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American Morning
Bush to Address Economic Issues in Labor Day Address
Aired September 01, 2003 - 09:32 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is back from his month- long working vacation. Today he's going to be talking about the economy with union members in Ohio.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us. She's got more on that.
Hello, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Leon.
President Bush wasted no time getting back on the road. He is on his way to Richmond, Ohio -- Richfield, Ohio, that is rather, where he's going to be speaking to union workers about his economic agenda and also the administration's effort to create more jobs.
Administration officials realize this is really a critical issue for the president. There are now nine million Americans that are out of work on this Labor Day holiday. That is a 6.2 unemployment rate.
The president is going to be using this holiday to highlight the positive indicators of the economy. He's going to be talking about the fact that consumer spending is up, worker productivity is up, as well as economic growth.
He is also going to be urging the American people to have some patience. He's going to argue that the tax cut plan, the benefits, eventually is going to work, it's going kick in, creating more jobs.
And the president is going to outline his agenda. He's going to talk about the need to create job, control lawsuits, to restrain government spending, to establish free trade agreements with other countries and then finally to pass a comprehensive energy bill.
As you know, Leon, there is some Democrats as well as economists who say that they do not believe that this is the right way to go. They just point to the federal deficit. They say a $480 billion deficit for next year shows that this is not actually working.
The congressman who represents the 18th district of Ohio, Congressman Brown, just over the weekend criticizing the president, saying that Ohio is very much reflective of the rest of the country, that there are 60 percent more Ohio residents now who are out of work than before Bush took office.
Obviously, a very difficult situation, a very challenging situation for the administration, and Mr. Bush is going to deal with it today -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Good deal. We'll listen to see what he has to say, then. Thanks, Suzanne Malveaux, reporting live for us this morning.
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 September 1, 2003 - 09:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is back from his month- long working vacation. Today he's going to be talking about the economy with union members in Ohio.
CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us. She's got more on that.
Hello, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Leon.
President Bush wasted no time getting back on the road. He is on his way to Richmond, Ohio -- Richfield, Ohio, that is rather, where he's going to be speaking to union workers about his economic agenda and also the administration's effort to create more jobs.
Administration officials realize this is really a critical issue for the president. There are now nine million Americans that are out of work on this Labor Day holiday. That is a 6.2 unemployment rate.
The president is going to be using this holiday to highlight the positive indicators of the economy. He's going to be talking about the fact that consumer spending is up, worker productivity is up, as well as economic growth.
He is also going to be urging the American people to have some patience. He's going to argue that the tax cut plan, the benefits, eventually is going to work, it's going kick in, creating more jobs.
And the president is going to outline his agenda. He's going to talk about the need to create job, control lawsuits, to restrain government spending, to establish free trade agreements with other countries and then finally to pass a comprehensive energy bill.
As you know, Leon, there is some Democrats as well as economists who say that they do not believe that this is the right way to go. They just point to the federal deficit. They say a $480 billion deficit for next year shows that this is not actually working.
The congressman who represents the 18th district of Ohio, Congressman Brown, just over the weekend criticizing the president, saying that Ohio is very much reflective of the rest of the country, that there are 60 percent more Ohio residents now who are out of work than before Bush took office.
Obviously, a very difficult situation, a very challenging situation for the administration, and Mr. Bush is going to deal with it today -- Leon.
HARRIS: All right. Good deal. We'll listen to see what he has to say, then. Thanks, Suzanne Malveaux, reporting live for us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
