Bush meets economic team to review trends, war impact<\/p>\n
Randall Mikkelsen, Reuters, Washington<\/p>\n
U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday reviewed economic trends,
\nenergy supplies, and the impact of the war with Iraq on its
\nneighbors at his first meeting with his economic team since war
\nbegan, a White House spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n
Spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the meeting of Bush's National
\nEconomic Council officials did not discuss a possible use of
\nemergency petroleum stockpiles.<\/p>\n
She said airline industry troubles -- which the airlines have
\nblamed in part on the war and its anticipation -- were raised at
\nthe meeting but were \"not a focus\" of it.<\/p>\n
\"They talked about the status of the economy...it was a
\nbriefing and a discussion,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Buchan declined to give details of an earlier meeting Bush
\nheld with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Treasury
\nSecretary John Snow and National Economic Council Director
\nStephen Friedman.<\/p>\n
The Greenspan meeting, the Fed chairman's second visit to the
\nWhite House on Monday and third since Friday, was one of the
\n\"periodic\" meetings Greenspan holds to share views with Bush and
\nhis aides, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said ahead of the
\nmeeting.<\/p>\n
Greenspan had met earlier in the day Monday with unspecified
\nmembers of Bush's economic team.<\/p>\n
At the NEC meeting, Bush was told of private forecasters'
\nprojections for accelerating economic growth this year and next,
\nBuchan said. She said those forecasts hinged on passage of Bush's
\nproposed $726 billion tax cut.<\/p>\n
Said Fleischer, \"The trends in the economy remain mixed ...
\nClearly the economy has emerged from the recession it was in, but
\nit's an issue that the president is still focused on and
\nconcerned about, because we want to make sure that people can
\nwork.\"<\/p>\n
Bush and his White House have sought to convey continued
\nattention to the economy at a time war dominates the headlines.
\nThey are seeking to avoid the fate of former President George
\nBush, the president's father, whose failure to win reelection was
\nblamed in part on accusations he ignored the economy in the wake
\nof victory in the 1991 war on Iraq.<\/p>\n
Asked whether the meeting discussed possible use of the
\nStrategic Petroleum Reserve, Buchan said it did not. \"They talked
\nabout the (energy) supplies generally, the markets generally.\"<\/p>\n
She declined to detail the discussion on the impact of war on
\nthe economies of countries neighboring Iraq.<\/p>\n
Bush was to outline to congressional leaders on Monday
\nelements of his almost $75 billion emergency request for war
\nspending, which is expected to include aid for Israel, Jordan,
\nEgypt and other supporters of the U.S. war effort.<\/p>\n
The biggest U.S. air carriers have said they could face up to
\n$4 billion in losses from a prolonged war. But the White House
\nhas not yet decided whether to support a bailout, which would be
\nthe second for the industry since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on
\nthe United States.<\/p>\n
\"Meetings have been held here between administration economic
\nadvisors and the airlines,\" Fleischer said. \"The airlines ...
\neven prior to Sept.11, were not in as strong a financial
\ncondition as they would have liked.\"<\/p>\n
\"Of course, conditions now, prior to the war, also had an
\neconomic impact on the airlines, separate and apart from anything
\nthat's happened in Iraq. So we will continue to work with them
\nand to listen to them, and I'm not going to prejudge all
\noutcomes,\" he said.<\/p>",
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