12:38 P.M. EDT
MR. FLEISCHER: I'll take your
questions.
MR. FLEISCHER: Do I hear a thank
you? It's Friday in the White House press room.
Q Ari, on
Argentina. Have they asked for help from the United States,
in the way of the $15 billion or any amount of money? Have
they asked for help?
MR. FLEISCHER: Today is the eve of
the 7th anniversary of the ramming of a tugboat called the 13th of
March Incident. It was a ramming of a tugboat by Cuban
authorities. The President will shortly have an announcement
of several specific actions he has taken to further the cause of
democracy and the people who yearn to be free in Cuba. An
announcement will be coming out from the President later on that topic,
and I can't get into the specifics until it's out from the President.
Q I'm not looking for
specifics, just your thoughts of why it's important, why he wants to
underscore freedom in Cuba.
MR. FLEISCHER: The President
believes that it's important to promote democracy and freedom
everywhere, and as totalitarianism and communism have faded from the
scene, there remain just a few isolated spots on this earth where it
remains, and Cuba is one of them. The President is on the
side of those who yearn to be free.
Q And looking ahead to
next week, I know he hasn't made this -- well, you can say that -- but
he's going to be facing a decision next week on whether to allow
Helms-Burton to take effect.
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I think I said
the House hadn't sorted out what it meant.
Q Well, you said it was
unclear.
Q Yes. Have
you had any clarification now?
MR.
FLEISCHER: No. No. I think it's --
really that clarification will be found first in the House.
Q Can you remind us,
please, what the President's principles are and what he will accept for
campaign finance reform?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President
believes that there should be maximum disclosure of contributions, that
we need to post disclosures that he did during the campaign, on the
Internet. He believes that we need to have a ban on soft
money from corporations and from unions.
The President has a series of other proposals
in there. Scott, why don't you remind me on the others.
MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, we can get
that to her, so --
MR. FLEISCHER: Let me post the rest
of them. I stopped at two, right there.
MR. MCCLELLAN: -- ban on
corporations -- soft money for corporations, labor unions.
Q That's been a top
priority.
Q That will be
helpful. Thank you.
Q Well, I mean,
whatever is going to happen, yesterday was the chance to have something
happen and it didn't. And you haven't even expressed any
disappointment. The President ran as reformer; is he
disappointed that it didn't get resolved --
MR. FLEISCHER: Keith, I addressed
that at the gaggle this morning. I was asked about
it. I'll be happy to give the same answer I gave this
morning. The President is calling -- has said to the
Congress, and has called on them, to improve the current system, which
the President believes is in need of reform.
The President has indicated that he would like
to sign a bill this year that improves the campaign finance
system. He has said to lawmakers directly, in private and in
public, that they cannot count on him to veto campaign finance reform
this year, which is something that many Republicans have called on him
to do. He has indicated to them that he cannot be counted on
to do that.
The President would like to sign a bill that
improves the current system.
Q So no judgment about
what happened? I mean, McCain was pretty clear about what he
thought about what happened yesterday. You have no view
about whether it's disappointing that it didn't --
MR. FLEISCHER: The President is
still prepared to sign a bill if it meets the principles.
Q Does the President
believe that an egg fertilized outside the womb constitutes the
conception of life?
MR. FLEISCHER: Jim, again, on this
whole topic -- which your questions deals again with stem cell research
--
MR. FLEISCHER: It sounds to me like
there are two polls in a row that show the President's job approval
rating is the mid- to upper 50s -- 56 percent and 57 percent in the
cast of the Gallup poll that's released today.
I think this is further evidence that the
President's message and his presidency has been well-received by the
American people. Those are solid marks -- 56 percent, 57
percent job approval. Certainly, it is leap years ahead of
the job approval of the previous President at this turn in his
presidency. It's generally consistent with the job approval
rating that Ronald Reagan had at this time in his
presidency. Ronald Reagan was a little bit higher than
President George W. Bush's at this time.
But I think it's a sign that the American
people welcome his presidency, that they are supportive of his
presidency and the agenda that he is pursuing and an agenda that is
starting to move nicely on Capitol Hill.
Q Why, when -- last
week or the week before, there were four polls that showed a drop in
the polls, you and your allies at the RNC had conference calls to
explain that you couldn't trust the polls and it's just a blip in time
and no big deal? Now you're --
MR. FLEISCHER: I don't think
anybody said you can adjust the polls. I think the message you heard
on that phone call and the message that I've repeated many times here
is that the President has been in a very consistent range, and some
polls in the low 50s and other polls in the upper 50s, and that it's
been adding a lot of stability to the President's numbers, particularly
when measured from January 20th.
We indicated that several polls were taken at
a peak right after the China period. But that's been a
consistent message from the White House. Nobody ever said that you
can't trust the polls; the message was there seems to be a stability in
the President's ratings and the ratings are solid.
Q Ari, on faith-based
--
MR. FLEISCHER: Major, are you
cradling that telephone? (Laughter.)
Q Yes. I'm
just holding it here, in case it doesn't ring. It rang
during Condi's briefing, so I want to muffle the
ring. (Laughter.)
MR. FLEISCHER: Expecting a
call. (Laughter.)
Q Don't want to bother
you in any way.
MR. FLEISCHER: If you check the
transcript, what I said is that the Ways and Means Committee passed a
scaled-back version of what the President proposed, and I likened it to
the President's overall tax proposal, where he sought a larger tax
cut. He did not get all of what he wanted, but in the case
of the Ways and Means bill, as I said, he got $13 billion of tax relief
over a 10 year period.
And the President is very pleased that for the
first time since 1986, if this passes into law, people who don't
itemize on their taxes will be able to take a deduction for charitable
giving. That will help spur even more than $13 billion
dollars' worth of charitable activities across the country.
Q But, Ari, how can a
$25-a-year deduction -- which is, I believe, what that amounts to --
spur more charitable giving, if that's all you're getting?
MR. FLEISCHER: Because it ramps up
over time. It's $25 in the first year for individuals, $50
for couples. And then it ramps up over a number of years to
a more sizeable level. It has been scaled
back. The President would have preferred more, but that was
the pattern in the previous tax bill which, when he signed into law, I
think people recognized the President was successful in getting much of
what he sought.
Congress is not a rubber
stamp. Congress exercises its own free will. But the
principle of what the President sought has been put back into the tax
code if this is enacted.
Q But you would concede
that $1.35 trillion is much closer to $1.6 trillion than -- I mean,
we're not talking about similar --
MR. FLEISCHER: And that's why I
called it scaled-back. This is phased-in over a longer
period of time, but it still ramps up to a significant level.
Q Ari, on a related --
MR. FLEISCHER: Let's go to somebody
who hasn't asked one yet. Go ahead.
Q On this action on
climate change, part of the President's language talks about reducing
uncertainties in the science. Does the President -- is he
already accepting the dangers of global warming, does he need these new
scientific reports before he'll state that global warming is a serious
priority?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President has
always said global warming is a serious problem, it is a serious
priority. That's widely acknowledged. The President
concurs.
But the National Academy Report that came out
last month also indicated that there are areas of
uncertainty. There are some things that are known, but there
are other things that aren't certain, and that's what this addresses.
Q Why is the initial
action, then, towards more research as opposed to a specific action to
target a reduction in global warming?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, as you notice
here, there are several steps that have been taken to engage in carbon
sequestration. Those are specific steps in the action that's
been announced. For the debt for forest agreement by the
Department of Treasury, those are specific steps, in that case,
addressed to El Salvador, to help address carbon sequestration -- not
to study, but to do.
MR. FLEISCHER: Let's
go. We're trying to get to new people.
Q Ari, following up on
that, though, can you just explain to the American people who don't see
your paper what it is that you are saying today about global warming?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President today
announced a series of actions to further promote the cause of
reductions of global warming and to reduce greenhouse
gases. These include the fact that NASA will now invest $120
million over the next three years in research on natural carbon cycle
climate modeling and the link between atmospheric chemistry and climate
to help reduce uncertainties in science, which were highlighted by the
National Academy of Science's report.
In addition to that, the Department of Energy
just signed agreements to begin two significant new projects to study
carbon sequestration. The first agreement is with the Nature
Conservancy, which is the world's largest private international
conservation group, to study land use and forestry practices for
storing carbon more effectively in Brazil and in Belize.
And, finally, to further cooperate -- to
further the cause of cooperation in the Western Hemisphere, the
Department of Treasury yesterday entered into a $14 million debt for
forest agreement with the government of El Salvador under the Tropical
Forest Conservation Act.
By this Act, the agreement will secure
important benefits of carbon sequestration and climate change
mitigation. In other words, it will reduce
carbon. And those are specific initiatives that that the
President is pleased that the agencies have been able to take at this
time.
MR. FLEISCHER: There is currently a
Cabinet-level review that is working on how to reduce greenhouse
gases. The President is committed to the procedural Kyoto
approach, as he announced last week -- and it's an international
approach. And the President believes there is going to be a
promise of much in the way of new technology to help address global
climate changes.
Q So Kyoto could be
reconfigured or reformulated?
MR. FLEISCHER: It's the
international aspect of bringing the various nations together that was
set out in the Rio -- in Rio.
Q The process --
Q Not the process, not
the protocol.
Q The document itself
is dead?
MR. FLEISCHER: That's
correct. Right, I did not say the protocol.
Q As far as the
President's concerned, the document's --
MR. FLEISCHER: It's the process
that was laid out, which is a continuation of what began in
Rio. Okay.
MR. FLEISCHER: This is the
President's position about sports and policy. The President
does not view this as a political matter. The President
views this as a matter for the International Olympic Committee to
decide what nation or what city should host the Olympics.
Q Having said that, is
it the President's hope, or even belief, that perhaps by Beijing now
hosting these games in 2008 that it will foster an atmosphere of more
democracy?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the President
believes that the Olympics are a sporting event, and not a political
event. But having said that, this now is an opportunity for
China to showcase itself as a modern nation.
Q He, therefore, thinks
it was a mistake to boycott the Moscow Olympics in 1980?
MR. FLEISCHER: I didn't work for
him in 1980 and it's not a topic I've asked him about, so I don't
know.
MR. FLEISCHER: Just this week, the
President met with a group of leading American Hispanic businessmen and
women to discuss trade promotion authority. The Hispanic
business community is a growing and thriving part of our economic
success and it's further part of how we can have an economic recovery
by focusing on small businesses, many of which are Hispanic.
So this week, many of these leaders committed
to the President they would help to pass trade promotion authority
because they believe in it and because they think it's good for their
businesses.
On that point, too, I want to note again that
the President continues to urge Congress to make progress on the issue
involving Mexican trucking. The President believes that's an important
commitment that we have under NAFTA. There was a helpful
step taken in the amendment that was passed by Senator Patty Murray on
that matter; additional work needs to be done. And the
President wants to make sure that the Congress does not take any action
that's unfair to our friends from the south.
Q Do you have a
read-out on the Costa Rica meeting?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm going around to
the new people, and I'll come back.
MR. FLEISCHER: It is a helpful
step, but the concerns raised in the Mitch Daniels letter that said the
staff would recommend a veto, those concerns remain in place.
Q Just one other thing
about that. Since the Sabo amendment on the House bill
before the recess, has the President spoke with Fox or other people
about Mexico's concern about the issue?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, the President of
course spoke to President Fox and President Aznar of Spain when they
were together in Mexico. And that was about 10 days
ago. That was after the House action on that
matter. I don't recall if that particular topic came up.
Q Just a readout on the
Costa Rica meeting, what they talked about?
MS. COUNTRYMAN: We'll have some
points a little bit later. I'm sorry. We haven't
had time.
MR. FLEISCHER: We'll have a little
bit on that for you in a little bit. I wasn't in the
meeting, and so we'll have something in a little bit.
Mr. David Gregory.
MR. FLEISCHER: The President on
Monday is going to have a meeting with a veteran of the Vietnam War, to
give him the Congressional Medal of Freedom -- I'm sorry, the
Congressional Medal of Honor. And the President will depart
for Europe on Wednesday next week, where he will meet with Prime
Minister Blair, where he will meet with the Queen, where he will travel
to Genoa to participate in the G-7 summit. And following
that, the President will travel to Rome to meet with the
Pope. And if there are any additional travel, we'll fill you
in at the appropriate time.
Q How about Monday,
Tuesday?
Q Is he going to be
pushing any further on the legislation as its going through -- any
further events on faith-based or anything like that next week?
MR. FLEISCHER: Actually, there will
be an interesting -- this will be an interesting time, because while
the President is abroad, there's going to be a very busy domestic
agenda here at home. And I think you can look forward to the
President discussing that agenda during the trip.
There will be on the floor of the House of
Representatives, as soon as next week, possibly, patients' bill of
rights could be on the floor as well as the faith-based
initiative. And the President has been working very hard on
both initiatives, as you know. He's been having a series of
meetings with House Democrats, House Republicans on the patients' bill
of rights so that a bill can be sent to him that he can sign into
law. He'll be very keenly interested to see what the House
does, and that may -- very well may happen next week, so too with
faith-based initiative.
Q Ari, do you mean to
say there's some question about the President's stop in Kosovo, which
Dr. Rice spoke about earlier today?
MR. FLEISCHER: I have not issued
any formal statement on it. Dr. Rice, of course, has
addressed it.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
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