Bush returns from Crawford, schedules a busy week

President Bush this week has a busy schedule of events -- including a series of meetings with top advisers -- in an unusual display of Washington-based activity for a president known to covet spending the month in August at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The White House has in previous years taken pains to tout Bush's attention to business during his annual August sojourn to Crawford, scheduling events such as economic meetings and working trips out of town. But this year the president has returned from Crawford after one week and is back at the White House performing business as usual, at least for this week.

The president last year was forced to hurry back to Washington early in the aftermath of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, and the administration was widely viewed as having failed to respond with sufficient alacrity to the disaster.

Bush on Monday traveled to the Pentagon for a meeting with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and his aides, attending a lunch in the building with experts on Iraq. The president then moved on to the State Department for a session with Secretary of State Rice and her foreign policy team.

Bush Tuesday heads to the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va., for a briefing from members of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council and meetings with counterterrorism and homeland security "teams," according to the White House.

Bush Wednesday goes to York, Pa., for a tour of Harley Davidson Vehicle Operations. While there he will participate in a "roundtable" on the economy before attending a fundraiser for Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann.

Bush Thursday at the White House will sign the "Pension Protection Act of 2006." On Friday at Camp David, he will meet with his economic advisers and then join them for a press availability.