May 1, 2001 – CBS World News Roundup: Late Edition – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
May 1, 2001 – Four months into the Bush Administration, the familiar laundry list of issues to tackle; tax cuts and Defense spending. In a policy speech, he said he was going ahead with the “shield” approach to incoming enemy missiles. Declaring that “todays world requires a new defense strategy”, President Bush made clear he wouldn’t let the 1972 ABM Treaty with Russia stop the U.S. from deploying a missile defense system. But at the same time, Mr. Bush tried to allay Russian concerns by renewing his commitment to dramatically reduce the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, to what he termed “the lowest possible number”, though he didn’t say what that number was. He also didn’t say how much an anti-Missile system would cost.
As for tax cuts, President Bush declared victory, rushing to the Rose Garden to announce that Congress had cut taxes by $1 trillion/ 350 billion dollars over an eleven year period, the first $100 billion to be distributed right away in order to put money in people’s pockets quickly and hopefully boost the economy. Observers were cautious not to get into a spending frenzy right away, as a number of key issues hadn’t been worked out.
And FBI Director Louis Freeh announced he was stepping down. He said that after 27 years of public service, he was stepping down and retiring from the Federal government in June. Freeh had been on the job as FBI Director for over seven years, and his term hasn’t always been smooth. A top official was arrested for spying in February of this year and Freeh also had a stormy relationship with former President Clinton over the Campaign Finance investigation.
And that’s a small sample of what went on, this May 1st in 2001 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup; Late Editon
