Vowing to overcome low expectations for his administration, President Bush wasted little time getting to work Saturday, suspending a spate of last-minute orders from his predecessor while he prepared for a first week in office that will tout greater accountability for the nation’s schools.
As he formally signed documents submitting his Cabinet nominations to the Senate and setting rules of ethics for administration employees, Bush also blocked a series of rules signed by President Bill Clinton just before his term ended. The rules would affect environmental protection and Medicare guidelines.
Bush’s actions, which also included designating Sunday as a “national day of prayer and thanksgiving,” began moments after his inauguration. Bush’s staff had signaled an eagerness for getting down to the job of running the government, in part to try to advance significant agenda items in the first 180 days of the new administration to help deflect questions about the legitimacy of the Bush presidency after a divisive election.
“People say, `Well, gosh, the election was so close, nothing will happen, except for finger pointing and name calling and bitterness,'” Bush said at a luncheon with congressional leaders in the Capitol after his swearing-in. “I’m here to tell the country that things will get done, that we’re going to rise above expectations, that both Republicans and Democrats will come together to do what’s right for America.”
Bush aides have indicated that the president will move quickly to push educational accountability. Some even dubbed the plan “Education Week,” as Bush plans meetings over the next five days with top congressional leaders to offer plans for increasing school testing and for creating school vouchers, a means for getting federal funds to parents of students at troubled schools to help them pay private-school tuition.
Bush also is expected to detail a proposal similar to one in Texas that would require teaching every child to read at grade level by the 3rd grade.
To emphasize his education package, Bush intends to visit a Head Start class this week to tout his view that the program should become a tool for teaching reading. He also is to attend the swearing-in of his education secretary, former Houston schools Supt. Rod Paige.
Among the Clinton orders Bush blocked were environmental restrictions on the runoff of animal feeding operations; the issuance of an extensive rewriting of guidelines for managed health-care programs under Medicare; and Clinton’s decision to designate as a national monument the former military post of Governor’s Island in New York Harbor.
Bush directed his White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, to issue a directive that would prevent new rules from being printed in the Federal Register. That effectively blocks the rules, because they cannot go into effect until after their publication in the Register.
Such actions have been taken by other presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Clinton. Indeed, Bush may try to revive one of his father’s rules, which Clinton blocked, that would have required federal contractors to tell non-union workers that they were entitled to a refund of any dues withheld from their paychecks.
In addition to signing an executive order creating a code of ethics for his administration, Bush instructed Card to freeze hiring of federal employees until Bush’s choice for an agency head takes over.
