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Skriven 2006-09-21 23:31:08 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0609211) for Thu, 2006 Sep 21
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Press Gaggle by Dana Perino
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 21, 2006

Press Gaggle by Dana Perino
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Tampa, Florida



10:52 A.M. EDT

MS. PERINO: How are you? I'm going to give you the schedule, and then I've
got an update on the President's speech today. He had his normal briefings
this morning, and then he met with the Secretary of Defense. We are on our
way to Florida, Tampa.

I want to take this moment to shine a little light on the Freedom Corps
greeter, because the two today are quite remarkable, especially the first.
His name is Zach Bonner. He is only eight years old. And he's done a lot of
work for victims of hurricanes. After Hurricane Charlie in 2004 he helped
collect supplies for families impacted by the storm, and he was able to get
grass roots efforts to donate 25 truckloads of supplies for families in
need.

After Hurricane Katrina he organized a toy drive and delivered gifts to
children in hurricane-stricken regions of Louisiana. He also founded the
Little Red Wagon Foundation, which is a non-profit organization to help
other kids that are in need. And he teamed up with Stand Up For Kids, which
is a non-profit organization which helps homeless youth, and has assembled
more than 400 backpacks, and he calls them Zachpacks, all one word, very
trendy marketing tool. And they're filled with donated snacks and other --
socks, underwear, personal hygiene items, first-aid kits and toys.

And then as a topper of all this, he's planning a Christmas party for
children impacted by Hurricane Katrina who are living at Renaissance
Village in Baker, Louisiana. To date he has collected toys and gifts to
deliver to 250 children. We don't always take time out to highlight these
individuals, but he's certainly worth giving a shout out to this morning.

The President will attend a Gus Bilirakis for Congress reception in Tampa,
and then we will go to Orlando, and he will attend a Crist for Governor and
Republican Party of Florida reception. And then we arrive back at the White
House at 8:45 p.m. tonight.

For these speeches, as I've mentioned before, the President doesn't really
have formal remarks. But there is -- and you've heard him in some of these
political speeches going -- talking about the Republican record that they
have to run on.

Today, he's going to add an element, talking about the detail and the
contrast between Republicans and Democrats on taxes. He will note that the
last time Democrats controlled the House, which was 1993, they passed a
massive tax increase. And since then, they have consistently supported
higher taxes. Just this week, the top Democrat of the House Ways and Means
Committee, he said he could not think of one of the Bush tax cuts he would
renew.

So one of the things he'll say in his speech is that the Democrat's agenda
-- excuse me, the Democrat's tax agenda comes down to this: If you bring
home a paycheck, are married, have a child, or own a family farm or small
business, the Democrats consistently vote to raise your taxes. He will talk
about the consequences for ordinary Americans and small businesses if the
Democrats get into the majority and let the tax relief expire. And the
President will make it clear that he plans to continue explaining the
differences between the parties during this campaign, so that the American
people know what their options are. And on taxes, he believes that they
have a very clear choice. And so he will detail that out today in the
speech you will hear later this morning -- I guess it's early afternoon,
1:10 p.m.

Q Both speeches the same?

MS. PERINO: I think you'll hear it in both speeches.

Questions?

Q What is the current status of negotiations with the Hill on the terrorism
legislation? And do you really believe that this can -- this compromise can
be worked out before they leave session?

MS. PERINO: Negotiations and discussions are ongoing. We are talking in
good faith with the people up on the Hill, both staff and members. And so
we can remain cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to reach a
resolution. I think the intentions are -- the intentions are pure on all
sides. We want to reach a resolution so the very valuable program can
continue, and they're just going back and forth right now, discussing which
is the best way to provide the clarity that the CIA operators say that they
need. And that was the President's test for this. He said he was going to
ask only one question, and does the clarification that we end up with allow
the CIA what they need in order to proceed with this very valuable program.

As to the timing as to whether or not we can get it done before the
election, we certainly hope so. So we will continue to work very hard on
that. I know that they were in discussions over the past several days, into
the evening hours, and up early in the morning. So people are working very
hard.

Q On immigration, the Senate is moving ahead with the fence bill, the House
fence bill; the House is moving ahead with some of these other independent
measures. What is the White House vision on the immigration debate right
now and the Senate moving ahead with the fence debate?

MS. PERINO: Some of the proposals that are moving through right now are
ones that we have either -- I believe that some of them are actually in our
budget that we proposed. Border security is certainly a critical part of
the President's comprehensive immigration reform plan, and in no way does
the passage of border security only bill take the place of what he has
called for, which is a comprehensive immigration reform bill. And he said
just yesterday in the Wolf Blitzer interview that he's trying to continue
to push for a comprehensive reform bill.

Remember that none of these bills are on their way to the President's desk
yet. So we will continue to see how things work out up on the Hill.

Q Would the President find it necessary to seek General Musharraf's
permission to launch military action against Osama bin Laden inside
Pakistan?

MS. PERINO: Let me tell you what I'll say on that. You know that President
Musharraf is going to be at the White House tomorrow, and there will be an
availability in the late morning hours. As we've said before, Pakistan is
an important partner in the war on terror and a friend to the United
States. We've had excellent cooperation in many areas, including
counterterrorism. And the President has repeatedly said how much he
appreciates Musharraf's commitment to pursuing al Qaeda and continuing to
work with us in cooperation in the search for Osama bin Laden. Pakistan and
the United States remain close allies, working not only on the war on
terror together, but on many other areas.

What I can tell you is that -- without getting into any operational details
-- that when there is actionable information, that Osama bin Laden will be
brought to justice.

Q Can I ask one more question about taxes? The President has said, or his
advisors have said that Social Security remains something he wants to deal
with. When he talks about taxes today, does he believe that Social Security
can be put on a sustainable path without raising taxes?

MS. PERINO: In the remarks that I saw, I didn't see Social Security
mentioned as a part of that. That doesn't mean that the President doesn't
think that Social Security isn't already having a massive impact on
America's fiscal health, and especially looking into the future, as we try
to figure out how to sustain the program.

Q But if he's saying, Republicans are not going to raise your taxes, is he
saying, any fix that I propose for Social Security will contain no tax
increases?

MS. PERINO: Again, I don't believe that these remarks talk at all about the
Social Security matter, and I think that the President has said that after
the election he's going to work with Congress to make sure that we try to
solve this problem. I don't have anything more for you on that. I mean,
there's not a new proposal on the table.

Q Hungary, the situation in Hungary. What is the reaction to what's going
on there, particularly to the revelation that the government apparently
repeatedly, and for some time, lied to the people about the economy and
other things?

MS. PERINO: I don't know a lot of detail on it. Obviously, it's never
appropriate to lie to people, in a democracy or otherwise. And so this is a
matter that the people of Hungary are going to have to address through the
democratic processes that they have in place. And so far, from what I've
seen, I think that they are doing that and people are expressing their
reaction to it in a -- so far in a non-violent way. We certainly hope that
that continues. But I think this is a matter for the people of Hungary to
deal with.

Q I mean, has the President had any personal reaction, given that the
leader is such a strong ally of his, and he was just with him a few months
ago?

MS. PERINO: I haven't talked to the President about it at all, I don't
know.

Q The President, two days ago, that was the final speech in this new series
in the war on terror. Where is that debate right now in the war on terror?
What did you guys accomplish through those series of speeches, and does any
of that -- will his campaign remarks reflect that, the current campaign
speech reflect that today?

MS. PERINO: Yes, the President is going to continue to talk about the war
on terror. I think you've seen at any of the campaign stops that he's gone
on over the past year that part of drawing the distinctions between
Republicans and Democrats is talking about how we would approach the war on
terror, versus how they might approach the war on terror. And so you will
hear him continue to talk about that.

The series of speeches really took a step back and was broken out into a
series because it's so complex and there are so many things to talk about,
that giving a series of speeches where he could break it out and have
individual topics addressed for one speech we think was effective to remind
people about, for example, the institutional reforms that have been put in
play; the speech on September 6th which talked about the high-value
detainee program of the CIA and the effectiveness of that program. Also,
talking yesterday -- or Tuesday, two days ago, -- at the UNGA, talking to a
different audience, the international community and directly to the people
of the Middle East, and calling on the United Nations to stand up for peace
and to stand for moderate governments, so that the choice becomes one --
the choice is, do you support moderate governments or do you support
extremists who are going to make choices that are filled with terror and
murder and violence?

And so I think that particular series was a successful one. You will
continue to hear the President talk about the war on terror as they move
forward in this campaign season because there is a clear distinction to be
drawn.

Q I'm wondering about the trip, is there going to be any official business
that the President is doing on this trip?

MS. PERINO: I believe that we just have two political events.

Q So this trip is paid for by whom?

MS. PERINO: There's a whole formula for that, that's dealt with in terms of
the campaigns, through the RNC -- I don't know how that whole formula works
out, but there is one that deals with the political costs of the trip.*

Q This is not on the taxpayers' dime?

MS. PERINO: The political part of the trip is not on the taxpayers' dime,
no.

Q There is no other part of the trip that isn't political?

MS. PERINO: Let me try to get you the formula, because I don't have it with
me.

Q Katherine Harris says that she's going to be at the GOP's meeting at 4
p.m., at the Ritz Carlton. Does the President plan to meet with her as the
Republican nominee for the Senate race?

MS. PERINO: I don't know if there is any specific separate meeting, but I
believe she is going to be there as part of the event.

Q Does he have any plans to raise money for her?

MS. PERINO: I don't know of anything that's scheduled.

Q Musharraf tomorrow -- you touched on that. What are they going to talk
about tomorrow that's going to be different from what they talk about with
Musharraf and Karzai next week?

MS. PERINO: I think you'll have to stay tuned. I don't know if I understand
your point. He's going to talk to Musharraf tomorrow, is that event, and I
believe Tuesday is the Karzai event, and then there is the joint event on
Wednesday.

Q But is it the same topics tomorrow that you're going to talk about in the
joint -- the trilateral meeting on Wednesday, or does -- how do you pitch
forward to that meeting on Wednesday when you -- with this meeting
tomorrow? Is there set-up work that's done?

MS. PERINO: I'm not sure I understand the question. Obviously, the war on
terror is something that they have to talk about. There are regional
issues, and there's also other issues -- probably economic issues in terms
of economic help that we're giving to both countries, especially like in
Afghanistan, where you're talking about the beefing up of an agricultural
sector that doesn't have to do with the poppies.

So there's different things that are going to be talked about in each
meeting, and then they're going to go to a joint meeting and they'll have a
discussion altogether, and it will be a dinner, which will be a little bit
of a different setting than a one-on-one meeting in the Oval, followed by a
press avail.

Q So I should have said it this way. These are two allies that are allied
with us, the United States, but are right now exchanging words between the
two of them. How do you deal with that in advance of the meeting on
Wednesday?

MS. PERINO: I think that we all share the goal of a more peaceful region
and in fighting the war on terror. So, start there, and then on other
issues we'll see if we can help bridge gaps if there needs to be. But I
think that the great thing is that they're both coming, they're going to
have separate meetings with the President, and then we're all going to meet
together on Wednesday night.

All right? Thank you.

END 11:07 A.M. EDT

*A formula is applied that comes from regulations that have been used since
at least the Reagan Administration. The percentage of time spent on
political activity and official activity is determined from a particular
trip. Then, the total cost of the trip, less security costs, is allocated
based on the percentage of time spent on political and official activity.
The government pays for the official percentage of the activity, the
political entity pays for the percentage of the costs that are related to
political activity. When the President travels and there is a political
event on the schedule, the government does not incur any additional costs.
When a trip is all political, the same formula applies. The political
entity pays for all the costs related to the trip specifically.
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