as they surf the web, taking them to different pages of the White House and different events throughout the White House.
Q Where did Ophelia come from?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, if you were in Crawford, then you may have bumped into Ophelia.
Q Apparently, not long enough.