Election 2000: Bush to Meet With Business Leaders Over Economy's Health; 107th Congress Comes to Order Today
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to check in on the recent slide on Wall Street. President-elect George W. Bush will meet today with top U.S. business leaders to discuss signs that the economy is slowing. Our national correspondent Tony Clark is in Austin, Texas where that closed-door meeting will be held. Tony, who's coming over to talk with the president-elect today?</s>TONY CLARK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, it's really a who's who from the business community, from economics community, from consumers. It's a whole range of people that the president-elect wants to hear from. He said yesterday, in fact, that he is, in his words, "worried" about an economic slowdown and wants to feel the pulse of the economic community. These are people who, in the words of Ari Fleischer, who is the press secretary for President-elect Bush, they are the people who live and breathe the economy and would have both the best idea of the current assessment of the economy and anything that can be done in the short-term to try and keep the economy strong, prevent a recession from occurring just as President-elect Bush is preparing to move into the White House. Among the list of people that are attending today's conference, Michael dell, the founder and head of Dell Computers; Steve Forbes, "Forbes" magazine, but more importantly perhaps he is a former presidential candidate, Republican presidential candidate, and a proponent of the flat tax; Ken Lay from Enron; Craig Barrett from Intel; Jack Welch from General Electric; and Richard Wagoner, the president and CEO of General Motors. There is a whole host of people like this, this caliber of executive that's coming. The meeting starts in about 2 1/2 hours. It will last for two hours, the officials, the executives giving their views of the status of the economy, but also the president-elect talking about his proposal, his tax cut proposal that was so much a part of his presidential campaign, the president-elect saying that he feels now more than ever before that a tax cut is warranted. He will meet tomorrow over at the governor's mansion with industry officials, executives from high-tech industries, and then prepare, use that information, prepare his administration for whatever economic situation is that they face -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Tony Clark in Austin, Texas, thank you very much -- Leon.</s>LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's go to Capitol Hill again where the 107th Congress comes to order today. In about two hours, senators are going to take their oath and their place in history. Our congressional correspondent Chris Black joins us now. She's got the latest from there. Chris, Good morning.</s>CHRIS BLACK, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. The 107th Congress will be the most evenly divided Congress in decades. The Republicans barely hold a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate is divided evenly, 50/50, for first time in 120 years. The numbers tell the story. Neither side has enough votes to pass major legislation without some help from the other side. But getting from here to there is another matter. So far, the House Democrats are very upset that the House Republican leadership has refused to change the ratios on House committees to reflect the narrower Republican majority. And in the Senate, the two Senate leaders, Trent Lott and Tom Daschle, are still in negotiations over how they will share power in this Congress. And Republican senators, particularly those who are sharing committees now, are very reluctant to give up any advantage they now hold over the Democrats. But today, Leon, is a day for celebrating, not politics. Every single member of the House and Senate takes the oath of office today, including the most famous freshman in the Senate: Hillary Rodham Clinton. And keeping with tradition, Mrs. Clinton will be escorted into the Senate chamber by Chuck Schumer, who is now the senior senator from New York. But no so traditional, the new senator from New York will be hitching a ride to the Capitol with the president of the United States. Bill Clinton, her husband, and their daughter Chelsea will watch the ceremony from the visitors' gallery in the Senate chamber. And then afterwards, the president will go with her to the Old Senate chamber for what is a traditional reenactment photo. Now, Mrs. Clinton is 97th in seniority in the 100-member Senate and normally would have to wait her turn. But because of security concerns, she's been moved to the head of the list so that the president can have his picture taken and get back to the White House -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: And that happening now might just ruffle some feathers. We'll be talking about that coming up next hour with a writer from "Roll Call" magazine. Thanks much Chris Black on Capitol Hill. We'll talk to you later on.