Chapter 29

The President put the phone back into its cradle. She had been catching up on her paperwork and preparing to meet the governors when the message from Mexico had come through that Steve was safe and in the embassy with important news for Ambassador Garcia. She had the White House operator contact the Ambassador on a secure line.

Her first emotion was relief, then joy, that Steve was safe. Then, a cloud descended upon her features as she considered the importance of what she had just been told. On top of everything else that had happened over the past three days, Kathleen Lehrer now had to worry about the very real possibility of the economic collapse of not only the United States, but possibly the whole world.

She had Anna Escrito contact the financial leaders with whom she had been meeting over the previous days and have them come to the White House to meet with her and the War Cabinet at 4:30. Then she got up and went to meet the governors.

As she walked into the Blue Room, the President was greeted by enthusiastic applause from the assembled state leaders.

Kathleen Lehrer was embarrassed by her reception and blushed as she walked around the room greeting everyone and introducing herself to the governors she had not met the previous day. She then came around to her seat and asked everyone to be seated.

"Thank you for coming. We have a lot of work to do so we may as well get started. The first thing I would like to discuss is the timing for the elections for a new Congress. Who would like to start?"

Karen O'Rourke, the Governor of Nebraska, raised her hand. "I would like to have the elections completed within six weeks, four weeks to choose the candidates in the primaries and the general elections two weeks later."

Joseph Marino from New York objected to that timing. "Two weeks between the primary and the general election might be okay for a small state such as Nebraska, but in the larger states such as New York, that is not nearly enough time. We need at least a month after the primary, especially if there's a primary fight in one party or the other."

"I think we should wait until after we have a Constitutional Convention before we hold congressional elections," stated James Bertram from California. "A Constitutional Convention could end up changing all the rules, and I think we should see what the rules will be before we go electing a new Congress."

"I totally disagree with that," said the President. "Under the 25th Amendment, whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of the Vice President, that vacancy can only be filled by a majority vote of both houses of Congress. If something happens to me before a Vice President is confirmed, we face total chaos because I am the last person in the line of succession now. No one can legally become President if something happens to me until after we have a Congress. We will face total instability and people throughout the country and the world will question the new leader's legitimacy. We must have a new Congress and we must have it as soon as possible. If a Constitutional Convention is called, it should be after a Congress is elected, not before. Now, how soon can we hold the elections?"

Gov. Frank Schmidt of Texas was impressed by the President's urgency. "I think we can get elections together within six or seven weeks if we push our parties hard enough. We can have the primary in three or four weeks and the general election three weeks after that."

"I agree with that timing," replied Manuel Alvarez from Florida. "We must have a Congress to confirm a new Vice President and Cabinet. As the President said, if something happens to her, we will face complete chaos."

Several other governors agreed with the seven week plan.

The President then asked, "Do we have a consensus on holding congressional elections in seven weeks?" Everyone nodded in assent. She looked at her calendar. "Okay, that will make the primary on February 24th, and the general election three weeks later, on March 17th. Ah, St. Patrick's Day."

The President paused for about ten seconds. "Good. I would like to turn to some other issues we face. I feel that we are on the right track with several of the proposals I announced last night, particularly dealing with housing. I think that repairing the infrastructure, rebuilding abandoned houses and selling public housing units can be very beneficial to state and local governments as well as the federal government. What other issues would you like to discuss?"

Ralph Ellison from Iowa asked, "What about the farm crisis? Our farmers are getting killed by low commodity prices and ever increasing debt and interest payments. I know the Farm Bill had just passed Congress and was awaiting President Ruskin's signature. What are you going to do?"

"I have some very serious reservations about the Farm Bill," replied the President. "The main problem that I see with the bill is that it pays a lot of money to farmers to not grow food at a time when we have so many people who are hungry."

"You mean you're going to veto it!?" shouted Gov. Dorothy Todd of Kansas. "If you veto that bill, you will see even more hunger in this country because more and more farmers will be going bankrupt.!"

"I have not made a decision yet about what I will do about the Farm Bill," replied the President. "If I do veto it, I will put forward an alternative that will address these problems that our farmers are facing while addressing the problems of hunger that many other people are facing. I have already issued instructions to the Defense Department that a condition on further arms sales to other countries will be the purchase of a certain amount of our farmers' goods. A central feature of my diplomacy following the resolution of the war with Iran will be to inform developing nations that they will not have to spend nearly as much money on arms to keep themselves in power if their people are well fed. People who are not struggling to survive tend to be happier than those who are starving. That may sound simplistic, but it is a message that the United States has not emphasized in the past. I will emphasize that message, and I will push for these foreign governments to buy more of the products that our farmers produce. Before I announce my decision on this bill, I will notify you and the other farm belt states so you will know what my thinking is and what we intend to do to resolve this very serious problem."