Energy, Economy Top Bush’s List During D.C. Visit

George W. Bush visited the nation’s capital for the first time as president-elect Monday and pressed for a new energy policy and his proposed tax cut with congressional leaders.

Bush also met Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan at breakfast and plans to meet today with President Clinton at the White House and Vice President Al Gore, his defeated opponent, at Gore’s official residence.

Moving to soften any lingering bitterness, Bush engaged in what appeared to be easy banter with Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate as he sought to begin his work with the closely divided Congress on a note of compromise.

“I told all four [congressional leaders] that there are going to be some times where we don’t agree with each other but that’s OK,” he said at the end of a late morning visit to the Capitol. “If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier. Just so long as I’m the dictator.”

The sunny teasing notwithstanding, potential troubles that could cloud the early days of the new Bush administration were evident.

Characterizing energy as a “front-burner” issue, Ari Fleischer, Bush’s transition spokesman, said: “There is a rising concern about whether America is on the verge of an energy crisis.”

While reiterating Bush’s pledge to protect the nation’s working people from such a crisis, and noting energy problems in California, Fleischer suggested that the new administration would look skeptically on any effort to pin the problem on price gouging by the energy industry.

Bush, speaking with reporters at midday, offered no specifics about the energy problems or how he would address them.

“We must be concerned in this country about energy. We must be concerned about shortages and at the same time, obviously, concerned about conservation,” he said. “I understand the responsibility of the executive branch is to lay out an energy strategy, what’s good for everybody in this country, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

Senators and House members said that in discussing policy priorities, Bush emphasized energy policy more than he had during the campaign, raising it in each meeting he attended at the Capitol.

“He talked about the importance of articulating a comprehensive energy policy much more than was spelled out in the campaign,” said Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). “He’s responding to what’s happening on the West Coast. It’s beginning to boil there. On the campaign trail it never crystallized.”

Lawmakers said that Bush linked his desire for an energy policy, like his proposal for a tax cut, to the need to shore up the potentially flagging economy.

“He was very explicit that he believes energy is part of the broader economic picture,” said Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio).

Indeed, the matter also came up during Bush’s hourlong meeting with Greenspan just after dawn at the Madison Hotel, where the president-elect is staying.

Referring to Greenspan as “a good man,” Bush draped a hand on Greenspan’s shoulder. “We had a very strong discussion about my confidence in his abilities.”

But he would say no more about the meeting. “I’m not so sure the chairman of the Fed wants me to be discussing in public what I discuss with him in private,” Bush said.

Bush had lunch with Paul H. O’Neill, retired chairman of Alcoa Corp., the giant aluminum firm. O’Neill has been mentioned as a leading contender for the job of secretary of the Treasury. Former Sen. Dan Coats, an Indiana Republican who is said to be on a short list to be Defense secretary, also called on the president-elect.

In the afternoon, Bush visited with French President Jacques Chirac, who was in Washington in his capacity as head of the European Union, at the French ambassador’s residence.

While Bush was making his way around the capital, his wife, Laura, visited First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House.

“I feel like I sort of know it, thanks to President Bush,” the future first lady said, referring to her visits to the executive mansion when her father-in-law was president. She said that she and her husband, the governor of Texas, had visited the White House in more recent years during meetings of the National Governors Assn.

And, she said in response to a question, she has already slept in the Lincoln Bedroom and the Queen’s Bedroom, formerly called the Rose Room.

The first postelection visit of a president-elect to Washington is always something of a political circus, as the established power centers take the measure of the new chief executive. But this year brought new challenges, on the heels of the rancorous election campaign and the 37 days of dispute over its outcome. And the nearly even split between Democrats and Republicans in Congress only adds to Bush’s challenge.

Signaling no early retreat in one area certain to produce friction, he adhered stubbornly to his proposal to win congressional approval of a $1.3-trillion, 10-year tax cut, which he is characterizing as insurance against an economic downturn. Among Democrats, the plan has drawn sharp criticism as unfairly targeted at the wealthiest Americans and as a risk to a balanced budget.

On Capitol Hill, Bush acknowledged the unique climate in which he is moving to Washington.

“The delay in the outcome should make it clear to all of us that we can come together to heal whatever wounds may exist, whatever residuals there may be,” he said.

As though easing any fears that he did not understand the relationships spelled out in the Constitution, Bush added that he had told congressional leaders: “I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them.”

Bush conducted both one-on-one and group meetings, requesting private sessions with the top Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri. He met with groups of Republicans, among them House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas and Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi.

“I can tell you that we will be there, coming 50% of the way, sometimes even a little further . . . to get things done for the people that sent us here and hired us,” Gephardt said, with other congressional leaders and Bush at his side during a post-meeting news conference.

Daschle spoke optimistically about the new relationship. “It’s an opportunity for us to wipe the slate clean, to begin anew, with a recognition that we have many, many challenges ahead and that--as we face those challenges--the only real choice for us is to recognize that bipartisanship isn’t an option, it’s a requirement.”

But for all the talk of cooperation with Bush at their bipartisan news conference, Democrats were more pessimistic in private about prospects for genuine cooperation. “The odds are against us,” Daschle said. “We have to beat the odds.”

Among Republicans, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire reflected a mood of elation among his colleagues at the prospect of a Republican White House and a Republican-led Congress.

“There was a real casual euphoria,” he said of his meeting.

Bush was shadowed all day by his father. Senate Republican leaders asked about the health of the 41st president, who recently underwent hip surgery. The son said that his father is feeling much better with the election settled. Lott suggested at the end of his meeting with Bush that the president-elect look over his shoulder: On the wall hung a portrait of the former president.

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Times staff writer Janet Hook contributed to this story.