President and First Lady Laura Bush head for Marine One, for start of a journey to NATO summit. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite / AP
by Mark Silva
President Bush, departing for Europe this morning, left a returning Congress with a full assignment of issues to address.
“They have a lot of work to do,” said Bush, standing on the South Lawn of the White House this morning at the first light of dawn.
The Congress needs to enact intelligence surveillance reforms, the president said – insisting on immunity from lawsuits for telecommunications companies that have aided the government in the surveillance of suspected terrorists.
“Our intelligence officials are waiting on the Congress,” Bush said, in a brief statement delivered with his wife by his side before the two strode to Marine One on the lawn for a hop to Andrews Air Force Base and journey to a NATO summit in Bucharest.
Bush also will meet with outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Russian resort city, with the two continuing talks about U.S. designs for a missile defense network based in Poland with radar support in the Czech Republic.
In the meantime, the traveling president is calling on Congress to “modernize the Federal Housing Administration” – with congressional leaders and the administration alike examining plans to back the loans of homeowners stranded with mortgages costing more than their homes are worth.
The Congress needs to act on a free trade agreement with Colombia, he added, asking leaders of both parties to act speedily.
Then the president and First Lady Laura Bush pivoted just as quickly and boarded Marine One awaiting their departure from the South Lawn.