Bush Convenes Defense Powwow
Monday, January 8, 2001
By Karen Gullo
AUSTIN, Texas — President-elect Bush was devoting his efforts Monday to the military, meeting with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders to discuss plans to modernize the armed services and develop a missile defense system.
Vice President-elect Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary-designate Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice, Bush's choice for national security adviser, were joining Bush in Austin for discussions with lawmakers about updating military equipment, training methods and defense technology.
"Strengthening our military is one of my top priorities," Bush said.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, Bush and Cheney, who as defense secretary under Bush's father oversaw U.S. strategy during the Persian Gulf War, were critical of the Clinton administration's handling of the military. They said troops were overcommitted to peacekeeping missions abroad while defense budgets were cut back.
Bush has proposed spending $20 billion more for weapons research and development and $1 billion more a year for a military pay raise. He also favors developing a missile defense system.
He promised that, once in office, his administration would review all peacekeeping missions — he has said he wants to reduce troop strength in the Balkans — and would make an overall assessment of the nation's armed services to determine where investments should be made. Cheney will have a leading role in that review, aides have said.
Bush invited eight Republican and six Democratic lawmakers to Monday's meetings. They included Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee; Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the panel's ranking Democrat; Rep. Bob Stump, R-Ariz., incoming chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., a senior committee member.
Chairmen and senior members of House and Senate Appropriations defense subcommittees will also be on hand, according to the Bush camp.
Absent from the list of attendees released by the Bush camp was Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Bush's former rival for the Republican presidential nomination.
Bush aides said only chairmen and the most senior members of the committees were invited.
The president-elect and his wife, Laura, spent much of Sunday finishing their packing at the Texas governor's mansion. The Bushes will live at their ranch in Crawford, Texas, two hours from Austin, until they move to Washington a few days before Bush's inauguration Jan. 20.http://www.foxnews.com/politics/010801/bush.sml |
