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Skriven 2005-03-31 00:10:52 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0503306) for Thu, 2005 Mar 31
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Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
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Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 30, 2005

Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
Aboard Air Force One
En route Cedar Rapids, Iowa



10:40 A.M. EST

MR. McCLELLAN: Good morning, everybody. The President had his usual
briefings before departing the White House. Upon arrival, we will go to the
Spring House Family Restaurant in Cedar Rapids, and the President will
participate in an interview with WHO Newsradio. It's the Mickelson in the
Morning show. This is an opportunity for the President to talk about our
efforts to strengthen Social Security. Senator Grassley will be there, as
well. I think he'll start off the program when we get there, and then the
President will join in on the interview. The pool will be there to cover
it, as well. I think we'll let the TVs get some footage of it upfront, and
then ask the TVs to kind of step back, but you all will be in there to
listen to the interview as it takes place, it will be a live interview on
the radio show.

Then following that we go to the community college, Kirkwood Community
College, where the President will participate in a conversation on
strengthening Social Security, including a Social Security expert, a nurse,
two retired seniors, a student from the community college and the owner of
a farm from Iowa. And, Warren, I know you asked if any congressional people
traveling with us today -- Congressman Leach will be coming back with us to
D.C. when we return this afternoon.

That's what I've got on the schedule, so I'm here for whatever questions
you have.

Q Scott, do you know who is dispensing tickets to this event?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think it was given to -- Senator Grassley's office had a
lot of the tickets and was distributing those tickets. I imagine some of
the tickets were given to the community college, as well.

Q Has the White House provided the Congressman, or anyone else, with
guidance on who the tickets should go to?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that when we give -- I mean, we tend to give tickets
to any congressional office that asks or requests tickets to come to the
event. Like I said, in Memphis, for instance, Congressman Ford wanted to
come to the event and he got 40 or 50 tickets. And these are tickets for
them to distribute as they see fit. I think Senator Grassley -- you might
want to talk to his office about who all they distributed it to, but I
imagine that they distributed it to a number of people.

Q Did the White House condone the --

MR. McCLELLAN: People with different views, I should say.

Q Did the White House condone the decision of somebody in Denver to evict
some people because of a bumper sticker they had?

MR. McCLELLAN: A couple things. One -- well, let me back up, to finish.
Typically, when we go into areas, I mean, tickets are given to
congressional office so they can distribute them. They tend to be given to
local community organizations, as well, maybe chambers of commerce. Like
when we went to Notre Dame University, some tickets were given to the
University, as well, for them to distribute, as they saw fit, as well. So
that's kind of the general process for the ticket distribution.

In terms of the events, themselves, I do want to make clear that we welcome
a diversity of views at the events. These are conversations that are aimed
at educating the American people about the problems facing Social Security.
And they're also aimed at talking to seniors and reassuring them that, for
them, nothing changes. There are a lot of scare tactics, as you have seen,
out there, aimed at seniors. And the President -- part of this is about
reassuring seniors.

Now, in terms of -- coming back to your question on Denver, I did look into
that a little bit more yesterday, a few of you all called my office to talk
about it. My understanding is that it was a volunteer involved in that
matter. My sense is that the volunteer thought that these individuals,
these three individuals were coming to the event to disrupt it. And those
individuals -- I think if you look at some of the early news reports even
said something to that effect. Now, we welcome a diversity of views at
events, but if people are coming to the event to disrupt it, that's another
matter. If they want to disrupt the event, then I think that, obviously,
they're going to be asked to leave the event. There is plenty of
opportunity for them to express their views outside of events; there are
protest areas.

I think that, to a large extent, this is more of a few individuals trying
to divert attention from the real issue here. And the real issue here is
how do we fix Social Security. And this is a priority for the President.
The American people recognize more and more that there are serious
challenges facing Social Security, and that's where our focus is,
continuing to talk about how we work together in a bipartisan way to get
something done.

Q Senator Grassley has been traveling around Iowa in the last week having
his own town hall meetings. And he said on Friday, I think on public radio
in Iowa, that he put at less than 50 percent, the chance of the President's
plan passing, and he said he hasn't found anyone who really -- there's no
groundswell of sentiment that Social Security needs to be fixed. What do
you think of what the Senator has found?

MR. McCLELLAN: A couple of things. One, let me point back to surveys.
Survey after survey shows that the American people, in overwhelming
numbers, recognize that there are serious problems facing Social Security.
The surveys also show a majority of Americans support the idea of personal
accounts for younger workers, so that they can realize a greater rate of
return on their own retirement savings and so that they can own a piece of
their own retirement savings.

Now, in terms of Senator Grassley, I mean, you focused on a select portion
of his remarks. Senator Grassley has made it clear that he intends to move
forward in his committee on legislation to strengthen Social Security. And
he has also made it clear that it's important that we have a bipartisan
solution. We agree, the President has said repeatedly that this is a
serious challenge facing our children and grandchildren, that's why we need
to act now, it only gets worse over time. And we must work in a bipartisan
way to get something done.

Unfortunately, some Democratic leaders have been more interested in simply
saying what they're against than talking about what they're for. We have
opened the door and said all ideas ought to be on the table and let's work
together to get something done. So we would hope the Democratic leaders
would start coming to the table and talking about ideas and what they're
for and how we can work together to get something done. That's what the
American people expect.

Q Congress is back next week. Will the administration begin actually
talking about specifics with the various committee chairmen, like Senator
Grassley?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we have and we will continue to do so. The President
has had a number of meetings with congressional leaders. He talks to
leaders in private, as well. And our staff has been in close contact with
members of Congress, as well. So we continue to talk about ideas and about
ways we can move forward to come up with a bipartisan piece of legislation
that can get passed this year, that will strengthen Social Security and
make it permanently sound and strengthen it for -- make it a better deal
for our younger workers, as the President often talks about.

Q The AARP is turning out a lot of people at these town hall meetings that
Grassley has gone to, and others. Is there something that the White House
would like to see the AARP do to sort of bring -- you know, bring some of
the opponents of your plan together?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think, first of all, there are many seniors across the
country who understand the importance of fixing Social Security for our
children and grandchildren. They have children and grandchildren and they
want to make sure that that safety net is there for them. And the safety
net has a big hole in it right now for future generations, as the President
likes to talk about.

The facts are clear. The facts point to a system that is on an
unsustainable course and it must be fixed. And the President believes
leadership is about addressing problems and not passing them on to future
generations. So that's why -- we welcome all those who are putting forward
ideas for finding a solution. We would welcome ideas from the AARP, as
well, for finding a solution. That's where the President's focus is: on
getting something done for the American people.

Q Do you think they're unfairly trying to scare senior citizens in this
debate?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, then again, I think seniors are recognizing that there
is no foundation to the scare tactics that some have chosen to use. I'm not
talking about the AARP, I'm talking about some groups that have simply
sought to try to stop something from happening. That's not what the
American people expect. The American people expect solutions to problems.
And seniors are not going to be affected by this in any way. Social
Security is working fine for those who are now receiving benefits. The
focus is on future generations.

Q Scott, can you talk a little bit about the extent of the consultations --

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me point out, too, we continue to have some good
discussions with representatives of the AARP, and we welcome those
discussions.

Q That's what I was going to ask you about.

MR. McCLELLAN: Pre-emptive. (Laughter.)

Q Can you elaborate a little bit on the extent of the consultations that
the White House has had with Novelli and the AARP? The Post today is
reporting that he met with Rove and Hubbard, both of whom happen to be on
this plane today. Can you talk a little bit about that?

MR. McCLELLAN: There have been some good discussions. And like I said, we
welcome all those who want to put forward ideas for finding a bipartisan
solution to the problem facing Social Security. Al Hubbard has met with
them and we've reached out to them and had some good discussions.
Hopefully, we will continue to do so.

Q Are we hearing any new language today?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, it's conversation, so it's not formal, prepared
remarks, per se.

Q It's not scripted? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the attacks are. (Laughter.) The purpose of today --
well, you have the interview, as well, the radio interview before that. But
the purpose of today is to continue our outreach efforts to educate the
American people about the problems and to continue reassuring seniors
across the country that nothing changes, as far as they are concerned.

Q Is this the 20th state?

MR. McCLELLAN: Twentieth state.

Q How many more will he go to?

MR. McCLELLAN: We are going to continue -- the President is going to
continue using the bully pulpit in leading, because he recognizes that this
is one of our biggest priorities and we need to act now to find a solution.
And I'm not going to try to put any time frame on it. He's committed to
getting something done this year, and we're confident that something will
get done this year.

Q Do you still consider this the early stage of the process?

MR. McCLELLAN: It is still fairly early in the process. It's still in the
stage of educating people about the problems facing Social Security. And in
that respect, I think we've seen some tremendous progress, because the
American people recognize that there are serious problems. I've seen, I
think it was a Galllup survey showing now that Social Security was at the
top of the list in terms of the priorities that need to be addressed.

Q The President's numbers have been falling. Do you attribute that to the
Social Security debate?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I would point out in one of the recent polls I saw,
from one week to the next, there was a 5 percent increase in Democrats and
a 3 percent decrease in Republicans. I mean, it's just something to note.
First of all, we don't get caught up in the week by week polling that goes
on. The President is going to continue leading and acting on the big
priorities for the American people, and those priorities are working to
spread freedom abroad, to make the world a more peaceful place, and working
to expand freedom at home through efforts like strengthening Social
Security and giving people more ownership over their own retirement
savings.

Q Is this Peter Watkins' last trip today?

MR. WATKINS: Yes, it is.

MR. McCLELLAN: I guess we should make the announcement official, since it
is. Yes, we will, I know, all miss Peter and wish him well in his new
endeavor, where he has an exciting new challenge ahead of him: he is going
to be Mrs. Bush's deputy press secretary, joining Susan Whitson in the
press shop there. We all wish him well. He, I know, will do a fantastic job
for her, just like he's done a fantastic job for us.

MR. WATKINS: Thank you. Thanks.

Q Scott, with the new deputy press secretary here -- perhaps you still want
to answer this question -- has the President spoken with Mrs. Bush since
she's arrived in Afghanistan? Have they talked a little bit about --

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me ask him. I actually didn't ask him that this morning.
I know that they are on their way back now. They left earlier this morning,
so they're on their way home.

Q I'm curious about any reaction.

MR. McCLELLAN: I think, looking at the news coverage from it, that it's
been a great trip and a great opportunity to highlight the advances for
women and to talk about the importance of education in any free society.
Education is an important part of building a free society that respects the
rights of all people, men and women. I'll ask him if he's spoken to her.

Q Do you have any further information about their living will that Mrs.
Bush mentioned?

MR. McCLELLAN: I talked to the President about that last week. They do have
living wills. I don't think they expect to get into any more detail about
those living wills, but they do have them. If that changes, I'll get back
to you guys.

Q Can I just clarify something from your comments about people who are
invited to these events. People who come to these events who plan to -- you
know, who -- there's been a couple of instances where people come, stand up
and, you know, kind of heckle -- they're called "hecklers." But people who
come to these events, who challenge the President on this issue, are they
disrupting the event? Are they --

MR. McCLELLAN: What do you mean by "challenge" the President on this issue?

Q Say, well, you know, why would you take away Social Security or, you know
--

MR. McCLELLAN: If they're standing up and disrupting an event, like I said,
they're going to be asked to leave.

Q So anyone who speaks out, out of turn, is disrupting and they're going to
be asked to leave; is that how you --

MR. McCLELLAN: These are conversations. And the conversations are the
participants on the stage, talking with the President. Like I said, I think
that what we're talking about here is a few individuals who are intent on
diverting attention away from the real issue before the American people,
and that is how do we fix Social Security. We welcome a diversity of views
coming to the event. But if it gets to the question of crossing that line
into disrupting the event, that's another matter.

Q Did the three people in Denver fall into that category?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?

Q Did the three people in Denver fall into the category that you just
described?

MR. McCLELLAN: Look, I don't know the full circumstances of it. There are
different sides to the story, I recognize that. But those individuals,
themselves, said that their intent of coming to the event originally was to
disrupt it.

Q Thanks.

*****

MR. McCLELLAN: All right, gaggle part two. I just talked to the President
and he said that Mrs. Bush did call him this morning when she got to the
plane and when they were getting ready to leave. She updated him on the
trip and expressed to him that it had been a very well received trip by the
people of Afghanistan. They were very appreciative and she thought it was a
good trip. So she arrives back early morning tonight, and I know the
President looks forward to her return?

Q Early morning tonight?

MR. McCLELLAN: Two a.m., so it's kind of nighttime, Thursday morning. All
right, thanks, everybody.

END 11:09 A.M. EST

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