The White House President George W. Bush |
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 22, 2003
Press Gaggle by Ari Fleischer
Aboard Air Force One
En Route St. Louis, Missouri
9:55 A.M. EST
MR. FLEISCHER: Good morning. All right, let's get going. Good
morning. The President will visit St. Louis today as part of his taking
his economic growth and stimulus package to the country, to build a
case of support for it. He'll do a roundtable discussion with a group
of workers and company owners in St. Louis. Then he will make remarks.
The President will also address the annual gathering of the
pro-life movement on the Mall, via telephone. A transcript of his
remarks will be distributed to you.
Q We're not going to hear that, Ari? At the filing center, are they
going to hear that?
MR. DICKENS: We're going to give you the text of it first, before
he gives the remarks. At 11:10 a.m. he's going to do the remarks; we'll
give you the text first. And then after his remarks, we're going to
replay the audio into the filing center.
Q And the text is going to be distributed at the filing center?
MR. DICKENS: We're going to give it to you.
MR. FLEISCHER: And one of the things you'll notice when we hand out
the factsheet on the roundtable and the participants, you'll notice
deliberately that included on there will be some very successful people
-- some business owners, some people who pay hundreds of thousands of
dollars in taxes. And this is because the President believes that all
Americans who pay income taxes deserve income tax relief. His plan will
benefit the economy by helping to create jobs. And small business
owners plough their profits back into the business, which helps create
jobs for American workers.
And this is our approach to those who offer class warfare in
response to the President's proposal for economic growth. The President
is proud to take on their charge of class warfare, to engage in it head
on, and to share stories of people's success from all walks of life in
America.
Q He's going to engage in class warfare head on?
MR. FLEISCHER: To engage those who engage in class warfare head on.
(Laughter.)
Q Thanks for clearing that up.
MR. FLEISCHER: Thank you for clearing that up. The technical term
for that is "slip of the tongue."
Other items I just want to point out to you -- one day after
issuing the Apparatus of Lies, describing Saddam Hussein's willingness
to lie to the Iraqi people and to the world, Saddam Hussein this
morning lied to the Iraqi people and the world. Iraq claimed to have
shot down a Predator this morning. There is no truth to the Iraqi
claim. They couldn't even wait 24 hours to show the world that they,
once again, lie.
With that, I'm happy to take questions.
Q Ari, do you have any response to the poll results in the Post
this morning, talking about weakening support for action in Iraq?
MR. FLEISCHER: Number one, the President believes that a strong
majority of Americans agree with him that it's important Saddam Hussein
disarm; and that if Saddam Hussein does not disarm on his own, he will
lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein with the support of a large
majority of the country. And that's because the American people see the
threat the same way the President does. And I think that's
overwhelmingly reflected in all the survey data that is out there.
Q -- show that a large majority of Americans want to give the
inspectors much more time, maybe many months. And that doesn't seem to
be the President's position -- that there aren't many more months left
to wait.
MR. FLEISCHER: The President has said repeatedly that it's
important for Saddam Hussein to disarm. And in the event he makes a
decision that we must go to war to make Saddam Hussein disarm, he will
talk to the American people at greater length.
But there should be no understanding the position of the American
people on this. Pollsters can ask every type of follow-up question they
want, but the basic fundamentals are unchanged, and that is the strong
majority of the American people are willing to support military action
if it comes down to that. And if the President makes that case to the
American people, I think you will see even more of the country
supporting.
Now, if you're interested, I'll be happy to go on background and
discuss more data with you.
* * * * *
Q Is the President going to outline any new evidence about Iraq's
weaponry in his State of the Union speech next week?
MR. FLEISCHER: Let's go on record. In the President's State of the
Union speech, the President will focus on the economy; he'll focus on
compassion and caring; he will focus on security -- security being both
homeland security and national security. He will, of course, discuss
Iraq, and I'm not going to get into any more specifics on that this
early.
Q Can you talk about the economic side of that poll just to get
back to the Washington Post poll, showing that a majority of Americans
feel that this tax plan would benefit the wealthy over others? What do
you guys say in reaction to that on a day when he's trying to give a
different view of this plan in St. Louis?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I don't think anybody who thinks that a plan
would benefit the wealthy or benefit the middle class or benefit
anybody else is an indication that they're for or against it on that
basis. The fact of the matter is, the President's plan benefits all.
And what separates America from so much of the rest of the world is we
are not a class-envious society. People don't oppose something because
they think it benefits not only themselves, but everybody else.
The wonderful history of America is lower-income people want to
become middle-income people; middle-income people want to become
upper-middle-income people; and upper-middle-income people want to
become upper-income people. And the President believes that all people
who pay income taxes deserve tax relief. He also thinks it's a
wonderful way to help create jobs.
That's why when he goes to St. Louis today, he's going to meet with
the owners of a small business, who pay a huge amount of taxes, who
receive a large compensation. The more they have to reinvest in their
business, the more employees they're going to hire. And my question to
the Democrat critics is, how can you be for the employee if you're so
against the employer? Where do employees come from? They come from
employers who create jobs and are willing to hire.
Q Oil prices have crept above $35 a barrel for the first time in
two years. Is the President concerned about that and the effect on the
economy, and is he prepared to do anything about it?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President is concerned about the rising price of
energy. And that's why the President's budget will fund the LIHEAP
program at an increased rate. It's also why the President wants to move
forward on energy independence, and he's disappointed that that
legislation that would have helped promote America's energy
independence didn't get passed last year.
And this is a long-term issue, but if 10 years ago, Congress and
the administration had been able to work in a long-term way on energy,
we wouldn't be in the spot we could be in today, with action on
Venezuela, for example, driving up the price.
The President expressed his gratitude to OPEC and to Saudi Arabia
for their increase in production. There are a variety of ways to
approach this issue, including increased conservation, increased
production, and increased diversification of supply. But it still
remains an issue that the American people want people in Washington to
deal with long-term.
Q Do you have any comment on a report out of Russia today that the
United States has already declared -- or given the orders to go ahead
and begin a war, I think it's in mid-February?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, I have no comments on anything of that nature.
The President has not made any final conclusions. And even if he had,
if there was a discussion of the dates, I certainly would not discuss
them.
But I do want to point out, there are people -- going back to some
of the polling questions -- who are critical of the President because
he hasn't moved yet. And there are a number of conservatives who think
that the President should have moved already against Iraq. And so, when
they talk about do you approve or disapprove of the President's
handling of Iraq, don't forget to take into account that there are
conservatives who think he should have dealt with the issue already.
Q You know, that didn't really sound like much of a denial on the
idea of an order being given for war.
MR. FLEISCHER: I've said that the President has not reached any
final conclusions and that I don't talk about timetables. I'm never
going to answer a question about a timetable --
Q I wasn't asking --
MR. FLEISCHER: -- on military action.
Q Well, okay. I mean, I wasn't asking you to give a timetable. I
was asking you for -- was the report accurate -- well, anyway, it
doesn't matter. You're saying --
MR. FLEISCHER: The only way to answer it is to indicate a timetable
about when -- if or when the President is going to put America's troops
into harm's way. And for the protection of the troops, that's a
question that I don't think people would ever expect me to answer
directly.
Q The anthrax story in The New York Times today, the monitoring
stations, is that true? Can you speak to that a little bit?
MR. FLEISCHER: The story is correct. The administration, through
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease
Control, is moving forward with a program of monitoring, as part of our
precautions to protect the country from any potential threats involving
bio-weaponry. We have no specific information about any such impending
threat, but as part of the whole precautions the country has been going
through since September 11th --
Q Is it happening tomorrow, this announcement? Is there some kind
of event tomorrow on that?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, there is no event or formal announcement. The
story is correct.
Q Is this in place as of today, basically, or is it a gradual
process? Do you know how it works?
MR. FLEISCHER: EPA is moving forward with the program beginning
today.
Q Starts beginning today and probably phased in around the country,
do you know?
MR. FLEISCHER: Yes, EPA will deploy these systems to major
population centers throughout the country. CDC will monitor the
equipment on a regular basis. And this program, whose funding will come
out of the Department of Homeland Security as the Department begins its
operations.
Q On the Snow story, did his DUI and his child support case ever
give you pause during the vetting of him as a potential nominee?
MR. FLEISCHER: It did not.
Q And are you confident he would be confirmed by the Senate?
MR. FLEISCHER: Oh, yes. The President remains confident that he is
the right man for the job and will be an excellent Secretary of
Treasury. We believe the Senate will agree.
Q Just to follow up, you said the LIHEAP -- is that going to be in
the '04 budget that he will propose an increase for LIHEAP in '04?
MR. FLEISCHER: That's correct. The '03 budget represented a
$200-million increase in funding. And it's an important program, and
that will be reflected in the President's budget.
Q The $200 billion was '03 and '04?
MR. FLEISCHER: -- '03 over '02 represented a $200 million
increase.
Q We can expect another increase, is what you're saying. We can
expect another one?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm not going to give out the specific numbers, but
I --
Q One more poll question. We were talking earlier about the poll
results on the tax plan. But the poll also showed a majority of
Americans disapproving of the President's handling of the economy. Is
that a danger, and how does he address that? Is he concerned at numbers
like that?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, again -- first of all, the American people have
strong approval of the President's overall job, and that's been a very
longstanding trend. In fact --
Q -- it's declining somewhat, those approval rates, as well.
MR. FLEISCHER: Clearly the economy, has been coming out of
recession and into a period of slow growth. The President believes that
more can be done and wants to work with Congress to get more done. And
I think the American people want to see the President and the Congress
get things done.
Q Ari, any reaction to what's going on in North Korea, the South
Korea-North Korea Cabinet-level talks said to be going well, and
there's a lack of rhetoric on North Korea's part. Is the President
reassured about the progress?
MR. FLEISCHER: Back on the record. The President has always
encouraged South Korea to engage in talks with North Korea. The United
States has said it will talk to North Korea, and this is a reflection
of the fact that the problems that North Korea has created for itself
are problems that confront the international community and the world.
It is more than a matter between the United States and North Korea.
North Korea has isolated itself from the rest of the world. And we
support the talks these nations are having with North Korea.
Okay, if there is nothing else. Thanks.
END 10:17 A.M. EST
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