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Interview With Elaine Chao, Don Evans, John Snow

Aired July 30, 2003 - 15:08   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.


CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Three members of President Bush's cabinet are on the road today in a bid to sell the benefits of Mr. Bush's latest tax cuts. Treasury Secretary John Snow, Commerce Secretary Don Evans, and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao are taking part in the tax cut tour which got under way yesterday in Wisconsin. Today's stops are in Minnesota.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE CHAO, LABOR SECRETARY: Obviously, we're concerned about the state of the manufacturing sector, but as we have said many times throughout this whole tour, in fact, that manufacturing is changing. It is evolving. You know, the stock market hit the peak around March of 2000 and then the manufacturing sector has hit the doldrums about July, August of 2000.

So it's been up and down, and the movement of jobs overseas is an issue that concerns my department, and we have set up high-growth initiatives. We have also set up a lot of training opportunities to help reskill people so that people can move from one job -- one sector to another. But I think the news is that manufacturing is evolving and when it evolves new opportunities will arise, as well.

CROWLEY: Well, Secretary, it sounds to me like what you are saying is many of those jobs that are lost to overseas manufacturing are gone and what we need to do is retrain. Is that what you're saying?

CHAO: No, not really. Manufacturing is evolving, so there will be different requirements, and the most important thing is to retool and reskill. And what I mean by reskill is that people have to learn new skills and we have to facilitate that process.

CROWLEY: Secretary Evans, let me move on to you with another figure. A lot of people thought that consumer confidence would go up this past month and instead it went down. I suspect you're hearing a lot of that on the road, as well.

DON EVANS, COMMERCE SECRETARY: Well, Candy, I'm really not. And fact of the matter, I'm hearing a lot of optimism on the road, and maybe some of it is cautious optimism. But, the small businesses that we've been talking to, and many of the workers as well. We started yesterday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at a Harley Davidson plant, and I talked to many workers on the floor and they all wanted to thank the president for their tax cut, and we're all optimistic about the economy, or really, about their company. So one of the, I think, best indicator we have as far as the direction of the economy is the stock market. The stock market over the last couple of months has added some $2 trillion in market value, and so I think that is a very powerful indicator at what the shareholders, and this is a stakeholder society we that live in now. Many, many Americans, some 85 million Americans own shares of stock, and as they open up their 401ks now, they see a better number in their 401k than they saw several months ago. And so I'm sensing a really a fairly high level of optimism. I might say some of it is cautious optimism.

CROWLEY: How do you square with what you're hearing, though, with the fact that consumer confidence which we thought was going to go up went down. It says to me there are a lot of people out there that remain fearful.

EVANS: Well, Candy, a couple of things I guess I would say. First of all, that one survey ended -- that one survey, that one data point. You're talking about one single data point. We have another one coming out later this week. But, that one data point was before people saw their rate reductions in their paychecks. It is before the child tax credits went out, some $13 billion worth of child tax credit started to move across the economy.

CROWLEY: Secretary Snow, I want to move to you with another set of figures, and this is a Gallup poll that we took over the past couple of days. Indeed, as Secretary Evans hints at, when we ask about the president's handling of Iraq, a 60 percent of the Americans approve. His lowest approval rating, though, comes in the economy. Forty -- only 46 percent of Americans think that the president is doing a good job on the economy.

JOHN SNOW, TREASURY SECRETARY: Well, I think people's confidence will be strong, as they see the economy coming back. And the economy is poised to come back. With all the fundamentals of the economy really in place for a good recovery, and most importantly the president's jobs and growth bill, which is going to have a very important simulative effect on the economy in the months ahead. It -- the legislation is only recently passed.

CROWLEY: Any more correction course changes needed for the Bush administration, or is it steady as she goes. You believe we are in a recovery that is getting stronger?

SNOW: Oh, absolutely. I think, as I say, the economy is poised for a good strong recovery. We're going to see much better numbers -- both the GDP and employment in the third quarter and fourth quarter, and I think we're going to see very good results from 2004 with growth rates over four percent and unemployment coming down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 July 30, 2003 - 15:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Three members of President Bush's cabinet are on the road today in a bid to sell the benefits of Mr. Bush's latest tax cuts. Treasury Secretary John Snow, Commerce Secretary Don Evans, and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao are taking part in the tax cut tour which got under way yesterday in Wisconsin. Today's stops are in Minnesota.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE CHAO, LABOR SECRETARY: Obviously, we're concerned about the state of the manufacturing sector, but as we have said many times throughout this whole tour, in fact, that manufacturing is changing. It is evolving. You know, the stock market hit the peak around March of 2000 and then the manufacturing sector has hit the doldrums about July, August of 2000.

So it's been up and down, and the movement of jobs overseas is an issue that concerns my department, and we have set up high-growth initiatives. We have also set up a lot of training opportunities to help reskill people so that people can move from one job -- one sector to another. But I think the news is that manufacturing is evolving and when it evolves new opportunities will arise, as well.

CROWLEY: Well, Secretary, it sounds to me like what you are saying is many of those jobs that are lost to overseas manufacturing are gone and what we need to do is retrain. Is that what you're saying?

CHAO: No, not really. Manufacturing is evolving, so there will be different requirements, and the most important thing is to retool and reskill. And what I mean by reskill is that people have to learn new skills and we have to facilitate that process.

CROWLEY: Secretary Evans, let me move on to you with another figure. A lot of people thought that consumer confidence would go up this past month and instead it went down. I suspect you're hearing a lot of that on the road, as well.

DON EVANS, COMMERCE SECRETARY: Well, Candy, I'm really not. And fact of the matter, I'm hearing a lot of optimism on the road, and maybe some of it is cautious optimism. But, the small businesses that we've been talking to, and many of the workers as well. We started yesterday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at a Harley Davidson plant, and I talked to many workers on the floor and they all wanted to thank the president for their tax cut, and we're all optimistic about the economy, or really, about their company. So one of the, I think, best indicator we have as far as the direction of the economy is the stock market. The stock market over the last couple of months has added some $2 trillion in market value, and so I think that is a very powerful indicator at what the shareholders, and this is a stakeholder society we that live in now. Many, many Americans, some 85 million Americans own shares of stock, and as they open up their 401ks now, they see a better number in their 401k than they saw several months ago. And so I'm sensing a really a fairly high level of optimism. I might say some of it is cautious optimism.

CROWLEY: How do you square with what you're hearing, though, with the fact that consumer confidence which we thought was going to go up went down. It says to me there are a lot of people out there that remain fearful.

EVANS: Well, Candy, a couple of things I guess I would say. First of all, that one survey ended -- that one survey, that one data point. You're talking about one single data point. We have another one coming out later this week. But, that one data point was before people saw their rate reductions in their paychecks. It is before the child tax credits went out, some $13 billion worth of child tax credit started to move across the economy.

CROWLEY: Secretary Snow, I want to move to you with another set of figures, and this is a Gallup poll that we took over the past couple of days. Indeed, as Secretary Evans hints at, when we ask about the president's handling of Iraq, a 60 percent of the Americans approve. His lowest approval rating, though, comes in the economy. Forty -- only 46 percent of Americans think that the president is doing a good job on the economy.

JOHN SNOW, TREASURY SECRETARY: Well, I think people's confidence will be strong, as they see the economy coming back. And the economy is poised to come back. With all the fundamentals of the economy really in place for a good recovery, and most importantly the president's jobs and growth bill, which is going to have a very important simulative effect on the economy in the months ahead. It -- the legislation is only recently passed.

CROWLEY: Any more correction course changes needed for the Bush administration, or is it steady as she goes. You believe we are in a recovery that is getting stronger?

SNOW: Oh, absolutely. I think, as I say, the economy is poised for a good strong recovery. We're going to see much better numbers -- both the GDP and employment in the third quarter and fourth quarter, and I think we're going to see very good results from 2004 with growth rates over four percent and unemployment coming down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com