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Skriven 2005-02-08 23:45:48 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0502085) for Tue, 2005 Feb 8
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Press Gaggle with Scott McClellan
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 8, 2005

Press Gaggle with Scott McClellan
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Detroit, Michigan


  þ President's Schedule
  þ Social Security
      þ Reference B
  þ Updated Schedule
  þ Romanian President Visit
  þ White House Personnel Changes
  þ Senator Reid/RNC
      þ Reference B
  þ Middle East

11:07 A.M. EST

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me begin with the President's schedule for the day. He
had his usual briefings before we departed. I'll come back -- well, let me
just give a quick, brief refresher on today's speech. I did preview that
yesterday at the beginning of the briefing.

But the President will really focus in today's speech on the three pillars
of our strategy to expand prosperity -- expand and extend prosperity to our
children and grandchildren. And those three pillars are, first, making sure
that we exercise responsible spending restraint. So he'll talk about some
of the budget issues he touched on yesterday in his speech -- and the hope
-- the importance of making sure that programs focus on results and that
they're achieving their intended results, and that they have an essential
-- that they play an essential role -- or that they are an essential
federal priority, I guess is the way I would say it.

He'll talk about the importance of building upon the pro-growth economic
policies that we've implemented to continue to sustain the strong economic
growth that we're seeing. At the beginning of the remarks, he'll talk about
how we've overcome a lot of the challenges to our economy and go through
some of what you've heard there before.

And then, finally, the third pillar being modernizing important
institutions, whether it's our educational institutions like the No Child
Left Behind Act, and expanding that to high school, as well; or supporting
community colleges to help make sure we have an educated work force for the
21st century -- and I expect he'll spend a good bit of time talking about
the serious problems facing Social Security, as well, and why we need to
act to address that and make sure that it is there for our children and
grandchildren -- that it has served an important purpose, but now we need
to modernize and strengthen it for future generations. And so that's really
the overview of his remarks today.

Let's see -- then after that we will return back to the White House, and
the President will participate in a celebration of Black History Month, in
the East Room. It's open press. He'll make some brief remarks at that
celebration. And then, following that, the President will be meeting with
some Republican members of the House to talk about the importance of
strengthening Social Security and acting to address it this year. That's
part of his ongoing discussions that he's having with members of Congress
to get this important priority done this year.

Q Who?

MR. McCLELLAN: We'll try to get you names later today.

Q Any coverage?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, no coverage on that.

Q -- leadership, or is it just --

MR. McCLELLAN: It's some House Republican members. We'll work on giving you
names later.

Q -- will it be --

MR. McCLELLAN: We'll work on getting you the names later.

Q What about the category of them?

Q Are they people who are skeptical about Social Security?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, he's had a number of meetings. He's going to continue
to have a number of meetings. And these are some House Republicans that --
we'll try to get you the list later today.

Q Can you say they're all confirmed "yes" votes for his proposal?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I'll let those members speak for themselves.

Q How did you pick them, just by height, or by name?

MR. McCLELLAN: It's part of -- legislative affairs continues to set up
these meetings as part of the ongoing outreach. But, again, I don't have
the list on me right this second, but we'll get you the list later. I mean,
obviously --

Q The list for the criteria that they used to select --

MR. McCLELLAN: We can obviously talk about it later today. The way I would
describe it is the way I did. I mean, it's just part of the continuing
outreach to members of Congress and part of the ongoing discussions to get
Social Security done this year. And there will continue to be a variety of
meetings.

Q What time is the meeting?

MR. McCLELLAN: At 3:55 p.m. And whether or not they go to the stakeout, I
don't know.

Q Where is it?

MR. McCLELLAN: The Cabinet Room. And, obviously, I'll be available if we
want to talk about it later, too. I'll be attending the meeting, as well.

Hang on, I've got some announcements to make, and then we'll jump to other
stuff. Thursday -- let me update the schedule -- the President is going to
focus on Social Security in two events on Thursday. He'll be participating
in a town hall meeting on strengthening Social Security in Raleigh, North
Carolina. And following that, he'll participate in a conversation on
strengthening Social Security, and that will be in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

Q Town hall and conversation are different --

MR. McCLELLAN: It's like the ones last week, where the conversations are
really -- you have panel participants that he discusses issues with, and
the importance of addressing this issue, listens to their concerns that
they have. And the town hall, typically he'll start with that, but then
he'll also take questions from the audience that is at the event, as well.

We'll have a statement out shortly announcing that the President will host
Romanian President Basescu at the White House on March 9th, 2005. So we'll
put a statement out on that. By the way, we also have a fact sheet on
today's event that goes over these three pillars and the key priorities
within each of those pillars, as well.

And finally, I want to make some announcements on the White House staff. I
think this essentially -- I think it essentially finishes up the senior
staff of the White House going forward into the second term. Karl Rove will
now assume the position of Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the
President. In this -- in his role, Karl will continue to oversee the
strategy to advance the President's agenda. He will also coordinate policy
within the various White House councils, as previous deputy chiefs have
done. And those previous Deputy Chiefs of Staff, obviously, are Harriet
Miers, who's now the Counsel to the President, and Josh Bolten, before
that.

Q Is that in place --

MR. McCLELLAN: Hang on, hang on. Let me go -- let me go on. Let me walk
through this, because there are some changes within that, but generally
speaking, that's what he will do, and also make sure that we have an open
and fair process for the development of policy and to make sure that policy
is complementary and consistent within the various councils. I mean, the
various councils will continue to develop the policy -- the Domestic Policy
Council, the National Economic Council, the National Security Council, and
the Homeland Security Council. Those are the four White House Councils,
really. And Karl will continue to oversee the intergovernment affairs,
political affairs, and strategic initiatives. And I don't know if,
recently, we announced that Sara Taylor will be coming on to be -- oversee
political affairs. She'll fill that role for overseeing the political
affairs aspects of things.

And then there is some exception to the way it was previously done within
the Deputy Chiefs of Staff. Joe Hagin will also have an expanded portfolio
as -- in his role as Deputy Chief of Staff. He will represent the Chief of
Staff at deputy's meetings when it comes to intelligence matters,
counterterrorism efforts, proliferation and counter-proliferation, and DOD,
and -- Department of Defense and Homeland Security Council.

Q Andy won't go to those meetings?

MR. McCLELLAN: So those -- those policies that were part of the portfolio,
under Josh and Harriet -- this is the deputy's meetings, so he represents
the Chief of Staff at those. It's as it has always been, but Joe will have
that part of those efforts.

Q Karl's not going to have, like, foreign policy --

MR. McCLELLAN: Hang on, hang on. Let me go -- let me go through -- no, it's
not correct, per se, because international economic affairs, he'll --
obviously, things like that, he'll be involved in. But those areas that I
mentioned will fall more under Joe's portfolio.

And now, Mike Gerson, his new position is Assistant to the President for
Planning -- Assistant to the President for Policy and Strategic Planning.
And in Mike's role -- Mike's role, he'll continue to oversee major policy
addresses and be involved in that. And Bill McGurn is now the Chief
Speechwriter, as everyone is well aware. And he'll have specific policy
areas, both domestic and foreign that -- will be a primary responsibility
of his. Those would include the compassion agenda, so he'll be very
involved with the efforts like -- by the Office of National AIDS Policy,
USA Freedom Corps, the faith-based and community initiatives. Jim Towey
continues to oversee and coordinate the faith-based and community
initiatives efforts. But Mike will be very involved in that. He'll be very
involved on the international front in democracy and human rights issues
and things of that nature.

Obviously, when it comes to Karl, he is one of the President's most trusted
advisors who has played an integral role in the strategy and policy
development for a long time. So now he has a more expanded role. Mike is
someone who -- whose advice the President has looked to and valued on a
number of those areas I just mentioned. He's someone who will be very much
involved in pushing forward on efforts to expand the compassion agenda and
advance democracy and freedom. So he'll be very involved in those efforts.

Now, also with this, a couple other announcements. Kristen Silverberg, her
new role will be Deputy Assistant to the President for Policy, so she'll
help with coordination of policy within the White House. And so she'll help
with the coordination of the policy development among those four councils.

Q How do you spell her name?

MR. McCLELLAN: Hang on -- and help coordinate policy briefings for the
President and things of that nature, as well. S-i-l-v-e-r-b-e-r-g. And
finally, I think that some of you are aware that Claire Buchan is going to
be Chief of Staff to Secretary Gutierrez at the Department of Commerce. She
has done an outstanding job serving the President, and an outstanding job
as Deputy Press Secretary. We will miss her.

At the same time, we have an outstanding person who will be joining the
press office team, and that is Dana Perino. She has been the Communications
Director for the Council on Environmental Quality, and previously worked at
the Justice Department, and some other areas, as well. And she looks
forward to working with all of you in the press corps, and she'll be
starting -- she's already starting to transition with Claire this week.
Claire's last day will be Friday, and Dana will be starting immediately, as
well.

Q What's Kristen's position on -- I don't actually know, what is her title
now?

MR. McCLELLAN: She's been Deputy Assistant for Domestic Policy.

Q So Deputy Assistant --

MR. McCLELLAN: It's a more expanded role for her. Well, as I said, she will
help coordinate among all those councils, whereas it was previously more so
on the Domestic Policy Council.

Q Now she's policy --

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, and working within the Chief of Staff's office
operation.

Q She's Deputy Assistant to the President for policy?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's correct.

Q And before it was just domestic policy?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's correct.

Q Okay.

Q Politics is still in Karl's portfolio, right?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, Sara Taylor is the new person overseeing political
affairs, that division. But then Karl also has intergovernmental affairs
and strategic initiatives under him.

Q What is Sara's job?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, she took Matt Schlapp's position.

Q Oh, right.

MR. McCLELLAN: And we previously announced that, I think, a few weeks ago,
actually. So those are the announcements I have.

Q Does your job stay the same? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: My job stays the same.

Q Is the President going to --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm going to continue working with you all. And I do enjoy
it still.

Q Is the President going to ask the RNC to back off of Harry Reid at all?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?

Q Is the President going to ask the RNC to back off --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the President has made it very clear that he intends
to work closely with members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike,
on our common priorities. And the President wants to work closely -- that
includes working closely with Senator Reid. The President has reached out
to him and will continue to do so on ways we can work together to advance
common priorities.

And he attended a private dinner at the White House last night. The
President was pleased that he did, and they had a good visit there. And --
they've had a number of previous conversations, too. But the President has
always been someone who has worked to elevate the tone and reach out to
members on both sides of the aisle. And that's exactly what he will
continue to do.

Q Is he finding it constructive, though, what the RNC is doing? Is that
helping him at all in his effort to reach --

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, the President's focus is on reaching out to all
members who want to work together to advance our shared priorities. And
that's what he will --

Q Does the letter --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and Senator -- well, you can talk to the Republican
National Committee about what they did. I'm not familiar with all the
aspects of what they're doing.

Q It's not like they do what they do in a vacuum --

MR. McCLELLAN: I can tell you -- I speak for the President -- I can tell
you that the President has made it very clear time and time again that he
is interested in working together to accomplish the people's business here
in Washington, D.C. And that's what he will continue to do. He has talked
to Senator Reid on a number of occasions since the election, reached out in
private phone conversations, as well as talked to him last night in the
private dinner that he invited him to attend at the White House. That's the
way the President will continue to operate.

Q What about the Mideast? Can you comment on the cease-fire?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes. We commend the strong leadership of President Abbas,
Prime Minister Sharon, President Mubarak, and King Abdullah. The cessation
of violence and terrorism is an important step on the path to ending
terrorism in the region, and dismantling the terrorist infrastructure --
which is called for under the road map. And as you heard from Secretary
Rice, the United States will continue playing -- will continue doing its
part to help the parties move forward on the President's two-state vision
of Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace.

Anything else? Gave you a good bit to chew on for today.

Q Does he or does he not support the letter from the RNC about Senator
Reid?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think I addressed -- I think I've addressed the issue.

Q You just dodged the question.

MR. McCLELLAN: I think you can direct those questions -- you can direct
questions about RNC letters to the RNC just like you would about the
Democratic National Committee. The President is committed to reaching out
and working together on shared priorities. That's what he'll continue to
do.

Q Well, you're basically saying the President is not going to tell the RNC
to call it off?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I can tell you the way the President has operated and
will continue to operate. And that's what he will continue to do. That's
the way he has always led in Washington, D.C., and that's the way he will
continue to do.

He believes that we were elected to -- we were elected to focus on the
priorities of the American people, and part of that means working together
on shared priorities and the President -- look at the President's actions
and his words. He has always worked to elevate the tone. He has always --
he always worked to reach to out to Democratic and Republican leaders and
bring people together to get things done. And we have. And that's what we
will -- that's what we will continue to do.

Q The only thing we can take from what you're saying is that you don't like
the letter. So is that what you're saying, or not?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think I've responded from the President's standpoint and
what he believes and what his focus is. And what is -- and what his focus
will --

Q -- this letter --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and what his focus will --

Q -- put out by an organization --

MR. McCLELLAN: And what his focus will continue to do. And you might want
to ask - you might want to talk to the RNC about that, so I'm going to
speak for the President and his views and what he believes we ought to
focus on, and what he has done all along.

Q Does the President find the RNC support helpful in building public
support for his Social Security plan?

MR. McCLELLAN: Look, the President is going to continue to focus on how we
can work together to get things done. That's what he -- that's what he has
done. That's what he'll continue to do, and that means reaching out to
leaders on both sides of the aisle. He has done that, he will continue to
do that.

Q But this is a separate question, just in terms of building a national
consensus for the President's plan, the RNC has been very constructive in
that regard. And so I would think the President -- or I wonder if the
President enjoyed their support in terms of getting to this common goal.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, in terms of Social Security?

Q Yes.

MR. McCLELLAN: It's important that -- it's important that we all recognize
the serious problem facing Social Security and that we focus on solutions
to fix the problem. And so the President has been very clear that he
welcomes all -- he welcomes all ideas.

Q But he likes their help in that regard?

MR. McCLELLAN: He welcomes all ideas that will help us solve this important
priority. And that's what he'll continue to do.

Q -- cease-fire in his remarks today?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the remarks will focus on what I said. So I think I've
addressed it from our standpoint. I'll try to let you know if anything
changes, though, on that.

Q You've got to send -- have you decided whether to send legislation up to
the Hill on Social Security, or just work with members who have their own
legislation?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the President is focused on finding a bipartisan
solution that addresses this important priority this year because the
problem only gets worse over time. And so we're going to - and that part of
his meetings today. We're going to continue to talk with Republican and
Democratic leaders about how best to get this done. And the President has
talked about his specific proposal for personal accounts. He's -- and he'll
again talk today about how we need to have an honest and open discussion
about how to strengthen Social Security and how to get it done. And so
he'll welcome -- he welcomes all ideas. And so those are matters that we'll
continue to discuss with members of Congress about how best to proceed
going forward.

Q Okay. All right, Scott, thank you.

END 11:26 A.M. EST

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