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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bush Promotes Economic Stimulus Package

Aired January 15, 2002 - 05:20   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 COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush wraps up a two day swing through the nation's heartland with a visit to New Orleans today. In a policy change, the president is going public to promote his economic stimulus package.

But as CNN White House correspondent Major Garrett reports, Mr. Bush also found time for some humor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you're president and a pretzel makes you faint, all that's left is the joke.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If my mother is listening, mother, I should have listened to you. Always chew your pretzels before you swallow.

GARRETT: And the president even sent a gift to the press corps, complete with a presidentially scrawled consumer warning, "chew slowly."

The president's trip to Illinois and Missouri signaled a shift in White House strategy. Mr. Bush wants to spend more time on the road reminding voters of his successes as a warrior president while urging them to back his plan to revive the sluggish economy.

BUSH: And we can do a better job in Washington, D.C. of addressing this economic downturn and I'm confident when the people's voice rises up the good folks up there elected to represent you all and everybody else will hear you loud and clear.

GARRETT: The president's top economic priority is protecting last year's tax cut and pushing through an economic stimulus package that contains up to $75 billion in tax cuts and for those left unemployed by the recession, tax credits to pay for health insurance and a 13 week extension of unemployment benefits.

BUSH: The way to stimulate growth during a recession is to give people, let them keep their own money. That's Economics 101, except it sounds like some of them haven't taken the course in Washington.

GARRETT (on camera): Late last year, the president tried the inside game and it didn't work. Phone calls and meetings with senators did not produce an economic stimulus plan or a trade bill or energy bill. So now it's back to the outside game, hitting key political states like Illinois and Missouri, urging voters there to lean on their law makers to back the domestic agenda of the wartime president.

Major Garrett, CNN, Aurora, Missouri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And President Bush is scheduled to speak in New Orleans at 10:45 Eastern time this morning. He will talk about international trade policy. And, of course, we will carry the president's remarks live right here on CNN.

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