Text 805, 703 rader
Skriven 2005-04-20 23:33:14 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0504203) for Wed, 2005 Apr 20
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White House Press Briefing
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 20, 2005

White House Press Briefing
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

Press Briefing
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12:26 P.M. EDT
  þ National energy plan
      þ Reference B
      þ Reference C
      þ Reference D
  þ John Bolton nomination
      þ Reference B
      þ Reference C
      þ Reference D
  þ Karen Hughes nomination
  þ Pope Benedict/abortion
  þ Iraq/escalating violence
  þ Free trade agreements
  þ Immigration proposal

MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everybody. The President looks forward to
making remarks before the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce this
afternoon. The focus of his remarks will be on the need for Congress to
pass the comprehensive energy plan that he outlined four years ago. And the
President remains concerned about high energy prices and high prices at the
pump. It is -- those prices have a direct impact that hurts families and it
hurts small businesses and their ability to hire people and make ends meet.
And the President will talk about the root causes that put us in this
situation. The reason we're in this situation today is because we're
dependent on foreign sources of energy and we have not developed a national
energy plan.

The time to act is now. This is not a problem that we got into overnight;
it's not something we'll get out of overnight. That's all the more reason
why we need to move forward and act now. And the President will call on
Congress to get him legislation by the time they recess this summer, which
is in August. The President believes that Congress is four years late in
acting on the national energy plan that he outlined when he first came into
office.

And with that, I will be glad to go to your questions.

Q On that point, the President has been basically saying the same thing now
for -- since the year 2000. And it's not moving, the legislation is not
moving, although he got ANWR out of the Senate, which was certainly a big
deal. I guess the question is, what does the President think he can do to
really move this legislation, besides just demanding Congress get something
to his desk? I mean, don't Americans want to hear from the President
something that might actually break this logjam?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, and I'm glad you brought that question up, because I
think if you look at the previous year or two, I think we were close to
getting something out of the Congress. There were some differences that
prevented it from happening, and the President will talk about that in his
remarks. They need to resolve those remaining differences -- it's not a lot
of differences -- and get something to his desk now.

The President had a very good bipartisan discussion last night with the
ranking members and the chairs of the relevant committees that will be
moving on this legislation. The House is taking up this matter today and
tomorrow. They are moving forward on passing comprehensive energy
legislation. I think it's legislation that is, to a large part, consistent
with the plan that the President outlined. Senator Domenici has made it
clear that he intends to move forward on energy legislation soon. And so we
think that the opportunity to get it done is before us, and it's time for
Congress to get together and resolve those differences and get that
legislation to the President's desk so he can sign it into law.

We see, again this year, the impact that high prices are having on American
consumers. And that's all the more reason why we need to act now. We
haven't had a national energy plan for the last decade, and it's time for
Congress to pass the one that the President sent them four years ago.

Q A follow-up on John Bolton -- is that nomination lost?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, absolutely not. I think what you're seeing is some
Democrats on the committee trumping up allegations and making
unsubstantiated accusations against someone the President believes will do
an outstanding job at the United Nations. He is someone who has been an
effective manager, a strong diplomat who has gotten things done. And I
think he's earned the respect of many people that he has worked with
because of what he's done.

The United Nations has a lot of important business before it right now. And
we need to get him in office.

Q -- apparently he didn't think these were trumped-up allegations. He's
your guy on the committee. He's a Republican.

MR. McCLELLAN: Let's talk about what occurred here. Senate Democrats on the
committee continue to bring up these allegations that are unsubstantiated,
that are unfounded, that John Bolton has addressed in his testimony, in
more than eight hours of testimony before the committee, that he's
addressed in written responses to follow-up questions, as well. And I think
what you're seeing is the ugly side of Washington, D.C., that people are
playing politics with his nomination.

The United Nations has a lot of important business before it. We have a lot
of important business before the United Nations. We need to get him in
there. He's exactly the kind of person we need at the United Nations during
this time of reform.

In terms of Senator Voinovich, I understand he wasn't able to attend the
testimony last week by John Bolton. We are more than happy to answer any
questions that he has, and we are in touch with him about those matters.

Q But, Scott, Mr. Bolton did not specifically answer the allegations that
had been raised, under oath -- not in some closet, but under oath, in front
of the country, people came forward to say things that he had done as
manager in the State Department that they believe render him unfit to be at
the United Nations. And he hasn't answered those allegations.

MR. McCLELLAN: Oh, I think he has responded to the questions. He responded
in more than eight hours of testimony to some of the accusations that were
made. This is someone who has served in government for quite some time,
someone who has a proven record of being able to get things done, someone
who shares the President's commitment to making sure that we have effective
multilateral organizations. And we are confident that the Senate will
confirm his nomination. We hope that the Democrats on the committee would
stop playing politics and stop raising these unsubstantiated accusations
and move forward on a committee vote.

Q It's not Democrats who are raising it -- people who worked for him. So
you're saying they're liars?

MR. McCLELLAN: Terry, I think that these allegations have been addressed in
his testimony and in written responses to the committee, as well. I don't
think I have any intention of going back through those allegations from
this podium. We want to see him confirmed, and believe he will be.

Q On the energy speech, is there anything the President can announce that
will do something about high prices today?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well -- and again, I emphasize that this is a problem that
has been years in the making. It didn't happen overnight; we're not going
to get out of it overnight. And there are some steps that we can take now
and that we are taking now, and the President will touch on those in his
remarks, as well. We're going to continue to talk to producing nations --
OPEC and non-OPEC producing nations -- to make sure that there are
abundant, affordable supplies of energy available. We have a growing global
economy, and we need to make sure that we have affordable supplies of
energy. And the President has regularly brought that up in meetings he has
had with producing countries, and he will continue to do so. We also need
to make sure that consumers are protected, that they're treated fairly
during this time, as well. And we will do that.

We're also moving forward on a number of initiatives. We moved forward on
improving the fuel economy standard for SUVs and pickup trucks. And I think
in 2007 it's projected that that will reduce the amount of oil being
consumed by 340,000-some barrels when that is fully in effect. So there are
steps the we are taking. The President has outlined in his budget tax
incentives for his hydrogen fuel initiative and for encouraging hybrid fuel
cars to be purchased. And those are steps that we're already acting on.

There are a number of steps in the energy plan, too, I would point out that
he outlined in 2001 that we've already been moving forward on. But the
President -- I mean, what needs to happen, first and foremost, in order to
address this problem, is for Congress to pass a national energy plan. Like
I said, we're not going to get out of this overnight -- and the President
will talk about this -- there's no magic wand that he can wave and reduce
prices at the pump tomorrow. But there are steps that we can take now, and
the most important step we can take now is for Congress to pass the energy
plan that the President outlined.

Q Does Karen Hughes have to be confirmed?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes.

Q Why hasn't her nomination been sent up, since, obviously, we need to
repair our relations with the rest of the world --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we've got a lot of good people that are working on our
public diplomacy right now. It's not something that has just started; we've
been taking steps already prior to that --

Q -- nomination --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think she's indicated, and we indicated previously,
that she would be starting later this summer.

Q Why?

MR. McCLELLAN: Dina Powell is going to be probably starting sooner than
that -- well, she's in the position. I mean, she's already starting to
focus on it and begin work. But we will be sending her nomination up at the
appropriate time and look forward to the Senate moving forward on that
nomination.

Go ahead, April.

Q Back on gas prices, early this morning, you put it off on OPEC as to how
much price per barrel oil should drop. Again, what does the President feel
the nation -- Americans should be paying at the pump? As right now you're
saying it's almost a crisis state, no magic wand will be able to reduce gas
prices by tomorrow. So what is the President looking --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I would point out that it is down from the previous
week. I think you've seen some analysts talk about that in recent days, as
well. But it's still too high, as far as the President's concerned. Energy
prices are too high, the prices at the pump is too high. We want to see it
lower. We want to see more affordable supplies of energy. We want to see
those prices come down. And that's what we're working to do, and the best
way we can address this issue is to finally act on a comprehensive energy
plan, the one that the President outlined four years ago.

Q Solid number -- 10 cents, 20 cents at the pump, what? What is the
President looking for --

MR. McCLELLAN: Affordable energy supplies.

Q Scott, a follow-up on energy legislation. You mentioned this meeting
yesterday with bipartisan lawmakers. And how effective can the President
really be in pushing forward his energy plan when Senator Max Baucus,
during that meeting with the President, told him it's not going to go
anywhere, energy reform or other parts of his agenda, as long as the Senate
Republicans were threatening the nuclear option with getting rid of the
filibuster to push forward the President's judges?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the American people recognize that we need to become
energy independent, and they recognize the impact high energy prices has on
our economy. And the American people want us to come together and find a
solution.

That meeting was called specifically to talk about how we move forward on
energy legislation. I think it tells you something when a member brings up
another issue and says -- suggests that nothing else -- nothing can get
done. The President's going to remain focused on the priorities that face
the American people, and one of those priorities, top priorities is passing
a comprehensive energy plan. We want to -- and that's why he reached out to
bipartisan leaders in Congress to say, let's work together, let's get this
done now. We would hope that Congress, on both sides of the -- members of
Congress on both sides of the aisle would work together in a bipartisan
fashion. I know that Senator Domenici is committed to moving forward in a
bipartisan way, and I think the American people expect nothing less.

Q So how did he get over that hurdle, though? Because obviously there are
senators -- Democrats are saying nothing is going to move forward on the
energy reform unless they make sure the Republicans drop this kind of
nuclear option that's out on the table.

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, and, see, I think that the American people expect
better out of their elected officials.

Q Scott, what's the nature of the White House communication with Senator
Voinovich now? You mentioned that you're in touch with him. What's the
White House saying, and who's talking to him?

MR. McCLELLAN: We're in staff-level discussions with him to make sure he
has answers to the questions he has.

Q Do you think he was misguided yesterday?

MR. McCLELLAN: In terms of?

Q In terms of his discomfort with the Bolton nomination.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, look, I think that you had some Democrats on the
committee that continue to lower the discourse and bring up unsubstantiated
accusations. They continued to trump this up. And Senator Voinovich wasn't
able to attend the hearings last week where John Bolton addressed all these
issues and so he had some questions. And we're more than happy to address
those questions with him, and that's what we're doing.

Q Are you suggesting that he was at fault for some reason in skipping that
hearing?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think members of Congress have a lot of business that
they have to focus on. I'm suggesting that -- what the facts are, that
Democrats on the committee are playing politics with this nomination. There
is a, sometimes, a desire in this town to score political points. And that
brings out the worst in Washington, D.C.

John Bolton is exactly the kind of person we need at the United Nations.
The United Nations is in need of reform, they're moving forward on reforms,
and John Bolton is someone who understands the importance of making sure
that multilateral organizations, like the United Nations, are effective and
that they get things done. He has a proven record of getting things done.
He was someone who worked closely with Russia on the Moscow Treaty, which
is significantly reducing our nuclear arsenals. He is someone who was very
involved in our efforts to get Libya to abandon their weapons of mass
destruction programs. And he is someone who has a long record of results in
getting things done. And sometimes you get people mad at you when you get
things done. But we believe he's a very capable individual and will do an
outstanding job at the United Nations.

Q If I can follow on that, Scott --

Q Back to -- back to energy for a second, Scott.

MR. McCLELLAN: Sure.

Q The President has been talking a lot about the need for fiscal discipline
on the Hill. The House version has about $2 billion more in tax incentives
than what the President has proposed. Are you prepared to support the House
Republican version with the increased tax package?

MR. McCLELLAN: Actually, I think -- well, first of all, we're pleased that
the House is moving forward on comprehensive energy legislation. That's
important. Obviously, there will be a reconciliation process once the
Senate acts on it, as well, and we look forward to working with both
chambers to get something done sooner rather than later.

In terms of the tax incentives in the bill, I think the President will talk
about tax incentives in his remarks and he'll talk about the tax incentives
that we support. We believe the priority for tax incentives ought to be on
renewable energy and alternative -- well, on renewable sources of energy
and energy efficiency. And I think that's what he'll talk about in his
remarks.

And on the House legislation, yes, it is higher than the number we put
forward and I think we'll address it in a statement of administration
policy that we're putting out. We believe that -- well, first of all, we
outlined a proposal that fits within the budget that we outlined. It's
important it's a budget that we believe meets our priorities and keeps us
on path to reduce the deficit in half by 2009. And the President will again
say that he doesn't think that oil and gas companies need any tax
incentives when you have the price of oil at $50 a barrel.

Q And one more point on that. On MTBE, what is the President's current
position on the liability protection in the House version of the bill?

MR. McCLELLAN: He thinks Congress needs to work out their differences on
this issue and come to an agreement on it, and I think he'll touch on that
a little bit in his remarks, as well.

Q Does he support that liability protection --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think what he'll call on Congress to do is work out an
agreement on the issue so that we can move forward on the overall package.

Q There are economists who argue that the high price of oil is not due to
the producing countries alone, that it's due to the White House soft dollar
policy, and that the reason the price of oil is up is because the producing
companies wanted to make up for the devaluation of the dollar. I'm
wondering what the White House --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the reason why we have high energy prices is because
we've lacked a national energy plan for years now. We've had short-sighted
policies that haven't thought long-term. We need a comprehensive solution
that secures our economic and energy security for years to come. And what
we need to do is make us less reliant on foreign sources of energy. That
goes to the root cause of the problems that we face, and that's what the
President will talk about in his remarks today.

Q So the value of our currency, you're saying, has nothing to do with the
high price of oil?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I didn't say that. But I'm saying that while we're in
the situation we're in today -- it's something we've gone through year
after year in the summertime, we've seen gas prices go up. And the root
cause of why this is happening is because we're a nation that is dependent
on foreign sources of energy. And you have a growing global economy and a
number -- an increased demand for oil from nations around the world,
particularly China and India. Supplies are tight and it's pushing prices
up. And we are dependent on foreign sources of energy right now, and that's
hurting us. And if we become -- if we work to expand conservation here at
home and improve energy efficiency and have more environmentally
responsible exploration, then we start to address the root causes that we
face, and that's what the President will talk about in his remarks.

Q Scott, getting back to Bolton for a minute. You're obviously --

MR. McCLELLAN: You jumped ahead of four people who had their hands up in
your row.

Q Sorry.

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead.

Q I had my hand up, too. Getting back to the nomination --

MR. McCLELLAN: You stand out. (Laughter.)

Q I'll take that as a compliment. Getting back to Bolton, your conversation
with Voinovich, obviously, to try and resolve questions that he has. Are
you encouraging the nominee to do the same sort of thing with anybody on
the panel who has remaining questions, either answering things in writing
or going beyond what he said in his testimony? Is there any effort to
construct dialogue in that way --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, as I said, I think he's been through and addressed
these issues, and we're going to make sure that Senator Voinovich has
answers to the questions that he wants answered. But I think John Bolton,
through eight hours -- more than eight hours of testimony, and through
many, many written responses to questions that the committee had following
that hearing, has addressed these issues.

Q And if that's not enough for them, will you encourage him to go further?

MR. McCLELLAN: For who?

Q For the members of the panel.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think Democrats are content to continue to play
politics with his nomination. But there is a Republican member of the
committee who was unable to be at some of the hearings, and he has some
questions and we'll make sure that those questions are addressed with him.

Go ahead, Sarah.

Q Thank you. Scott, is General Peter Pace the President's choice for the
next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me tell you about his choice. No, I'm just -- but the
President will have more -- the President will have more to say soon, and
it's not my place to make those announcements, as you're aware. It's his
place to make those announcements.

Q Today?

MR. McCLELLAN: No.

Q Scott, in June of 2004, Cardinal Ratzinger sent a letter to U.S. Catholic
bishops specifying that, "strong and open supporters of abortion be denied
the Catholic sacrament for being guilty of a grave sin." My first question:
Since the President was at that time a candidate and was surely aware of
this Cardinal's letter, this is part of what the President meant in
describing Pope Benedict as "a man of great wisdom and knowledge who serves
the Lord," isn't it, Scott?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the Holy Father is someone who by nature has been a
teacher. And he is someone who does have a lot of -- or a long academic
career. He is someone that you heard the President talk about yesterday in
very high regard. And we look forward to continuing to work closely with
the Vatican. We have very good relations with the Vatican, and we look
forward to continuing to work closely with them in the future. And I'm sure
at some point the President will have an opportunity to sit down and visit
with the Holy Father, and I know he would look forward to that.

Q Does he agree with that view, though? Does he agree with it?

Q In Maryland --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that --

Q I'd like the answer to your question, does he agree with that expressed
view.

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that the President is someone who believes in
building a culture of life. And that's something he's talked about for
quite some time. And I think the Holy Father is someone who has talked
about the importance of building a culture of life, as well.

Q Scott, in Maryland, Catholic U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski supports the
semi-infanticide of partial-birth abortion. And Sister Jeannine Gramick,
whom Cardinal Ratzinger personally ordered to stop promoting sodomy
acceptance, has called his election as Pope, devastating. And my question:
Does the President believe this new pontiff will never excommunicate either
Mikulski or Gramick?

MR. McCLELLAN: You know, Les, you might want to direct some of these
questions to the Vatican. In terms --

Q Well, what does the President think?

MR. McCLELLAN: In terms of the President's view, I think the President
spoke about it yesterday. He congratulated Pope Benedict XVI on his
selection by the Conclave, and we will be announcing a delegation that will
be attending his investiture this Sunday, soon. The President joins with
millions of Americans and millions of others around the world who pray that
the Holy Father continues to have strength and wisdom as he carries out his
duties.

Q But what if he excommunicates Mikulski, then what?

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, those are questions to address to the Vatican.

Q Please, Scott, just one thing on the Pope. Did he spend any time with
Ratzinger -- with Benedict, with Pope Benedict -- while at the Pope's
funeral mass? Did he have any time to spend with him one-on-one or in a
small group?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, he met a number of the cardinals while he was there. He
doesn't recall specifically meeting him. I think he probably would have if
he had specifically met him.

Q Do we know who is going to Sunday?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, not yet. We'll be announcing that soon.

Q Back to the energy bill, Scott. Will the energy bill that the President
wants to sign make America energy independent?

MR. McCLELLAN: It will help make us energy independent, more energy
self-sufficient. And it is a comprehensive plan. And that's the goal of
moving forward on this legislation, because what it does, if you look at
it, all the different aspects of it -- there are kind of four key parts to
it: promoting conservation and energy efficiency, expanding domestic
production in environmentally responsible ways, diversifying our supply --
we need to diversify our supply and look for clean, alternative sources of
energy. And it also will modernize the electricity grid.

Q In sum, does it make America independent or just less dependent?

MR. McCLELLAN: We need to reduce that dependence on foreign sources of
energy, and, yes, it will help make us energy independent.

Q With regard to the Bolton nomination, I'm trying to get my head around
"unsubstantiated allegations." With regard to the allegations of trying to
have senior intelligence analysts removed from their portfolios, my
understanding is that the allegations were made by those analysts,
independent intelligence analysts, were substantiated by their superiors
and have been corroborated by others, and even Mr. Bolton himself concurs
that something occurred. So I'm not quite sure what "unsubstantiated" means
about that one in particular.

MR. McCLELLAN: The accusations that are being made are unsubstantiated.
Again, Democrats continue to raise them. These matters have been addressed
before the committee. I'm not going to go and dignify these unsubstantiated
accusations from this podium by responding to them.

He is someone who has great experience, solid expertise, and will do a
great job at the United Nations. He's been through these hearings, they've
talked about these issues, he's been over them, he's responded to them in
writing. And now is the time for the Senate to move forward on his
nomination so that he can get about doing the business that we have before
the United Nations.

I appreciate you wanting the testimony to be carried out here at the
podium, but we believe those issues have been addressed by John Bolton
himself.

Q So because -- the people who made the allegations made them and others
have corroborated them, so it seems to me that they may be disagreed with,
but they weren't necessarily unsubstantiated.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I disagree. And John Bolton has been through this and
addressed these allegations.

Democrats continue to play politics with his nominations. That's what this
is about. It's an ugly side of Washington, D.C., it's an unfortunate side
of Washington, D.C., but we're confident that he will be confirmed.

Q Scott, as you say, the current oil-gas situation has been a long time
coming, it's not something that's just developed overnight. Would the
President like to see building of more oil infrastructure, i.e., more
refineries --

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes.

Q -- and also begin to drill again off the U.S. shore while we try to deal
with --

MR. McCLELLAN: It's one of the problems that we face, that -- our refining
capacity and being able to get that oil to the market. I mean, oftentimes
we're importing this crude and we're having to have it refined outside the
country because of our lack of a refining capacity. I don't think we've had
a refinery built in the U.S. since 1972. And so that is one area where
we're looking at the regulations that are having an impact on building more
refineries.

And what was the other part of your question?

Q Off-shore drilling.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, that's -- I mean, we want to continue to look at ways to
diversify our supply at home and to expand domestic production, and do so
in environmentally responsible ways. And the President will talk about
that, and we spelled some of that out in our energy plan, as well. And also
another area that's very important that was brought up earlier in the
briefing is ANWR. And we're talking about opening up a very small portion
of ANWR to environmentally responsible exploration. We have a lot of new
technology that's available to us that will enable us to have minimal
impact on the land. And we also need to look at clean coal technologies,
which the President has been moving forward on, and those are things he'll
talk about in his remarks today.

Q The Chinese President is inviting the biggest opposition party from
Taiwan for a party-to-party summit in Beijing next week. Do you know about
it? Do you think --

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I hadn't heard about that specific request. But we
believe cross-strait dialogue is important to resolving some of the issues
and reducing the tensions.

Q And if they took some measures toward the final resolution of the Taiwan
issue, would that be in the United States' interest? Or would you -- going
to encourage that?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that's a pretty speculative question at this point.

Q Scott, with the execution of 18 new recruits in Iraq today, are you
worried that violence that's been escalating, that we've been saying in the
last few days and weeks is going to undermine the political progress in
Iraq?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, I've seen the reports on that, and I know that our
military coalition forces in Iraq are looking into this discovery. I don't
have more for you at this point on that particular matter. But there's a
lot of important progress being made in Iraq. Iraq is moving forward on the
political front, on the reconstruction front and on the security front. I
think you're seeing that Iraqi security forces are stepping up more and
more to assume responsibility for their future. The international community
is supporting the Iraqi people in many ways as they move forward to build a
democratic and peaceful future.

And just last Saturday, Australia sent an additional 450 troops into Iraq
to help with the security situation and to also help train the Iraqi
security forces. This was a request that was made by Britain. We are
grateful for Australia's continued commitment to helping advance democracy
and freedom and peace in Iraq.

So there is a lot of good progress being made in Iraq. And I think the
military people on the ground have talked about the situation and assessed
it and the number of attacks and how that compares to before. But I think
you're also seeing that the Iraqi security forces are assuming more and
more responsibility for defending and protecting the Iraqi people from
those who want to derail the transition to democracy.

Q I wanted to ask you about the Central American Free Trade Agreement with
the United States -- in the Dominican Republic, there seems to be a lot of
opposition. Is the President going to fight for it? Because right now it
doesn't seem that he's going to get the votes by the Senate.

MR. McCLELLAN: Absolutely, it's an important priority and part of our
agenda to expand trade and keep our economy growing stronger. The President
believes strongly in moving forward on free trade agreements -- bilateral
ones, multinational ones, and moving forward on global free trade. We want
to -- and I think that Congress is looking at this issue. We're having good
discussions with members of Congress about how to move forward on that. We
would like to move forward with Congress on this as soon as possible. And
those discussions with members continue right now.

Q How about the immigration proposal the President has made -- on
immigration -- how is that coming along? And how much capital, political
capital is the President going to spend on it?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President believes it's a very important priority. He
believes it will address an economic need and address our security needs.
There are willing workers and we want to match those willing workers with
willing employers where Americans are not taking those jobs. It will help
make our border -- our immigration policy more human, orderly and safe. And
it will enable those who are -- like border security -- who are focused on
preventing people who want to come into this country for the wrong reasons
from getting here -- they can then focus their resources where they need
to, on preventing those who want to come here to attack the United States,
or plot attacks, or those who want to come here to be involved in criminal
activity, like drug trafficking, for instance.

But we have some -- I don't know -- 8 million to 10 million undocumented
workers in this country, and the President has put forward a plan that he
believes very strongly in that will address, as I said, an economic need,
and help improve our security along the border, as well. It's a temporary
worker program. That's something we continue to talk with members of
Congress about moving forward on. There are a lot of members that support
those efforts. And we hope that we can move forward soon on those efforts.

Q One last question.

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, go ahead, last question.

Q It has to do with border protection. How does the President feel now that
this has been taken -- of the civilians that are patrolling the Arizona
border and helping INS?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President talked about it previously, and I've spoken
about it from the podium, as well. I think you have to differentiate if
there's a loosely affiliated group of individuals who are armed trying to
take matters into their own hand, that would be -- that is a real concern
for the administration and for our Border Patrol agents whose job is to
stop people from crossing illegally into this country.

If you're talking about people that are helping to report suspicious
activity to the proper authorities like the Border Patrol agents who work
day in and day out to enforce our borders, then that's a different matter.

Q Scott, South Korean's foreign ministry has mentioned today South Korea
had grave concern about the North Korea's possible reprocessing of nuclear
-- by the way, South Korea also had mentioned South Korea would object to
bringing this matter to U.N., or to impose economic sanctions against North
Korea for this. What is your comment?

MR. McCLELLAN: Our focus is on getting North Korea back to the talks. I
think that's the focus of all parties in the region so that we can move
forward on the proposal that has been outlined.

We outlined a proposal at the last round of talks. We believe it is
something that addresses the concerns of all parties. We're not putting any
preconditions on returning to the talks, and we would hope that North Korea
wouldn't, either. They need to come back to the talks so that we can talk
about how to move forward on our goal of -- and the goal of our partners in
the region -- of a nuclear-free peninsula, and that's where our focus
remains. North Korea has made a commitment to come back to the talks, and
we want to see them follow through on that commitment.

Q Thank you.

MR. McCLELLAN: Thank you.

END 1:00 P.M. EDT
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