Bush to meet CEOs to gauge economy's health

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON -- President-elect George W. Bush on Wednesday presides over the start of a two-day economic conference in Austin, Texas, to hear ideas from business leaders and promote his own economic proposals to them.

To get a better read on the economy and what needs to be done to stave off a recession, Bush invited a few dozen business leaders to the forum set for Wednesday and Thursday. He hopes to take the economy's temperature and make the case for a $1.3 trillion tax cut over 10 years.

"I am concerned .... that there are some warning signs on the horizon," Bush said Tuesday as he unveiled his choices for energy, labor and transportation secretaries. "This is an administration that certainly hopes the economy remains strong -- it will make our job a heck of a lot easier.

"But ours is going to be an administration that anticipates any potential problem and I am worried about an economic slowdown," he added. "It is important for us to insure against any economic slowdown by a responsible tax-relief package."

Aides said Bush wanted to hear how the executives, who include General Electric Co. Chairman Jack Welch, Boeing Co. Chairman Philip Condit and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Chief Executive Lee Scott, view the economy and to present his own plans over lunch on Wednesday.

"They are the people who are best versed at telling the American people and the president-elect how strong is the economy .... how serious are the problems of potential weakening?" Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer told CNN.

Bush: tax cut will encourage economic growth

Other business leaders expected to attend include Kenneth Langone from Home Depot and flat tax proponent and former Republican presidential hopeful Steve Forbes.

Bush is particularly keen to get a feel for how the economy is performing, aides said. Growth slowed to an annualized rate of 2.2 percent in last year's third quarter, less than half the sizzling 5.6 percent rate in the previous three months.

"They're the ones who just experienced Christmas sales," Fleischer said of the executives. "He wants to listen to them, to take their read, to check their pulse on the strength of the economy."

On Thursday, Bush will meet at the Texas governor's mansion with a second group -- composed mostly of representatives from the high-tech industry -- to discuss improving education, promoting free trade and easing government regulations on the private sector. Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers, is expected to be a part of that group.

For the president-elect, it is a chance to hear a wide range of views.

"I think he will go into this meeting with an open mind. He wants to listen to people and if people have any ideas of anything short term, he will listen," Fleischer said.

Yet Bush has already made clear what he believes the cornerstone of American economic policy should be.

"Together we will give Americans the broad, fair and fiscally responsible tax relief they deserve," Bush said in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

Now, if anything, the president-elect says he feels stronger about the need for a tax cut than ever.

"I believe that a tax relief package, if properly structured -- and I'm confident ours is properly structured -- will encourage economic growth and vitality and more job creation," Bush said Tuesday.

Fleischer suggested the president-elect would not give ground on his tax cut plan, which has elicited reservations among some Republicans in Congress who would like to see him cut taxes step-by-step rather than all at once.

Asked if Bush was open to discussing limiting the size or changing the timing of his proposed sweeping tax cut, Fleischer replied: "It's too soon to say if anything like that needed to be done .... He is going to propose (what) he ran on."

Bush's two-day conference at an Austin hotel will be private, with the meetings held behind closed doors. Aides say he wants participants to feel free to speak their minds.

This will be in marked contrast to the "economic summit" that President Clinton held in December 1992 before taking office, which was broadcast live on television and radio.

Bush aides said they will allow the media in briefly at the end of Wednesday's working lunch. But they are calling the talks a "forum" instead of a "summit" to keep expectations low.

O'Neill, Evans will not attend

Bush economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey will attend the Austin meetings but two of the president-elect's prominent Cabinet nominees, Treasury Secretary-designate Paul O'Neill and Commerce Secretary-designate Don Evans, will not.

Aides had earlier said the two planned to attend, but both men will be making the rounds on Capitol Hill ahead of votes in the U.S. Senate on whether to confirm their nominations.

On Wednesday, O'Neill will meet Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who is expected to become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the panel that would first consider his nomination. The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a hearing on Evans' nomination Thursday, requiring him to stay in Washington.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who met Bush in Washington last month, also will not attend the conference.

CNN Correspondent Tony Clark and Reuters contributed to this report.