WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday night will propose a $300 million initiative to help provide choices for children trapped in struggling inner-city public schools, the White House said, describing one of a few new proposals in his State of the Union address.
“The president has some concerns about the declining number of faith-based and parochial schools in inner cities around the country and low-income neighborhoods, and is going to urge Congress to enact a program he calls ‘Pell Grants for Kids,’ ” said Bush counselor Ed Gillespie.
The money would “provide alternatives for children now trapped in struggling public schools,” Gillespie told reporters.
Also, Bush will announce that an annual hemispheric meeting involving the leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico will be held in New Orleans — a major Gulf Coast tourist attraction still struggling from the disastrous Hurricane Katrina.
Gillespie said the move will “demonstrate how this great American city of New Orleans is rebounding.”
The North American summit will be held this year for the fourth year. It rotates between the three participating countries, starting in 2005 near Bush’s hometown in Waco, Texas. In recent years, it has been held in Cancun, Mexico, and Montebello, Canada.
On spending, Bush plans to announce his desire to reduce or eliminate some 150 federal programs that Gillespie deemed “wasteful or bloated.”
Bush’s final budget proposal to Congress is due shortly, and lawmakers for the most part decide which programs are trimmed or scrapped.
On Iraq, Bush will seek to remind the country that the battle-scarred nation is the “central front on the war on terror,” Gillespie said.
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