Bush Spends First Morning as President
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There's a new sheriff in town, shall we say. George Walker Bush woke up in his new digs at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this morning, the 43rd President of the United States. The first family spent the evening attending all eight inaugural balls and two other events. It was not a late night for them, at least not by Washington standards. They were back at home at the White House well before midnight. While thousands of ordinary Americans cheered the new president and his family during yesterday's inaugural parade, thousands more registered vigorous protests. At least five people arrested for disturbing the peace. Some threw eggs, fruit and tennis balls at the passing motorcade, the Associated Press reporting a contingent of Girl Scouts became an ad hoc security force when they helped contain one group of boisterous demonstrators. Is there a merit badge for that, I wonder?</s>KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: I'll tell you who's got a merit badge, that's Jeanne Meserve, for all the hours she spent yesterday covering all these events.</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And hey, I'm a former Girl Scout. Still have the sash. I'll put a new one right on there. But as for the new President, he wasted little time getting down to business with a number of executive actions during his first hours in office. CNN's Kelly Wallace joins us from the White House with the latest from there. Kelly?</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jeanne, that's right. Shortly after George W. Bush became the 43rd President, he proclaimed this day as one of national unity and prayer and so the first activity for the First Family on this first full day in office will be to be attending a prayer service. Mr. Bush and his wife will also open up the White House to visitors, those lucky enough standing in line to get inside here at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. As you mentioned, though, Mr. Bush is already working, well at work. Yesterday, he signed an executive order basically putting into effect a hiring freeze until his cabinet picks and agency heads are in place. He also cited an executive order calling for ethical standards for his staff and he also put a temporary freeze on some executive regulations that President Clinton put forward in his final weeks in office, those concerning Medicare rules and environmental regulations. But, already the Senate has acted on and approved seven of Mr. Bush's cabinet picks, including Colin Powell as Secretary of State, Donald Rumsfeld at Defense, Paul O'Neill at Treasury and Venimen (ph), the new Agriculture Secretary, Don Evans (ph), who will be heading up the Commerce Department, Spencer Abraham at Energy and Rod Paige, the Houston schools superintendent, is not Education Secretary. Other nominees such as John Ashcroft for Attorney General and Gale Norton for Interior Secretary do -- are expected to face a tougher fight in the Senate, but they are also expected to be confirmed. Now, Mr. Bush started his presidency with an inaugural address in which he called for a national unity and civility. There was no direct mention of the post-election battle, although Mr. Bush made it clear he will work on trying to bring the country together. He also put forward the agenda he campaigned on, that agenda, he said, that he will press in the Congress.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Together we will reclaim America's schools before ignorance and apathy claim more young lives. We will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from struggles we have the power to prevent. And we will reduce taxes to recover the momentum of our economy and reward the efforts and enterprise of working Americans.</s>WALLACE: And Mr. Bush will begin talking to lawmakers about that agenda in meetings with Congressional leaders this week. He will actually unveil his education reform plan on Tuesday. That plan includes measures that do have bipartisan support, such as increasing standards and national testing. Mr. Bush, though, is also expected to put forward a measure that many Democrats oppose. That is providing vouchers to low income parents so that they can take their children out of failing schools and pay for private and parochial schools. But Jeanne, right now the new Bush team appears to be put forward the agenda that Mr. Bush campaigned on and make concessions and compromises later -- Jeanne.</s>MESERVE: Kelly, one of President Clinton's last acts in office was to issue a flurry of pardons to, amongst others, some Whitewater figures. Any reaction to that from the Bush administration?</s>WALLACE: No real reaction, actually, to that. They obviously know that the President, when he is President, does have the authority to issue those pardons. You really get the sense from the new Bush team that especially when it comes to those pardons, that that's something that they will allow the former President to do and that they're looking forward and not looking back -- Jeanne.</s>MESERVE: OK, Kelly Wallace at the White House, thanks. And now let's go to CNN's Patty Davis at Washington's National Cathedral, where the First Family is to attend Sunday's service. Patty, what's ahead?</s>PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jeanne. Security here at the Washington National Cathedral getting tighter and tighter. You're looking at Park Police, D.C. Police as well as Secret Service, a combination of those waiting for President George W. Bush to arrive. He is going to take part in an hour long national prayer service. Three thousand people expected to attend, including Vice President Cheney, inaugural staff, transition staff, members of Congress, the public. You had to have tickets for this event. Those tickets are all gone at this point. The service will include choirs, readings, prayers as well. This cathedral, a very famous cathedral, the second largest in the United States, the first being St. John the Divine in New York City. It has a history of presidential visits, Washington National Cathedral does, a history of presidential visits dating back all the way to the early 1900s as well as presidential attendees to this cathedral. Now, President Bush has said his faith is very important to him. He is, calls himself a compassionate conservative and he plans and campaigned on a larger role for churches, faith-based organizations to be in his administration taking part in helping deliver services to the poor and he said yesterday that he plans to deliver on that promise, Jeanne.</s>MESERVE: Patty Davis at the National Cathedral, thanks. Well, the Bushes are beginning a new chapter and so are the Clintons, with the former President now an ordinary citizen, well, sort of ordinary. He still does get Secret Service protection and the former First Lady already has begun her new career as a U.S. Senator. CNN's Deborah Feyerick joins us by phone from Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons now live. Deborah, any indication they're up and about yet?</s>DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, no. No indication so far. It's a very white morning here as they wake up in their new white house. Six inches of snow fell in Chappaqua. The former first family arrived here yesterday. They were met at the airport by about 1,000 supporters and right now there's still no word on what their morning plans might be. It is Sunday and the Clintons tend to go to church, but we are getting word from the Secret Service that they're hoping to discourage the First Family, the former first family from leaving the house simply because it is so snowy here the roads are very, very slippery. Now, as the Clintons settle in, so is reaction to some of those pardons yesterday, President Clinton pardoning some 140 people, among them his brother, Roger Clinton, who served a year in prison on drug charges. Also, Clinton's former business partner Susan McDougal, who spent almost two years in prison for not terrifying against Clinton. She says that she never formally requested any pardon.</s>SUSAN MCDOUGAL: I haven't talked to him in so many years that I was afraid he might hold some bitterness or some resentment against me because of the Whitewater investigation, you know, that might not have happened if he had never met us, you know? And so I kept, when I would think about his position, I kept thinking, you know, perhaps he blames me. And I think it's a great testament to his character that I actually did receive the pardon.</s>FEYERICK: Bill Clinton is one of the youngest Presidents to leave office. He will receive a government pension of $157,000 a year. Also, he will get taxpayer funded Secret Service protection as well as office space and we understand that he has found a place in Manhattan, which is about an hour away, so he'll spend time there and he'll rest, write his memoirs and help set up the presidential library in Arkansas, and, of course, if he ever gets tired or bored, he can always return to Washington, where the Clintons have a house there -- Jeanne.</s>MESERVE: Deborah Feyerick in Chappaqua, thanks so much. And after eight years of having their every move tracked by the press, the Clintons might enjoy that privacy.