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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TideGlider who wrote (120307)	12/31/2000 10:24:01 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 769667

Bush, Still Forming Cabinet, to Spend New Year's at Ranch Sunday, December 31, 2000 President-elect George W. Bush was spending a quiet New Year's Eve at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, where his spokesperson said a new home Bush was building on the property would be finished any day. But while contractors were putting the final touches on the Bushes' new retreat, spokesperson Dan Bartlett said Bush was focusing on his move to another new residence — the White House — and spending the weekend conferring with aides on the transition. Three Cabinet slots remain to be filled in the new administration, at the departments of Labor, Transportation and Energy. Bush, who returns to Austin on Monday, has said he hopes to complete his Cabinet by the end of this week. Other major positions still unfilled include CIA director and United Nations ambassador. On Friday, Bush nominated four new members of his Cabinet: Houston schools chief Rod Paige as education secretary; former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton as Secretary of the Interior; Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson to helm Health and Human Services; and decorated Vietnam War veteran Anthony Principi to lead Veterans' Affairs. In addition to rounding out his Cabinet nominations, Bush will also be hosting a two-day economic forum in Austin this week. Bartlett said a "broad spectrum of industry leaders" including economists, Wall Street financiers and retail executives will attend the forum. The Wednesday session will focus on "the general state of the economy," Bartlett said. Bush has expressed concern that the nation's robust economy is cooling, and has said his proposed 10-year, $1.3 trillion tax cut could stave off a recession. Treasury Secretary-designate Paul O'Neill and Commerce Secretary-designate Don Evans will also take part, as will Larry Lindsey, an economic adviser to the president-elect. Thursday will focus almost exclusively on the high-technology economy and the challenges facing that sector, which has been battered in the stock market recently. Central to the discussion will be education, Bartlett said. The gatherings are closed to the public and news media. Should Bush complete his Cabinet nominations by the end of the week, he would be setting a record of sorts, having assembled an administration faster than any other president. So far, the president-elect has kept his promise of diversity, including a broad slate of women and minorities in his nominations. His pledge to include Democrats, however, has remained elusive. With the Senate split 50-50 between the two parties, no Democratic Senators have been willing to leave the Senate and give the Republicans a majority. The same sentiment exists among Democrats in the House of Representatives, where Democrats feel they have a strong chance of gaining a majority in 2002 elections and do not want to leave Congress now. Bush approached Sen. John Breaux, D-La., but Breaux was not offered the job after he said he wanted to remain in the Senate. Former Sen. Sam Nunn, a Georgia Democrat, took himself out of the running for the Secretary of Defense post, which went to former defense secretary Don Rumsfeld. One Republican source told Reuters that Bush was highly unlikely to consider the notion of "a token" Democrat. The source said the president-elect was prepared to take whatever criticism came his way should he fail to include a Democrat in his Cabinet, Reuters reported. "I've talked to some Democrats about whether or not there may be an interest in leaving their current positions, and most people want to stay in place," Bush said last week. — The Associated Press contributed to this reporthttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/123100/bush.sml