Vice President-elect Dan Quayle had difficulty Monday trying to name the toughest issues facing the new Congress and the Bush administration and suggested the president-elect's team had not yet put together an agenda for next year.
Quayle - appearing with Rep. Dan Coats, R-Ind., who was chosen Monday by Indiana Gov. Robert Orr to fill Quayle's Senate seat - was asked what he believed were the top issues facing Coats and the new Congress.Quayle at first hesitated and, when pressed by a reporter to name the "top three" issues, he said, "Well obviously you've got" but then stopped and, looking at Coats and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., joked, "I'll let him answer that question."
When a reporter pressed Quayle for his perspective, the vice president-elect noted:
"Well, obviously, we're going to be looking to Dan Coats and to Dick Lugar for their leadership and their input on helping push the George Bush agenda through the Congress. We are still in transition. When we come up with the agenda which, in due time, we will come up with the agenda, the people that we'll be looking upon will be people like Dick Lugar and Dan Coats."
Bush and members of Congress have not hesitated in recent weeks to cite the federal budget deficit as a top priority for next year. They have promised to work on the problem as soon as they assume office.
Quayle also was asked Monday if he and Bush had discussed specific responsibilities for him.
"We have, but I'm not going to comment on that," Quayle said, adding that details would be announced in "a very near time."