Bush Sets News Conference
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — A week after approving modest troop cuts in Iraq, President Bush prepared to face questions about the war and other issues today.
Mr. Bush was to hold a midmorning news conference at the White House, his first since August 9.
While Mr. Bush anticipated questions about Iraq, the president planned to open with a statement challenging Democrats on their proposal for a $35 billion increase in a children’s health insurance program. Mr. Bush has threatened to veto the bill.
The $35 billion increase for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, called Schip, would bring total spending to about $60 billion, or twice the level sought by the Bush administration. The president planned to urge lawmakers to send him a simple extension of the program if both sides cannot agree on terms of a new measure.
On Iraq, Mr. Bush announced last week he was beginning a series of limited troop withdrawals from the current high level of 168,000. He said 5,700 forces would be home by Christmas and that four brigades — for a total of at least 21,500 troops — would return by July.
