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CNN Live At Daybreak

What's on Tap for D.C. Today?

Aired August 06, 2002 - 06:08   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: Our Washington deputy bureau chief, Steve Redisch, joins us now live on the phone with a look at what's on tap in D.C. today.

Good morning -- Steve.

STEVE REDISCH, CNN WASHINGTON DEPUTY BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So as you are drinking your coffee, people are -- well, some people are criticizing the president for taking such a long vacation in these times of trouble.

REDISCH: A six-week vacation is pretty much what the president did last year, and right before taking his vacation last year, as he will do this year, he goes in for his annual physical. He'll do that today at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

President Bush -- well, it will be a working vacation. He plans many trips during his six weeks in Crawford, Texas at the ranch, and will be working on a number of domestic issues, as well as international issues.

COSTELLO: But some people are complaining that he's just spending too much time away from Washington.

REDISCH: The White House comes back and says that the entourage, the entire presidential -- all of the people that surround the president will be going with him to Crawford, and he will be working. It will be -- he won't be in Washington to conduct business, but he'll be conducting business nonetheless.

COSTELLO: Got you. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is holding some sort of town meeting today?

REDISCH: He is going to, at 11:00, invite all of the employees at the Pentagon, both civilian and military, to join in a town hall meeting and ask him questions and try, as one person put it, rally the troops, although there doesn't seem to be a morale problem at the Pentagon. It comes in the middle of a lot of talk about whether the United States is starting to go after Iraq, and what the United States is going to do regarding the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. And Rumsfeld is an affable sort of fellow, and is going to be taking questions. COSTELLO: Got you. American teenagers are also making their thoughts known on what they think of the 9/11 attacks. What are they up to?

REDISCH: The Horatio Alger Association today is going to release its annual survey of teenage points of views, and they do this every year on topics from school to smoking to drugs to alcohol. This year, the Horatio Alger Association is going to ask about kids' attitudes towards -- teenage attitudes towards 9/11, and the ramifications thereof, and what it means to them. And I think those results might prove a little bit interesting as far as where the next generation looks toward terrorism and the defense of the homeland.

COSTELLO: Yes. Sometimes the best thoughts come out of our kids. Thank you, Steve Redisch. We'll let you get down to the Washington bureau, and talk to you again tomorrow.

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