President Bush visited a printing plant today in Sterling, Va., about 25 to 30 minutes west of the District, to tout the economic stimulus plan. But one of the employees he met with said he wasn't going to spend the rebate check he'll be getting in May, which is the point of the rebate checks. The Bush administration is hoping that many people will spend the money and inject liquidity into the economy.

I was part of the pool — the small group of reporters that travels with the president — and filed this report to the White House press corps.

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Trip of the President to Sterling

Some news, mostly color. POTUS again said the economy is in a "rough patch" but said he is "confident that in the long term we'll come out stronger than ever before."

After leaving the meeting at the Pentagon, which was no news, motorcade made the 30-second drive to helos at 11:40. POTUS waited in Marine One as your pool walked to our Marine chopper, and it was wheels up for Sterling.

We flew over endless subdivisions and landed on Sterling Middle School’s athletic field around 11:55 am. A group of about 50 cheering onlookers stood nearby. And if only driving through the DC suburbs was always this easy — we arrived at Color Craft of Virginia Inc. at 12;05

ColorCraft was set back in a business and industrial park — it was POTUS arrives at "The Office" sort of.

We walked in to see four men in blue work shirts and pants (first name on patch) standing near a group of about five magazine binding machines: Jeff Blake, the bindry foreman, Rick Poling, Dave Arehart, and Francisco Perez.

(Rick Poling, Dave Arehart, Francisco Perez and Jeff Blake. Photo by Jon Ward, The Washington Times)

Mr. Blake told your pooler that he was not going to spend his stimulus package rebate.

"I think I'm going to save mine and see what the economy does," he said.

Mr. Blake also said that he lives 50 miles away, as do his three co-workers, and that this week they had begun a three-day work week to save money "because gas prices are so high."

POTUS came in moments later, accompanied by owner Jim Mayes, and talked with Mr. Blake and the three other workers. POTUS looked at a few magazines and printed materials ("Amber Waves" and "Grace Covenant Church") and said he was there to talk about the rebate checks, and Blake told him he had received his letter from the IRS in the mail.

"I'm looking forward to it," Mr. Blake said. POTUS did not ask about his plans to spend or save the money as far as I could tell.

POTUS then posed for a photo and made a comment: "We've got some fine people here," and he pointed at a radio pooler.

At 12:15 he left to see the rest of the plant, and came back at 12:25 to make his statement. He talked about Jim intending to use the business tax credit for equipment and software, but none had yet been bought. You'll have the transcript shortly if not already.

Pool was ushered out at 12:30, motorcade rolled at 12:42, and Marine One was wheels up at 12:48 en route to the White House while we choppered back to the Pentagon.

— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times