by Amy Goldstein, Washington Post
LITTLE ROCK - President Bush traveled here today to promote the twin pillars of his presidency -- the war on terrorism and his domestic agenda -- but was compelled to issue a reassurance that his administration is working to strengthen its intelligence capacity.
Acknowledging that “we’ve got some work to do,” Bush alluded to, but did not mention, recent news accounts that federal investigators had failed to detect two of the Sept. 11 hijackers and other suspected terrorists who were inside the United States on valid visas before the attacks.
“In this new war, against this shadowy enemy, it’s very important that we gather as much intelligence as we can,” Bush told a rally here with Arkansas GOP politicians. “We need to know what they’re thinking and what they’re planning on doing before they do something. That’s the best way.”
Bush said the FBI has shifted its emphasis from “running down white-collar criminals” to preventing further attacks on Americans, and he said that the agency has begun to interact more smoothly with the Central Intelligence Agency. “They’re now sharing intelligence,” he said.
The president grafted the assurance that he is sensitive to the critical role of intelligence onto his standard remarks about the lingering terrorist threat. In the state whose politics were once dominated by his predecessor, Bill Clinton, Bush appeared with Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), who faces a reelection battle against Democratic Attorney General Mark Pryor. The Democrat is trying to reclaim the seat held for nearly two decades by his father, David Pryor. Bush also was accompanied by another candidate for reelection, Gov. Mike Huckabee (R). After the rally, Huckabee led the president to his church for a forum on welfare, one of the administration’s prime domestic issues.
At the Church at Rock Creek, Bush exhorted the Senate to pass a welfare bill that includes the stricter work requirements he favors. “I come to this house to herald the programs, to call upon a good law, for starters . . . out of the Senate, so they can get it to . . . my desk and give these governors time to plan, to help people,” he said. “But I also come here because I recognize that some of the greatest social programs in the country come out of houses of worship of all faiths.”
He noted that the House approved legislation last month that contains most of the features he wants. Bush gave a reminder of his priorities for the welfare law: subsidies for states to foster marriage and premarital sexual abstinence, more freedom for states to combine welfare and other anti-poverty programs, and a greater role for religious groups in helping poor people prepare for jobs.
Bush has devoted considerable attention lately to the renewal this year of the 1996 law that transformed the welfare system. Today marked his third trip during the past month to spotlight the issue, and he will meet at the White House Tuesday with a bipartisan group of senators to urge them to act swiftly on the measure. Later in the day, he will meet scores of welfare mothers who have written letters to the president.
Bush’s pressure on the Senate is part of the GOP strategy for the fall elections, seeking to portray Democrats, who control the chamber, as obstructing progress on significant policy issues.
The president’s eagerness for speed on the Senate’s welfare bill is also pragmatic: The White House recognizes that any welfare measure that emerges from the Senate will differ in central respects from the administration’s preferences. Bush’s aides are anxious that the Senate act with enough time left for the parties to be able to resolve differences before the current welfare law elapses on Oct. 1.
Unlike Bush and the GOP-led House, many senators want to restore welfare benefits for legal immigrants and provide larger subsidies for child care. And they disagree with the idea of letting states combine rules and money for welfare, food stamps and housing programs.
Sitting with Bush on a stool in the front of the cavernous room was Pastor Mark Evans, who founded the Church of Rock Creek seven years ago as a hub of social service programs along the lines the administration would like to encourage around the country. Three women told the president that the nurturing and job-training they found at the church have enabled them to find work and self-sufficiency.
“You did great,” Bush told one of the women, as he talked with them briefly about their children, the schools they attended, and the importance of collecting child support from their children’s fathers.