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Skriven 2007-06-25 23:31:04 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070625a) for Mon, 2007 Jun 25
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Press Briefing by Mrs. Bush En Route Dakar, Senegal
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For Immediate Release Office of the First Lady June 25, 2007

Press Briefing by Mrs. Bush En Route Dakar, Senegal

˙˙Press Briefings


10:21 A.M. EDT

MRS. BUSH: Thanks, everyone. I just came out to say hello, and I'm glad
you're with me. So I think we're going to have a very interesting trip.
It's going to be a difficult trip, just because it's so much travel. We're
going, obviously, from the west coast to the east coast and back to the
west coast of Africa before we come home. And we're busy in every stop,
with a lot of different programs that we want to see that both address
AIDS, malaria, clean water, education. And so those will be the four
focuses of this -- of the trip.

But I hope you have on your comfortable shoes. We'll work hard for the
week.

I think it will be a really terrific trip, and I'm happy to have this
chance to get to see all of these terrific programs that are funded in some
part by the United States government, either through USAID or PEPFAR or the
President's Malaria Initiative. And I hope that you all will help me let
the American people know about what they're doing, through their taxpayers'
money, to try to make a big difference in Africa, both in eradicating
malaria, trying to reach and treat as many people as possible and avert as
much infection as possible with HIV/AIDS.

And then I'm really looking forward to the PlayPump that we'll see in
Zambia, this children's merry-go-round that are put mainly in schools where
they have a well and clean water. And part of the money that goes to
putting in the PlayPump includes making sure -- testing water to make sure
their well is safe. And I think this will be a fun and interesting way to
pump water into a holding tank. And it lets girls and boys go to school,
because they're not having to spend all day walking to a water well a long
way away and carrying water, sometimes contaminated water, back to their
villages. So I think this will be a really fun part of the trip to see
these merry-go-rounds, the PlayPumps.

So thank you all for coming with me. I think we'll have a good time, work
hard, and see a lot. So I'm really looking forward to it.

Q Can you tell us what you think the most challenging part of the trip will
be?

MRS. BUSH: I think for us, the most challenging part, really, is going to
be this travel, I mean, the long distances for us to have to fly between
places, and then to try to do as many things as we can possibly do in every
stop. And as you know from looking at the schedule, the schedule is filled,
no down time, except for when we're on the plane. So I'm looking forward to
it.

Q Mrs. Bush, it looks like the House, at least, is moving on the first
year's funding of the next series of the AIDS funding. Are you confident
that the Senate will be there, as well?

MRS. BUSH: Yes -- I mean, I'm not confident, I don't know -- I can speak
for the House or Senate. But obviously I think that there is large
bipartisan support for this, and that people on both sides of the aisle see
it as beneficial, obviously, for the people in Africa, and the other
countries -- Asia, Vietnam and Haiti that are also targeted with AIDS --
with PEPFAR funds -- see it so beneficial for them, but also a really
beneficial way for the United States to reach out, and for people around
the world to see what Americans are really like.

And I think all of the programs we'll see that are supported by U.S.
taxpayers are a good example of both what Americans are really like, the
generosity of Americans -- and I saw today in USA Today that American
charitable giving is up, with the most ever last year, more even than 2005
during the year of the hurricanes and the tsunami when we knew there were
unprecedented levels of charitable giving.

So I think the Congress will support this for those two reasons -- first
that it's an obligation, many people see it as a moral obligation for the
United States because we are affluent, because we do have the -- so many
ways to help; and as -- also as being beneficial for our country and
letting people around the world know what Americans are really like.

Q Mrs. Bush, obviously this is very good thing that the American people are
doing, very positive. Can you talk a little bit about -- I know there's a
debate about Guantanamo Bay, Gitmo. Where do you stand? Where do you fall
on that? Do you hope to close that in your husband's administration?

MRS. BUSH: I think I'll let the administration speak on that topic. That's
not one of my topics, and that's certainly not the point of the trip.

Q Mrs. Bush, this is your third trip.

MRS. BUSH: That's right.

Q Where do you see this, in order of importance, that you've been? I mean,
is this the most important by far, what you're doing so far?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I think it's very important. I mean, these are issues that
I also work on at home. Education is a very important issue for me, and I'm
excited to see and give these scholarships, the African Education
Initiative schools and sites that we'll go to. I think that's very
important.

I think this is an important piece of American foreign policy, frankly, the
way we reach out to countries all over the world. Not just Africa but
everywhere in the world we have very active programs going on in Central
and South America, as well, and in Asia, as well. And I think that's -- all
of these programs are an important part of American foreign policy.

And I think they represent not only the generosity of the American people,
but also the efficiency and the accountability piece of the American
government, as well, ways for us to be able to make sure our tax money is
used in a way that helps the most people, that has the furthest reach,
that's the most effective.

One thing that happened during the White House Summit on Malaria that we
had in December was each of the big players -- the United Nations, UNESCO,
UNICEF, the World Health Organization, USAID -- all came together to talk
about the ways to be most effective in eradicating malaria, instead of each
-- and I think this was literally the first time each one of the big
players had been brought together -- the World Bank was one of them -- to
try to have the most effective outreach. In other words, if the World Bank
is giving a big loan to Nigeria, then all the other players ought to know
it so they can focus on Zambia or on another country where there's a very
high rate of malaria.

So I think that's also another piece of this, of our foreign policy, as
we're involved in aid.

The Millennium Challenge grants have been a very important part -- the
Millennium Challenge Corporation has worked with governments as they devise
their own strategy for what they'll do with the Millennium Challenge
grants, whether it's infrastructure, building roads, building water
distribution areas, or if it's building schools and education.

And one of the very important pieces -- and I think this is another
important part of American foreign policy -- is the work between
governments, the work with the governments on the ground, the African
governments that are -- whose people are benefiting from these programs, as
well as our government, to work together to try to be the most effective,
to try to stretch the money the furthest so that the most people get help.
And I think that's also an important piece -- and another reason that I
think the Congress will support this funding, because they know that we're
trying to be as efficient and effective as we possibly can with this
funding.

Q This is your third trip. When are you going to get your husband over
there?

MRS. BUSH: He'll go, I think -- we had hoped that it would be this year. I
don't know now with our other travel schedule, with APEC in Australia and
other things, if it will be. But hopefully sometime next year.

So thanks, everybody. Appreciate it. This will be fun. I think we'll have a
really good time.

Q We're looking forward to it.

MRS. BUSH: It's going to be very interesting.

END 10:30 A.M. EDT
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