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CNN Live Saturday
Agenda 2004: Looking Ahead At Presidential Election Year
Aired January 03, 2004 - 12:15 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.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is heading back to Washington after the holiday break. It's back to work now and a new agenda for the New Year. CNN White House correspondent, Dana Bash, can tell us more about his agenda -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. And a New Year that is, of course, an election year and the president is going to continue the brisk fund-raising pace that he kept up towards the end of 2003. There he amassed about $120 billion, and he is going to continue with three fund raisers this coming week, he'll travel to Missouri and to Tennessee and to Florida to raise even more campaign cash. But, Mr. Bush is also going to be playing up what the White House sees as a top domestic achievement since he's been president, one that they're going to clearly play up on the campaign trail, and that's education reform. Next week is the second anniversary of the so-called "No Child Left Behind" act and the president is already starting to cite facts and figures he says that the law helped in terms of improving education.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The No Child Left Behind act required a change in attitude from the educators and public officials responsible for our schools. We will no longer write off some children as hopeless. We will no longer accept or excuse schools that do not effectively teach the basics. We will insist on high standards and accountability because we believe that every school should teach and every child can learn.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BASH: And this was a bipartisan bill when it was passed two years ago, but since then, many democrats have been critical of the president, saying that he has simply not funded the bill well enough, that education has not been funded -- has been underfunded since he's been in office, and as a matter of fact, representative Tim Bishop of New York gave the democratic radio address, the response earlier today. He said that it was $8 billion short just last year, Fredricka, we see the beginnings of a serious campaign debate coming up -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, talking about momentum, Dana, let's talk about a conservative democrat who has now decided he wants to be a republican after almost a quarter of a century.
BASH: Yeah. This is something that probably wasn't a big surprise to people in Texas and to political watchers. He -- Ralph Hall, that is, of Texas, the longest serving member of congress from Texas, has been a conservative democrat for some time. Represents a very conservative district and has said, for some time, that if it ever gets to the point where he hurts his district by being a democrat, he would switch. He did make the switch. He told supporters and told the media last night. This is something that the White House welcomed with open arms, as you can imagine, another republican in the president's home state. Unclear, though, how much this has, in terms of a national implication, but the symbolism is something that the White House and Republican Party, nationally, certainly is very happy about.
WHITFIELD: All right, Dana Bash. Thanks very much, 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 January 3, 2004 - 12:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is heading back to Washington after the holiday break. It's back to work now and a new agenda for the New Year. CNN White House correspondent, Dana Bash, can tell us more about his agenda -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. And a New Year that is, of course, an election year and the president is going to continue the brisk fund-raising pace that he kept up towards the end of 2003. There he amassed about $120 billion, and he is going to continue with three fund raisers this coming week, he'll travel to Missouri and to Tennessee and to Florida to raise even more campaign cash. But, Mr. Bush is also going to be playing up what the White House sees as a top domestic achievement since he's been president, one that they're going to clearly play up on the campaign trail, and that's education reform. Next week is the second anniversary of the so-called "No Child Left Behind" act and the president is already starting to cite facts and figures he says that the law helped in terms of improving education.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The No Child Left Behind act required a change in attitude from the educators and public officials responsible for our schools. We will no longer write off some children as hopeless. We will no longer accept or excuse schools that do not effectively teach the basics. We will insist on high standards and accountability because we believe that every school should teach and every child can learn.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BASH: And this was a bipartisan bill when it was passed two years ago, but since then, many democrats have been critical of the president, saying that he has simply not funded the bill well enough, that education has not been funded -- has been underfunded since he's been in office, and as a matter of fact, representative Tim Bishop of New York gave the democratic radio address, the response earlier today. He said that it was $8 billion short just last year, Fredricka, we see the beginnings of a serious campaign debate coming up -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, talking about momentum, Dana, let's talk about a conservative democrat who has now decided he wants to be a republican after almost a quarter of a century.
BASH: Yeah. This is something that probably wasn't a big surprise to people in Texas and to political watchers. He -- Ralph Hall, that is, of Texas, the longest serving member of congress from Texas, has been a conservative democrat for some time. Represents a very conservative district and has said, for some time, that if it ever gets to the point where he hurts his district by being a democrat, he would switch. He did make the switch. He told supporters and told the media last night. This is something that the White House welcomed with open arms, as you can imagine, another republican in the president's home state. Unclear, though, how much this has, in terms of a national implication, but the symbolism is something that the White House and Republican Party, nationally, certainly is very happy about.
WHITFIELD: All right, Dana Bash. Thanks very much, 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
