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In inaugural countdown, Bush courts party faithful

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January 19, 2001 

WASHINGTON-- (AP) - President-elect George W. Bush thanked Republican leaders for their support on Thursday and credited his razor-thin victory to having helped "set a new course for our party." He pledged to keep working to broaden the party's base and to bring "new faces and new voices into our ranks."

"Some places I didn't capture the vote. That's OK. It's the beginning of an effort to reach out," Bush told a meeting of the Republican National Committee. "I'm going to be the president of everybody - whether they voted for me or not."

The address to the RNC's winter meeting came as Bush began his first full day in Washington in a countdown to his inauguration Saturday. He has scheduled a flurry of speaking engagements over the next two days.

In his speech to the party faithful, Bush reiterated his intention to move quickly on one of his central campaign promises - for an across-the-board income tax cut.

He won applause from the RNC members when he said that tax cuts were "unabashedly, unashamably" going to be "one of the cornerstones of my first months in office."

"I believe strongly that we must remember who plays the bills," Bush said.

The president-elect has proposed a dlrs 1.6 trillion, 10-year tax cut. During his campaign, he said the main purpose of the tax cut would be to return part of the surplus to Americans. But, more recently, Bush has said that a tax cut could help stimulate a slowing economy.

Bush also said he is committed to reform of government welfare and other entitlement programs and is unafraid to take on the "third rail" of U.S. politics - reform of retirement plans and health care for the elderly.

Bush has proposed allowing younger workers to invest some of their retirement plan tax deduction in stocks and bonds in search of higher returns. He has also called for allowing private health care companies to compete for contracts to provide health care for the elderly, including prescription drug programs. Both proposals generated Democratic criticism during the campaign.

The president-elect emphasized he is mindful of the closeness of the election - and that he had not been able to generate support form minority groups, which he had courted during the campaign.

Still, Bush told the predominantly white audience: "One of the reasons I stand here yesterday is we did set a new course for our party - what I call compassionate conservatism.

"We are confident that we can ... enable people to help themselves in a positive way through our philosophy. It's a philosophy that is generous and inclusive. It's a philosophy that understands our party must accept new faces and new voices into our ranks."

Later Thursday, Bush planned to attend an inauguration weekend opening ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial and then several dinners.