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Bush to Attend Memorial Service
Aired February 03, 2003 - 13:18 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush met with NASA's administrator today, and the president flies here tomorrow for what will be an emotional memorial service for the Columbia astronauts.
CNN's Dana Bash at the White House live with more -- hello, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Well, the president left just a short while ago, left the White House to head to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. That is a previously scheduled speech he's going to give there, but we are told that he is going to mention, to talk about the tragedy that occurred over the weekend. He will talk about the crash, and about what he believes is in store for the future of the space program.
Now, as you mentioned, before that, he met for about 45 minutes this morning in the White House, in the Oval Office, with NASA's administrator, Sean O'Keefe. We're told that the vice president was there, his chief of staff was there. And during that meeting, we're told that he talked about the families. The president told administrator O'Keefe that first and foremost, they want to deal with the families of the -- the survivors of the seven astronauts that were killed on Saturday, and also he talked about the fact that the president wants to get back into space as soon as possible.
He said, according to White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, that the future of the space program should not be in doubt, that he is very much committed to that.
Now, the other thing that has been swirling, of course, one thing you heard Jonathan Karl talking to Senator McCain about that just a little while ago, about the fact that NASA's funding has really been at a plateau over the past decade.
Well, the White House here, they are saying that we shouldn't jump to any conclusions, that funding -- we should not assume that the low funding had anything to do with the crash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This administration is making no conclusions about whether the funding over the last decade or the increase in funding has anything to do with what took place with the Columbia. It would be premature and unwise to make any judgments about that at this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Now, Miles, we should note that it turns out that the president today -- today is the day that he sent his budget to Congress, and in that budget, he has an increase that was predetermined before Saturday's events, an increase of about $500 million for NASA -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much. CNN's Dana Bash at the White House. Appreciate that.
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 - 13:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush met with NASA's administrator today, and the president flies here tomorrow for what will be an emotional memorial service for the Columbia astronauts.
CNN's Dana Bash at the White House live with more -- hello, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Well, the president left just a short while ago, left the White House to head to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. That is a previously scheduled speech he's going to give there, but we are told that he is going to mention, to talk about the tragedy that occurred over the weekend. He will talk about the crash, and about what he believes is in store for the future of the space program.
Now, as you mentioned, before that, he met for about 45 minutes this morning in the White House, in the Oval Office, with NASA's administrator, Sean O'Keefe. We're told that the vice president was there, his chief of staff was there. And during that meeting, we're told that he talked about the families. The president told administrator O'Keefe that first and foremost, they want to deal with the families of the -- the survivors of the seven astronauts that were killed on Saturday, and also he talked about the fact that the president wants to get back into space as soon as possible.
He said, according to White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, that the future of the space program should not be in doubt, that he is very much committed to that.
Now, the other thing that has been swirling, of course, one thing you heard Jonathan Karl talking to Senator McCain about that just a little while ago, about the fact that NASA's funding has really been at a plateau over the past decade.
Well, the White House here, they are saying that we shouldn't jump to any conclusions, that funding -- we should not assume that the low funding had anything to do with the crash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This administration is making no conclusions about whether the funding over the last decade or the increase in funding has anything to do with what took place with the Columbia. It would be premature and unwise to make any judgments about that at this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Now, Miles, we should note that it turns out that the president today -- today is the day that he sent his budget to Congress, and in that budget, he has an increase that was predetermined before Saturday's events, an increase of about $500 million for NASA -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much. CNN's Dana Bash at the White House. Appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
