U.S. President George W. Bush expressed his disapproval for the slow pace that the U.S. Congress is taking in passing “some very important bills,” he said at a White House press conference on Wednesday. “There's little time left in the year, and Congress has little to show for all the time that has gone by. Now's the time for them to act, and I look forward to working with members of both parties on important goals that I've outlined this morning,” Bush said. Bush warned that Congress needs to “put politics aside” and work on bills on the budget, education, housing, trade, providing care for military personnel, and on law enforcement, he said. He also urged Congress to reauthorize a bill that strengthens the No Child Left Behind Act, which is getting positive results for America's children, Bush said, citing the recent Nation's Report Card. On trade, Bush said that his administration has tried to forge a bipartisan agreement with Congress to advance trade legislation, but Congress still needs to take action on trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Such agreements would expand access to overseas markets, strengthen democratic allies, and level the playing field for American workers, farmers and small businesses, Bush said. To date, Congress has not sent any of the 12 appropriations bills through to the President yet. “One of Congress's basic duties is to fund the day-to-day operations of the federal government, yet Congress has not sent me a single appropriations bill. Time is running short, so I urge the speaker and the leader of the Senate to name conferees for six of the annual appropriations bills that have already passed the House and the Senate,” Bush said. Congress did manage to pass legislation to modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows U.S. intelligence officials to monitor communications of “terrorists who want to do harm to our [America's] people,” Bush said. But, Congress has arranged for the measure to expire in February which Bush said contradicts the idea that “Congress needs to move forward, not backward, so we [United States] can ensure our intelligence professionals have the tools they need to protect us [Americans].”
