Politics

No Crunch For Bush Lunch Bunch

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 30, 2001 / 12:01 PM EDT / CBS

President Bush invited Congress over to the White House for lunch on Monday, using the 100-day marker in another bid for bipartisanship, but the bread-breaking was to be mostly of the Republican variety.

Only 193 of 535 lawmakers were expected, and of those, less than 50 were Democrats.

"We've had some good debates, we've made some good progress and it looks like we're going to pass some good law," Mr. Bush told lawmakers gathered in the Rose Garden. "I know we don't always agree, but we're beginning to get a spirit here in Washington where we're more agreeable, where we're setting a different tone."

Spokesman Ari Fleischer suggested that the congressional recess was to blame for the turnout, and said Mr. Bush was pleased at the turnout. The recess ended this weekend, but little congressional action is expected until midweek, and many congressmen are still meeting with constituents.

"He never thought he would get all 535 to be able to come," Fleischer said.

Mr. Bush has made bipartisanship a theme of his first months in office, although his first major initiative - a $1.6 trillion tax cut - has encountered fierce partisan resistance in the evenly divided Senate and the barely Republican-majority House.

House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri - who did not attend - on Sunday derided Mr. Bush's claims that his administration had "changed the tone."

"We don't talk, we don't negotiate, we don't really collaborate and work together on these policies," Gephardt said. "It's really been more of the same - my way or the highway, in the Congress every day on every issue."

Democrats in attendance included Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Dianne Feinstein of California, Bob Graham of Florida, Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, and House members Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii and Ken Bentsen of Texas. Leading the Republicans was Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota did not attend, nor did House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. The guests included 152 from the House and 41 from the Senate.

The lunch also marked a change in the White House's insistence on dismissing the 100-day watch as meaningless.

"The president hopes that this is a new tradition that will grow over time, and will become part of the 100-day lore," Fleischer said. "He views this as the appropriate way to mark an important event like the 100 days."

As recently as his Saturday radio address, Bush called had called the 100 days a "media marker."