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CNN Live Today
President Releases Budget Plan Today
Aired February 03, 2003 - 10:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: If you watched the television over the weekend, you know that President Bush got more experience than he probably ever wanted in consoling a nation through a crisis, and he may be doing more of that in days to come.
In less than half hour from now, President Bush is scheduled to be briefed on the latest developments of the shuttle tragedy by NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe.
With a preview of that meeting and more, let's turn now to CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash, who joins us now live.
Hello, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
Well, the president did talk to Sean O'Keefe on Saturday, shortly after the news of the disaster hit the airwaves. And the president also was very informed over the weekend. The White House situation room was up and running all weekend long. His science adviser was coordinating efforts there, and his chief of staff, Andrew Card, was keeping him abreast of all of the information about the investigation.
But the meeting that you referred to with Sean O'Keefe at 11:00 Eastern is a chance for the president that to talk face to face with the NASA administrator, and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters just a few minutes ago he really wants to talk about what he really knows about the investigation. The president is apparently very interested in the details of that and how things are going and what the latest is on why they think this happened.
The other thing that the president wants to Sean O'Keefe about is morale at NASA. He wants to talk about the fact that he wants to make sure that people there know that the president is behind the space program and wants to make sure that morale is -- he wants to try to lift morale there.
Now the one thing that the president and the White House is not doing right now in terms of fact finding is naming a blue ribbon panel. That's something that President Reagan did after the 1986 Challenger explosion.
But the White House is saying that for right now, he's going to left the NASA investigation take place, the independent investigation through NASA take place. They're not closing the door on that kind of independent presidential blue ribbon panel, but for now, simply say they're not doing that. Now, the other issue that's been talked about since Saturday, is the issue of funding for NASA. A lot of people, a lot of folks on the Hill, including former astronaut and Senator Bill Nelson saying that NASA has been very, very underfunded over the past decade. The president's budget is out today, his 2004 budget, and in that, he increases by $500 million. That's up to $15.5 billion of the NASA budget.
Now we just got more detailed information on that specific to the space shuttle program. The president's budget allows for -- or calls for $3.9 billion this year, or 2004, for the space shuttle program. That's up from 3.2 billion just last year.
So the White House is trying to make it clear that the president is absolutely committed to space program, and it shows in his budget, and in his meetings, and in his words, he will speak later today at a previously scheduled event about the events over the weekend -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, thanks, Dana. Dana Bash, reporting live for us from the White House.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 3, 2003 - 10:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: If you watched the television over the weekend, you know that President Bush got more experience than he probably ever wanted in consoling a nation through a crisis, and he may be doing more of that in days to come.
In less than half hour from now, President Bush is scheduled to be briefed on the latest developments of the shuttle tragedy by NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe.
With a preview of that meeting and more, let's turn now to CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash, who joins us now live.
Hello, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.
Well, the president did talk to Sean O'Keefe on Saturday, shortly after the news of the disaster hit the airwaves. And the president also was very informed over the weekend. The White House situation room was up and running all weekend long. His science adviser was coordinating efforts there, and his chief of staff, Andrew Card, was keeping him abreast of all of the information about the investigation.
But the meeting that you referred to with Sean O'Keefe at 11:00 Eastern is a chance for the president that to talk face to face with the NASA administrator, and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters just a few minutes ago he really wants to talk about what he really knows about the investigation. The president is apparently very interested in the details of that and how things are going and what the latest is on why they think this happened.
The other thing that the president wants to Sean O'Keefe about is morale at NASA. He wants to talk about the fact that he wants to make sure that people there know that the president is behind the space program and wants to make sure that morale is -- he wants to try to lift morale there.
Now the one thing that the president and the White House is not doing right now in terms of fact finding is naming a blue ribbon panel. That's something that President Reagan did after the 1986 Challenger explosion.
But the White House is saying that for right now, he's going to left the NASA investigation take place, the independent investigation through NASA take place. They're not closing the door on that kind of independent presidential blue ribbon panel, but for now, simply say they're not doing that. Now, the other issue that's been talked about since Saturday, is the issue of funding for NASA. A lot of people, a lot of folks on the Hill, including former astronaut and Senator Bill Nelson saying that NASA has been very, very underfunded over the past decade. The president's budget is out today, his 2004 budget, and in that, he increases by $500 million. That's up to $15.5 billion of the NASA budget.
Now we just got more detailed information on that specific to the space shuttle program. The president's budget allows for -- or calls for $3.9 billion this year, or 2004, for the space shuttle program. That's up from 3.2 billion just last year.
So the White House is trying to make it clear that the president is absolutely committed to space program, and it shows in his budget, and in his meetings, and in his words, he will speak later today at a previously scheduled event about the events over the weekend -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right, thanks, Dana. Dana Bash, reporting live for us from the White House.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
