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American Morning

President Bush Comments on International Policy, Patients' Bill of Rights

Aired July 25, 2001 - 11:25   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And right now we want to show our viewers some videotape we're getting in from the White House.

Here's President Bush with some comments made just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... and the hope and promise I seek of a constructive relationship.

I also am aware that there's some foreign policy matters in the Congress, and I urge Congress to deal fairly with Mexico and to not treat the Mexican truck industry in an unfair fashion, that I believe strongly we can have safety measures in place, that we'll make sure our highways are safe, but we should not single out Mexico. Mexico is our close friend and ally. We must treat them with respect and uphold NAFTA and the spirit of NAFTA.

I also fully understand that foreign policy is best when conducted in a bipartisan fashion, and I so very much appreciate the chairman. Spoke to the chairman before -- and both chairmen -- before my trip overseas this time and before my trip last time overseas. And I take their advice very seriously and counsel very seriously. It helps for us to continue to communicate, particularly when it comes to foreign policy.

So thank you all for coming. And I'll be glad to answer maybe one or two questions.

Yes?

QUESTION: Mr. President, on the patients' bill of rights, there's some talk that the House Republicans are not planning to schedule a vote later, perhaps as late as September. Is that a recognition on the part of the party and its leadership that you don't have the votes to get what you want on that issue?

BUSH: I'm hopeful we'll get a bill I can sign, and I appreciate so very much the hard work that's going on, particularly now in the House of Representatives, to bring a bill that is fair to patients.

And there was a lot of negotiations going on when I was gone, and there still seems to be a lot of talk. And obviously, we'd like to get this bill finished and on my desk and a bill I can sign. I laid out the principles that would allow me to sign a bill, and I still stand by those principles, but I can report that we're making pretty good progress, it seems like.

QUESTION: Mr. President, OPEC has about to cut production by a million barrels a day. What's that going to do to the already struggling economy?

BUSH: It is very important for there to be stability in the marketplace. I read some comments from the OPEC ministers that said this was just a matter to make sure the market remains stable and predictable. Obviously, if it's an attempt to run the price of oil up, we'll make our opinions very clear and known that that would hurt America and hurt the marketplace.

Our economy is bumping along right now and a run up in energy prices would hurt and surely the OPEC leaders understand that, and I think they do.

Thank you all for coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Some brief comments and videotape we just received in from the White House -- President Bush, just back from his second trip to Europe, making some comments about international policy, also about a patients' bill of rights, up for debate in the Congress, and also an announcement today that OPEC plans to cut oil production.

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