Read the last paragraph. This shows that they believe that they are on the wrong side of this issue. They will still try to pass gun restrictions, but will tone down their discussion. This mention of target practice is not a chance happening.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010202/aponline123808_000.htm
Bush Joining Democratic Retreat
By Sandra Sobieraj
Associated Press Writer
Friday, Feb. 2, 2001; 12:38 p.m. EST
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. –– Just as President Bush steers his White House into the inevitable partisan tussle over tax cuts, he is making an unprecedented gesture to congressional Democrats: joining their annual closed-door retreats.
Bush took a half-dozen questions from the opposition at the opening of Friday's Senate Democratic retreat at the Library of Congress before venturing back onto Republican turf in the afternoon at the House-Senate GOP retreat in Williamsburg.
"It is a time for policy," the president told Senate Democrats, discussing with them Medicare, Social Security, defense issues, the budget, tax cuts and education.
According to White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who sat in on the private, 50-minute session, Bush also told Democrats: "Some may think I'm naive to rid the system of rancor, but that's my intent."
As he boarded his helicopter for the trip to Virginia, Bush flashed reporters a thumbs-up and reported the meeting was "Good."
Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, described the session as congenial but "all form and no substance. It will all be talk until we get the specifics."
After an abbreviated weekend at Camp David with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, his first visit to the presidential getaway as president, Bush will fly on Sunday to Farmington, Pa., near Pittsburgh, where House Democrats are meeting at a mountain resort.
The president "hopes that by going to the retreats of the other parties, as well, of course, as his own party, that people across the country will see our government works together well," said Fleischer.
Whether that focus can hold will be tested next week when Bush sends Congress his $1.6 trillion, 10-year tax-cut package. Democrats have already mounted a campaign against the plan, saying its massive size risks a return to Reagan-era deficits.
Bush begins his tax campaign in earnest on Monday, by inviting to a White House ceremony four families that would, under Bush's proposed cuts, fall into lower income tax brackets. On Tuesday, Bush will venture to a Washington-area small business to highlight how tax cuts might stimulate the economy and job growth. Wednesday will bring a White House reunion with families that Bush used along the campaign trail to put a face on his tax plan.
He is to submit "general outlines" of the plan – "not bill language" – to Congress on Thursday, Fleischer said.
White House and congressional officials could not recall a president ever dropping in on the opposing party's private team huddles.
By the latest White House count, Bush has, in his first 13 days as president, welcomed a record number of Congress members – between 150 and 160 – from both parties to the White House to meet with him. President Clinton extended such an invitation to just 17 lawmakers during his first week in 1993 and aides said former President Bush, the current president's father, tallied under 10.
The outreach is raising some eyebrows in Washington.
"I noticed that people are referring to this as the hug-a-Democrat-a-day administration," Fleischer joked Thursday.
Acting on a suggestion from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., invited Bush to speak and field questions for a half-hour at the opening of Friday's Senate Democratic retreat at the Library of Congress.
"Senator Daschle and Senator Dorgan and, I think, the entire caucus want to work very closely with the new president," said Daschle spokeswoman Ranit Schmelzer.
Booking Bush for the House Democrats' summit in Pennsylvania was far more roundabout. Leadership officials say the first word House Democrats heard of Bush's interest came from Capitol police, who heard from the Secret Service that Bush was toying with the idea of dropping in on the two-day annual retreat.
Subsequently, telephone calls between the office of House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., and Nicholas Calio, Bush's chief liaison to Congress, produced a formal invitation, officials said.
"They approached us. We said we'd love to have him," said Gephardt spokeswoman Laura Nichols. "The only thing we really insisted on was that there be an exchange and not just an opportunity for him to make a speech."
And so, Bush is scheduled to sit for at least 20 minutes of questioning by some 150 House Democrats on Sunday afternoon – in between the lawmakers' private discussions of suburban growth and union organizing with AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, and their free time for snowboarding or target shooting.
© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010202/aponline123808_000.htm
Bush Joining Democratic Retreat
By Sandra Sobieraj
Associated Press Writer
Friday, Feb. 2, 2001; 12:38 p.m. EST
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. –– Just as President Bush steers his White House into the inevitable partisan tussle over tax cuts, he is making an unprecedented gesture to congressional Democrats: joining their annual closed-door retreats.
Bush took a half-dozen questions from the opposition at the opening of Friday's Senate Democratic retreat at the Library of Congress before venturing back onto Republican turf in the afternoon at the House-Senate GOP retreat in Williamsburg.
"It is a time for policy," the president told Senate Democrats, discussing with them Medicare, Social Security, defense issues, the budget, tax cuts and education.
According to White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who sat in on the private, 50-minute session, Bush also told Democrats: "Some may think I'm naive to rid the system of rancor, but that's my intent."
As he boarded his helicopter for the trip to Virginia, Bush flashed reporters a thumbs-up and reported the meeting was "Good."
Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, described the session as congenial but "all form and no substance. It will all be talk until we get the specifics."
After an abbreviated weekend at Camp David with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, his first visit to the presidential getaway as president, Bush will fly on Sunday to Farmington, Pa., near Pittsburgh, where House Democrats are meeting at a mountain resort.
The president "hopes that by going to the retreats of the other parties, as well, of course, as his own party, that people across the country will see our government works together well," said Fleischer.
Whether that focus can hold will be tested next week when Bush sends Congress his $1.6 trillion, 10-year tax-cut package. Democrats have already mounted a campaign against the plan, saying its massive size risks a return to Reagan-era deficits.
Bush begins his tax campaign in earnest on Monday, by inviting to a White House ceremony four families that would, under Bush's proposed cuts, fall into lower income tax brackets. On Tuesday, Bush will venture to a Washington-area small business to highlight how tax cuts might stimulate the economy and job growth. Wednesday will bring a White House reunion with families that Bush used along the campaign trail to put a face on his tax plan.
He is to submit "general outlines" of the plan – "not bill language" – to Congress on Thursday, Fleischer said.
White House and congressional officials could not recall a president ever dropping in on the opposing party's private team huddles.
By the latest White House count, Bush has, in his first 13 days as president, welcomed a record number of Congress members – between 150 and 160 – from both parties to the White House to meet with him. President Clinton extended such an invitation to just 17 lawmakers during his first week in 1993 and aides said former President Bush, the current president's father, tallied under 10.
The outreach is raising some eyebrows in Washington.
"I noticed that people are referring to this as the hug-a-Democrat-a-day administration," Fleischer joked Thursday.
Acting on a suggestion from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., invited Bush to speak and field questions for a half-hour at the opening of Friday's Senate Democratic retreat at the Library of Congress.
"Senator Daschle and Senator Dorgan and, I think, the entire caucus want to work very closely with the new president," said Daschle spokeswoman Ranit Schmelzer.
Booking Bush for the House Democrats' summit in Pennsylvania was far more roundabout. Leadership officials say the first word House Democrats heard of Bush's interest came from Capitol police, who heard from the Secret Service that Bush was toying with the idea of dropping in on the two-day annual retreat.
Subsequently, telephone calls between the office of House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., and Nicholas Calio, Bush's chief liaison to Congress, produced a formal invitation, officials said.
"They approached us. We said we'd love to have him," said Gephardt spokeswoman Laura Nichols. "The only thing we really insisted on was that there be an exchange and not just an opportunity for him to make a speech."
And so, Bush is scheduled to sit for at least 20 minutes of questioning by some 150 House Democrats on Sunday afternoon – in between the lawmakers' private discussions of suburban growth and union organizing with AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, and their free time for snowboarding or target shooting.
© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
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