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Skriven 2005-04-15 23:33:00 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (050415) for Fri, 2005 Apr 15
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Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 15, 2005

Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan



PRESS GAGGLE BY SCOTT McCLELLAN
President's Day
Meeting with Luxembourg Prime Minister/Iran
Retirement Accounts
Judicial nominees
Week ahead
Bankruptcy bill
Members of Congress aboard AF1

Aboard Air Force One En route Cleveland, Ohio

10:57 A.M. EDT

MR. McCLELLAN: Good morning, everybody. Let me kind of go through the
President's day to begin with. He had a meeting with the Secretary of
Defense this morning, one of his regular meetings with him. And he received
-- he also was able to receive an update on his recent trip. And then he
had his usual briefings. He had his usual briefing, and then the President
met with Prime Minister Junker of Luxembourg, and that was an opportunity
to talk about the upcoming EU -- or U.S.-EU summit, and to also reiterate
our commitment to working together with the European Union to address
common challenges and advance the -- support the advance of freedom in the
world.

And following that, the President met with President Kagame of Rwanda, and
they had a good visit. The President expressed our appreciation for
President Kagame's leadership and Rwanda's participation in the African
Union's peacekeeping role in Sudan. And they also talked about some
regional issues. The President expressed our continued support for Rwanda
as it continues to strengthen its democracy and economy. And they also
discussed Rwanda's efforts to move forward on its -- move forward from its
past and heal old wounds and divisions. And the President reiterated his
commitment to Africa and our continued support -- or our continued focus on
Africa.

And, let's see, then when we arrive in Ohio, the first event will be a
coffee with some small business owners. This will be an opportunity for the
President to mark tax day. The pool -- you all will be there for the entire
time he is there, to cover it. As families and small businesses and other
Americans all across the country are filing their tax returns, this is an
opportunity to highlight the importance of tax relief. And every American
who is paying federal income taxes is receiving tax relief because of the
actions that we have taken. And the economy is seeing strong and sustained
growth because of the action that we took, as well. And that's the purpose
of that event.

Then following that, the President will participate in a roundtable
briefing on Social Security. This is a little bit different from the
conversations that he has participated in. The President will receive a
briefing from Ohio officials about their public employee retirement
programs. They really have two systems and he'll hear more about that. And
there are a number of state -- or millions of state and local employees
around the country who have opted out of the Social Security system and are
participating in alternative programs. And one thing that I think the
President -- well, the President will talk about the importance -- I
expect, talk about, emphasize the importance of permanently fixing Social
Security. But this is an opportunity also to talk about providing younger
workers with choices and giving them more ownership.

And some of the things that he'll hear about that are going on in the Ohio
programs meet some of the same principles that he believes ought to be part
of any plan to strengthen Social Security. And one of those is voluntary
personal retirement accounts. We want to give younger workers the option of
investing a portion of their own retirement savings in personal accounts.
And this gives -- what he'll highlight here, I suspect, is that Ohio
employees have had the option of investing in personal accounts and
realizing a greater rate of return on their retirement savings. And that's
one of the -- that's why the President feels so strongly about personal
accounts, that it's a voluntary option, and it gives younger workers the
ability to realize a greater rate of return on their retirement savings,
and to build a nest egg that is theirs to keep that the government can't
touch. And so that's the focus.

Now, we'll have a fact sheet out on that shortly, hopefully by the time we
arrive. And, let's see, we'll get you the conversation participants and
all, as well. And then after that, the President heads to Camp David for
the weekend. And I've got the week ahead whenever you all want it.

Q Did the President and the Luxembourg Prime Minister discuss Iran? And
does the President think the EU initiatives that he backed are having any
effect?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, their visit was only a brief visit. I'll check and see
if it came up. I was in the later meeting, but I wasn't in that one. It was
a brief, I think, about 15-, 20-minute visit. The real purpose of it was
how I described it. I'll see if there's anything to add to that.

But I think in terms of our views on Iran, I mean, they are well known. And
our support for the European efforts are well known, as well. So, I don't
know, do you have a specific question?

Q Do you think they're getting -- they're making any progress?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we continue to support the efforts of the Europeans to
make sure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. Those discussions
continue, and we believe it's important that Iran -- that the focus needs
to be on Iran, because Iran's the one who has to make the decision to fully
comply with its international obligations. And that's where the focus is --
Iran needs to change its behavior. And we are continuing to support those
efforts.

Q Scott, how serious is this idea that the economic advisor mentioned in
this breakfast with reporters about making the retirement accounts an
add-on --

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think -- you're talking about Al Hubbard, and by the
way, he'll be on the -- be a participant in the roundtable briefing, as
well. But I don't think he said anything really differently from what we've
said before. The President made it clear that we're not going to get into
ruling things in or out. We have put forward ideas that ought to guide us
as we move forward on strengthening Social Security. We believe that the
personal retirement accounts are an important part of strengthening Social
Security. They're an important part of any solution, for the reasons I
stated a minute ago.

And now is the time to be welcoming all those who are talking about ways to
come up with a bipartisan solution. And unfortunately, we have too many
Democratic leaders who are trying to -- who are simply saying what they're
against and ruling things out. Now is not the time to be getting into
ruling things in or out. Now is the time to be discussing about how we can
move forward in a bipartisan way to permanently fix Social Security, and
also make it a better deal for our children and grandchildren. And that's
why personal accounts are so important.

And you heard the President state very early on in this discussion that he
welcomes all ideas. We've been talking about what we're for, and that's
what we're going to continue to do. But we're also going to say we welcome
other ideas, as well. And that doesn't mean we're ruling them in, it
doesn't mean we're ruling them out. We're saying that in order to get to a
bipartisan solution, we ought to be talking about what we're for and
putting ideas on the table, not getting into ruling things out.

And we would hope that Democratic leaders would start talking about what
they're for instead of what they're against, and not playing the game of
ruling things out. It appears they're more interested in trying to block a
bipartisan solution than they are in solving this problem.

Q Scott, on this developing fight over the filibuster rule, how does the
White House feel about making this a debate on whether people are hostile
to people of faith if they take a different stand than the Republican
leadership on this?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President believes -- I mean, in terms of --

Q Is this a faith issue?

MR. McCLELLAN: In terms of the issue that you brought up, that's a matter
for the Senate to address. We don't get involved in procedural matters in
the Congress.

The President's view is very clear. He believes that all judicial nominees
should have an up or down vote. There are some Senate Democrats that are
playing politics and trying to block some nominees from having an up or
down vote on the floor. These are nominees that are highly qualified and
that have the support of the majority of the Senate, and Senate Democrats
have taken the unprecedented step of blocking these nominees from receiving
an up or down -- from receiving an up or down vote.

The President believes that judicial -- that nominees to the bench ought to
be people that strictly interpret the constitution, and that's the kind of
nominees that he's -- that's the kind of nominees that he's sent forward to
the United States Senate. The Senate has a responsibility, a constitutional
responsibility, to give those nominees an up or down vote, and --

Q But is this -- is there a danger in making this a faith issue?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know -- I don't know what you're referring to that
we've done. The President's views --

Q Well, no, I mean --

MR. McCLELLAN: The President's views --

Q -- it's going to be made a faith issue this weekend.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the issue here is that Democrats are not giving these
nominees an up or down vote. They're blocking up or down votes on the
nominees. That's what the issue is here, and some want to take attention
away, try to divert attention away from that. The issue here is that Senate
Democrats need to stop playing politics and allow these nominees to have an
up or down vote.

Q Want to do the week ahead quickly?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's the President's view.

Q Week ahead?

Q Is he actually going to talk about how many states have that option on
Social Security?

MR. McCLELLAN: We can get you more information, but I think it gets into --
it gives a general overview of that. We can get you information on that.

Q Thanks.

MR. McCLELLAN: Let's see. On Monday, the President will go to Columbia,
South Carolina, where he'll make remarks on strengthening Social Security.
On Tuesday, the President will go to Springfield, Illinois, where he will
tour the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and then make
remarks at the dedication of the library and museum. And also on Tuesday,
the Vice President will deliver the keynote address at the Oklahoma City
National Memorial ceremony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the
bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building there.

And on Wednesday, the President makes remarks to the 2005 National and
State Teachers of the Year in the Rose Garden. And then he'll make remarks
at the U.S.-Hispanic Chambers of Commerce Legislative Conference. Those
remarks will be on energy, as I mentioned. And the President will then
present the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the United States Naval Academy
football team in the East Room.

On Thursday, he'll make remarks on strengthening Social Security to the
Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America in Washington. He'll
also make remarks at the President's Environmental Youth Awards in the East
Garden.

And on Friday the 22nd, the President will participate in a service
project. As you're aware, we put out a proclamation the other day
commemorating Volunteer Week. And then he'll make remarks on Earth Day. And
both those events are in Townsend, Tennessee. Then he goes on to the ranch
in Crawford, where he'll remain for the weekend.

On Monday, as you all are aware, he'll meet with Crown Prince Abdullah of
Saudi Arabia at the ranch. And then on Tuesday, we will go to Galveston to
participate in a roundtable on strengthening Social Security. This was the
event that had been postponed because of the Pope's funeral.

Q When is he signing the bankruptcy bill?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'll keep you posted on that -- soon. I mean, he does intend
to sign it. I'll get your more information on that once it's final. We're
working all that out with members, too.

Q Any members on board, or in attendance?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, Congressman --

MS. GODFREY: LaTourette. Steven LaTourette.

MR. McCLELLAN: Congressman LaTourette.

END 11:10 A.M. EDT

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