Bush blueprint first, then budget

Bush-Cheney Transition

President-elect Bush has been meeting regularly with his budget advisersand outgoing officials to develop an "economic blueprint" for February releasethat will lead to a full fiscal 2002 budget submission.

The Office of Management and Budget traditionally releases the president'sbudget, which includes submissions from every federal agency, at the beginningof February. It serves as a starting point for Congress and a way to setpolicy initiatives for the coming year.

This year, the Bush team will release a shorter version of the budget,which will be followed later by the full set of "phone books," Bush spokesmanAri Fleischer said Wednesday. There is no definite release date for thefull budget, he said.