from lucianne http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010920/us/attacks_cheney_absent_1.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) will sit out President Bush (news - web sites)'s address to a joint session of Congress Thursday night.

Cheney will be at an undisclosed location when Bush speaks in the House chamber at 9 p.m. EDT, said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites). Sen. Robert Byrd (news - bio - voting record), D-W.Va., president pro tem of the Senate, will join House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., on the dais behind Bush.

It is tradition for one Cabinet secretary to stay behind while the president delivers State of the Union addresses or other speeches before Congress, to maintain leadership in the event of a catastrophe.

That step also will be taken Thursday, Fleischer said. The rare move of excepting Cheney as well was ``a reminder of how serious this is,'' he said.

He did not say which Cabinet secretary would stay away.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) will attend the session as a guest with first lady Laura Bush, Fleischer said.

Blair and Bush were meeting at the White House prior to the speech.

-- Anonymous, September 20, 2001

Answers

CNN is showing some of the digitaries as they arrive at the White House. I will be security is extremely high with so many heads of state and all of our congress all in one place.

-- Anonymous, September 20, 2001