Bush Aides Satisfied With First Week in White House
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: A short time ago, President Bush delivered his first weekly radio address; and as expected, education was the focus, and it dominated week one of Mr. Bush's presidency. For the latest, we go live now to CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace. Hi, Kelly.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi there, Donna. Aides are feeling quite good about this first full week. They believe President Bush managed to stay on message, touting at every chance he could his plan to improve the nation's schools. And in his first weekly radio address, he urged Congress to act on his plan by this summer. Mr. Bush is calling for giving local school districts more control over federal education dollars. In exchange, the president would like to see students tested annually in reading and math. Democrats like quite a bit of what they see in Mr. Bush's proposal, with the exception of providing low-income parents with federal tax dollars to use for private schools or private tutors if their children's public schools continue to fail. But in his radio address today, Mr. Bush hinted that he would be willing to negotiate.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will not continue to pour taxpayers' money into schools that do not teach and will not change. My plan will give every failing school a fair chance to improve, but there will be a deadline, a moment of truth when parents are given better options and their children are given a way out. There are some honest differences of opinion in Congress about what form these options should take. I have my own plan which would help children in persistently failing schools to go to another public, private or charter school.</s>WALLACE: And Mr. Bush saying he would be willing to listen to the ideas of the other side. As for the other side, the Democrats are now doing the traditional response to the president's radio address. Today it was House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt; he said the president's education proposal is, in his words, "an encouraging step." But, again he repeated democratic concerns about so-called vouchers, believing those would amount to abandoning public schools in need.</s>REP. DICK GEPHARDT (D), MINORITY LEADER: We believe that vouchers, which are in President Bush's plan, do not further the goal of improving public schools. Vouchers drain funds from failing schools at the very moment when schools need these resources the most. This could leave children behind. We hope President Bush will work with both parties on legislation to invest in and build up public schools and give every child the opportunity he or she deserves.</s>WALLACE: And so, over the next several weeks the real work begins; the White House negotiating differences with Democrats over education; and Mr. Bush's other priorities are likely to have an even tougher battle with the Congress. Just this week -- upcoming week -- Mr. Bush will unveil two of his other legislative plans, one to provide prescription drug coverage to low-income seniors -- some Democrats think that plan does not go far enough. He will also unveil his plan to allow so-called faith-based organizations to play more of a role in dealing with societal problems, but some critics say providing federal support to religious organizations would violate the separation of church and state. So, Donna, the tougher work likely to be in the weeks ahead -- back to you.</s>KELLEY: I wouldn't doubt it a bit, Kelly. But in the hallowed halls, what have you heard of this first week? Does the honeymoon continue? What are the Democrats saying?</s>WALLACE: A bit of a honeymoon. Democrats, though, are saying they are quite impressed so far with the president. Democrats who met with him here at the White House to discuss issues such as education felt that he had a strong grasp of the issues. They felt that he was very willing to engage with the other side, with the Democrats. He had 90 lawmakers here in his first week; White House aides saying that's a record of sorts -- 29 of them Democrats. So Democrats, so far, impressed. But again, Donna, a little bit of a honeymoon. The real tough work will be negotiating differences on education, tax cuts -- the real work in the weeks ahead -- Donna.</s>KELLEY: And I saw he was settling into a schedule now, and at the office at a certain time and trying to get into a routine. Kelly Wallace, thanks very much, at the White House.