Bush Urges Congress to Pass Energy Bill

- President Bush urged the Senate Thursday to pass his energy bill so the nation would not be dependent on foreign oil as it wages a global fight against terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in Washington and New York.

"Move a bill that will help Americans find work and also make it easier for all of us around this table to protect the security of the country," Bush said after a meeting with his Cabinet secretaries.

The energy bill is one of several domestic agenda items that have languished before Congress as it and the White House spent the last 30 days dealing with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on Washington and New York.

The House version of the energy policy calls for the United States to construct up to 38,000 miles of natural gas pipelines and build more nuclear power plants. It excluded the provision that would have allowed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Bush also said he wanted an economic stimulus package that would include tax cuts that could have a short-term positive effect on the economy. Congress and the White House have been struggling to forge a stimulus package that would jumpstart the stalled economy.

Bush has proposed $60 billion in additional tax cuts for individuals and businesses, accelerated marginal tax cuts and the elimination of the alternative minimum tax on corporate America that would kick in with the increased child credit due to become effective next year.

But conservative Republicans are angry that the White House did not include cuts in the capital gains and corporate tax rate.

Democrats oppose the tax cuts as perks for those in the upper-tax brackets. The GOP senate leadership has suggested dropping the 28 percent tax bracket to 26 percent immediately while preserving the other rates.

The president said he also wanted lawmakers to give him trade promotion authority -- the ability to negotiate economic treaties with other nations subject to only up-or-down approval by the Senate.

The president plans to hold a prime-time news conference Thursday night on the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism as the nation marks the one-month anniversary of terrorist attacks on Washington and New York City that left more than 6,000 people injured or dead.

The president will answer questions in the East Room of the White House at 8 p.m. and talk with the American people about the latest developments in the war against terrorism.

It was one month ago that 19 hijackers boarded airliners in Virginia and Boston then commandeered the aircraft crashing two of them into the World Trade Center twin towers and a third into the Pentagon building outside Washington. A fourth jet that authorities believe was intended for the White House or U.S. Capitol crashed in Pennsylvania.

Bush said Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill reported during the Cabinet meeting that the United States had frozen $24 billion in assets linked to al Qaida and other terrorist organizations. Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and his Muslim extremist group al Qaida were identified by federal authorities as prime suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks.