Politics

Surprise Press Conference

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 29, 2001 / 10:38 AM EST / CBS

Holding his second news conference since taking office, President Bush waded into the campaign finance reform debate and defended his administration's environmental policies.

Mr. Bush spoke with reporters in the White House briefing room on Thursday morning with little advance notice, just as he did the time before.

The president began by applauding the GOP-controlled House for passing "a realistic common sense budget" blueprint, one that makes room for his full $1.6 trillion, 10-year tax cut. "They did the right thing," Mr. Bush said.

Click here to read a transcript of the president's news conference.

The Senate takes up the budget framework next week, but its fate is less certain there due to the 50-50 split between the Democrats and the Republicans.

Except for a plea to the Israelis and the Palestinians to prevent an "escalation" in the violence in the Middle East, Mr. Bush's news conference dwelled exclusively on domestic issues.

The Bush Push

In its first few months, the Bush administration has:

• held firm in its resolve to set aside a Clinton order that would sharply restrict logging in national forests

• announced it has no plans to implement the global warming treaty negotiated in Kyoto, Japan

• relaxed rules on the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water

• reversed itself on a campaign pledge to restrict carbon dioxide emissions from power plants

• relaxed federal air pollution rules on the mixing of ethanol into gasoline in the Midwest

• held firm on its determination to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

- Francie Grace

On campaign finance reform, the president said his decision on whether to sign the McCain-Feingold bill would be based on whether it improves the system for funding elections.

"I look forward to signing a good piece of legislation," said Mr. Bush, who has long opposed the ban on "soft money," th central feature of the Senate bill.

"This is a bill in progress, it is a bill that continues to change, and I'll take a look at it when it makes my desk," he added.

On his environmental policies, the president defended his administration's decision to abandon the 1997 Kyoto treaty to combat global warming.

"I will not accept a plan that will harm our economy and hurt American workers," Mr. Bush said.

The Clinton administration strongly backed the treaty, but Senate consideration of its ratification has languished there well before the current president took office.

Mr. Bush said he would work with Germany and other U.S. allies to devise a plan that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to global climate change. The president is to meet with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder during his visit to the White House later on Thursday.

"We have an energy shortage. I look forward to explaining this today to the leader of Germany as to why I made the decision I made," he said.

In addition, the president said Thursday it would be a mistake if Congress failed to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to energy exploration - an idea that environmentalists and many Democrats loudly oppose. But he also suggested if that did happen, he would not be deterred from seeking natural gas elsewhere.

Mr. Bush said he wanted to look elsewhere in the United States, outside of the ANWR, and work with Canada to explore in its Northwest Territories for natural gas.

"I think it's important for us to open up ANWR. Whether or not the Congress sees it the other way is another matter. But that's not going to deter me" from seeking new energy supplies, the president said.

"It would be helpful if we opened up ANWR. I think it's a mistake not to," he emphasized.

Finally, Mr. Bush defended his decision to suspend an Environmental Protection Agency rule, proposed by the Clinton administration, to reduce arsenic in drinking water. The president said that his administration will review scientific studies and eventually issue a proposed rule to cut arsenic in drinking water.