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CNN Live At Daybreak

Dick Cheney Heads Back to Work

Aired July 02, 2001 - 07:01   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: First: Dick Cheney's beating heart -- and the emphasis this morning is on beating. An estimated 150,000 people in this country have the same kind of device that was implanted in Dick Cheney's chest over the weekend.

Today, the vice president heads back to work and so does CNN's Major Garrett. He's live at the White House.

Major, will it be a full day for the vice president?

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Carol, as full as can be expected -- no public events for the vice president, no travel today. But he will arrive here at the White House probably within the next hour. We have cameras outside the vice president's residence, the Naval Observatory, to capture his short car ride here to the White House.

Aides say that he will be on the phone today with three talk radio stations doing what he's been doing for several weeks, that is, promoting the president's energy plan. He will also have his typical meetings with the president this morning on national security and international policy matters.

Of course, on Saturday, the vice president was at the George Washington University Hospital Center, where he had a defibrillator installed to monitor his heart rate and to lower it if it is beating too fast and to stimulate it if it is beating too slowly -- the vice president due here within the next hour or so.

Aides say he will have a good deal of work to do today and for the rest of the week, and everything is business as usual -- Carol.

LIN: But, Major, are there any reservations at all in Washington about Dick Cheney's health?

GARRETT: Well, it's a constant issue. And it's certainly an issue that the White House wished had not come up as often as it has. I mean, this is the third episode since the November election.

For personal reasons, of course, everyone here at the White House family is concerned about the vice president's health. And there is that sort of secondary political question: How many times can the country go through a sense of: "Well, this vice president, who's clearly very powerful, having continuous problems with both his coronary artery health and his heart itself"?

But the president and the vice president and all the staff saying he's getting excellent care -- he's changed many of his habits -- lost 25 pounds since the November election, exercises regularly. And because he receives such regular and top-flight care, he's in pretty good shape -- Carol.

LIN: A role model for any of us.

Thank you very much, Major Garrett, reporting live at the White House.

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