The White House supports giving the commission investigating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States additional time to complete its final report. The commission is currently scheduled to complete its work on May 27, but it requested an additional 60 days to analyze documents provided by the administration. Press Secretary Scott McClellan said "[t]he president is pleased to support the commission's request, and we urge Congress to act quickly to extend the timetable for an additional 60 days for the commission to complete its work."

But McClellan urged the commission to act quickly, saying, "[i]f the commission has information that can help prevent another catastrophic terrorist attack on America soil, we need to have that information as soon as possible."

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks is a ten-member independent bipartisan commission created by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in 2002, to study the nation's awareness and response to the terrorist attacks.

WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT RICIN

Reporters questioned the White House about news reports that a parcel containing ricin was discovered at a White House mail facility in November 2003.

McClellan said in November the Secret Service intercepted a suspicious parcel at a White House off-site mail facility. White House Homeland Security officials convened an emergency meeting on the matter he said, and the Center for Disease Control conducted tests of the substance on November 13 and on November 14. The tests, he said, determined that the substance did not pose a public threat.

Investigators are determining if there is a link between a letter containing ricin found November 3 in an office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and the parcel found at the off-site White House mail facility.

"There is an ongoing investigation at this time," McClellan said.

Senator Frist, at a news conference February 4, announced the gradual reopening of the three Senate office buildings closed on February 3 because of the letter containing ricin.

Frist said the Russell Senate office building will open February 5 and the Hart building will reopen on February 6. The Dirksen office building, where the letter was found, is still being investigated and will not open until February 9, Frist said.

"We substantially concluded the work in this Capitol, so that the Capitol is fully open for business, except for a few areas [where] because of security reasons we're proceeding a little bit slower," Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said at a press conference.