Bush readies address to nation as deal on spending bills nears

Nearly 60 years after President Franklin Roosevelt traveled to the Capitol to deliver the legendary call to arms that took the United States into World War II, President Bush will appear tonight before a joint session of Congress to rally the nation to fight what he has termed the first war of the 21st century.

The President, who has been pondering the speech for at least the past few days, was officially invited to deliver his address by congressional leaders during a White House gathering Wednesday.

The meeting between Bush and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., and Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., followed a session the congressional leadership held the same day on Capitol Hill with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Sources indicated that Greenspan had counseled the leaders to hold off moving a stimulus package until the state of the economy becomes clearer.

Hastert said after the White House meeting that no decision has been made on going forward. One Bush adviser said the President and the congressional leaders did not finalize details of how the legislation might look. Officials plan to keep a careful eye in coming days on the markets while deciding whether to act further.

Meanwhile, appropriators and Office of Management and Budget officials held discussions Wednesday on a framework for moving the regular fiscal 2002 spending bills, with a total outlay price tag of $691 billion, by the end of October. House Appropriations Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., and ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., were in New York to view the wreckage of the World Trade Center.

But both Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and ranking member Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, were on Capitol Hill Wednesday, talking to each other and to OMB officials. Noting "a lot of goodwill on all sides right now," one well-placed source was optimistic that a deal could be reached no later than Friday--if not today.

But a Democratic aide nevertheless sounded a note of caution, saying that even with a framework and a number, "all a deal means is we still have month-and-a-half left to work on the bills."

Bush will appeal directly to the American people tonight for support and patience, describing the nature of the threat posed by the terrorists while attempting to steel the nation for a protracted struggle, according to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Briefing reporters at the White House Wednesday, Rice said Bush would seek to stir the world as well as the country, framing the attacks as an assault not just on one nation, but on freedom itself.

He will warn Americans that "there may be sacrifice along the way," Rice said.

One White House official said Bush might also outline certain antiterrorism measures he wishes to take, including increased internal-surveillance capabilities sought by Attorney General Ashcroft.

Nevertheless, during his meeting with congressional leaders, Bush noted that he did not want to "trample civil rights," the official said.

The President probably will describe the damaged state of the airline industry--another topic of discussion Wednesday with congressional leaders. The White House official said to expect "sooner rather than later" a proposal from the administration to assist the airlines.

But Bush aides indicated the speech would focus on the coming struggle with terrorism. They said the President is unlikely to make much, if any, of a pitch for his domestic agenda.

On the FY02 spending bills, Hill leaders working on an agreement for moving legislation still must address several discrepancies between the two chambers.

Among differences is $235 million for emergency firefighting in the Senate-passed Interior bill and nearly $2 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency money the Senate included in its VA-HUD bill to respond to Tropical Storm Allison. Neither was part of the House's Interior or VA-HUD bill.

Any deal must set final numbers for the FY02 Labor-HHS and Defense bills. It also would be expected to accommodate an extra $3.3 billion for education spending increases, emergency funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the president's $18.4 billion FY02 Defense amendment.

Lisa Caruso and Geoff Earle contributed to this article.