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Skriven 2005-04-05 23:33:18 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0504057) for Tue, 2005 Apr 5
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President Meets with Cabinet
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 5, 2005

President Meets with Cabinet
Cabinet Room



3:14 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Just concluded the second Cabinet meeting of the second
term. I want to thank my Cabinet officials for doing such a fine job. I
appreciate your hard work, and thank you for your dedication to the
country.

Tomorrow I will be leaving for Rome, leading a delegation to attend the
services for His Holiness Pope John Paul, II. What a great man. It will be
my honor to represent our country in a ceremony marking a remarkable life,
a person who stood for freedom and human dignity.

I also urge the Congress to successfully conclude budget negotiations. The
House passed the budget resolution; the Senate has passed the resolution.
We look forward to working with the leadership to successfully conclude
those negotiations. It's important we get a budget, a budget which will
show the American people that we will spend their money wisely; a budget
that shows that we know how to set priorities -- winning the war on terror,
protecting our homeland; a budget that says we can cut the deficit in half
in five years; and a budget that will encourage economic growth and
vitality.

I appreciate the fact that it looks like that we're going to get a solid
cap on discretionary spending, one that we agree with. It's also important
for the senators and the members of the House of Representatives to
understand that a good, solid budget that helps us meet objectives is one
that deals with mandatory spending items. And we've presented some
meaningful, realistic, common-sense reforms on the mandatory spending side.

And so, as Congress returns, I look forward to working with them to get a
good, solid budget. It's important for the country.

Now I'll answer a few questions. Jennifer.

Q Yes, sir. Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attack on Abu Graib
prison. Is this a sign that they're becoming more sophisticated in Iraq?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I think it's a sign that they're still deadly, that
these people will kill. They kill innocent life. Their strategy hasn't
really changed. Their strategy has been one to kill as many innocent people
as they possibly can, in the hopes that it shakes our confidence and shakes
our will and, equally importantly, shakes the will and confidence of those
brave souls who are helping lead this new country -- lead this new
democracy.

And we are -- we're after them. And equally importantly, the Iraqi citizens
are after them now. More and more citizens understand that these
terrorists, like al Qaeda and Zarqawi, don't have their interests at heart.
They don't believe in democracy, these killers. They believe in a society
in which people aren't going to be free to practice their religion, or free
to speak in the public square.

And so I think the American people ought to take heart to know that we have
now more allies in defeating these few, and those allies are the Iraqi
citizens. And perhaps the most notable step that the Iraqi citizens took
toward complete defiance of the point of view of Zarqawi, who is an al
Qaeda type, was when they went to the polls.

Adam.

Q Mr. President, Prime Minister Sharon has said he intends to expand the
largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Other officials say no
construction is imminent. Are you satisfied? And what will you tell Sharon
when you see him about the settlements?

THE PRESIDENT: Our position is very clear that the road map is important,
and the road map calls for no expansion of the settlements. I'm optimistic
we can achieve a peace in the Holy Land. I'm optimistic because I firmly
believe that Ariel Sharon wants to have a peaceful partner, wants there to
be a democracy in the Palestinian Territories, and I believe President
Abbas wants the same thing. And there's a lot of hard work to be done, but
we're making progress. And I look forward to meeting the Prime Minister in
Crawford to continue to work with the parties to advance peace.

Carl.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. You mentioned the deficit. Insofar as the
deficit has been going up, can you talk about how that affects both the
budget resolution talks on the Hill, and what it does to your pitch for
Social Security reform in terms of complicating the message and the
criticism you've gotten, particularly from Democrats?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, one of the things that people must understand on
Social Security is there is a huge unfunded liability of trillions of
dollars. In other words, because baby boomers like me are getting ready to
retire and we're living longer and we're getting greater benefits, there is
a significant obligation of the government. And the fundamental question
is, will Congress have the will to take on this very important issue and
solve this problem now, before that significant obligation becomes more
significant.

Now, we're dealing with the deficit by presenting a good, lean budget that
sets priorities. I want to thank Josh Bolten of the OMB, and I want to
thank all my Cabinet Secretaries for having worked with the OMB to deliver
to Congress a budget that will work on behalf of the American people. And
now it's up to Congress. It's up to Congress to show the American people
that we have the capacity to de-fund programs which don't work, and fund
programs which do work.

And I'm looking forward to working with members of both the House and the
Senate. It's going to be an interesting set of negotiations. But we're firm
in our belief that we can cut this deficit in half over a five-year period
of time, grow this economy, and meet our primary objective, which is
defending America.

Listen, thank you all very much.

END 3:20 P.M. EDT

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