For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 18, 2002
Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
Listen to the Briefing
12:55 P.M. EST
MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon and happy Friday to the
White House press corps.
The President this morning placed a call to Argentine Eduardo
Duhalde. They had a good conversation about the economic challenges
that Argentina is facing as the government moves forward to achieving a
sustainable economic plan. President Bush reaffirmed
America's strong bilateral relations with Argentina. He
stressed our commitment to the Argentinean people and our heartfelt
appreciation for the difficulties that the people of Argentina are
facing.
The President expressed his willingness to work with the
Argentinean government as its confronts their serious economic
challenges. President Bush also underscored that once
Argentina has committed to a sound and sustainable economic plan,
working with the international financial institutions, the United
States is willing to support Argentina through the IMF and other
international institutions.
President Duhalde thanked the President for his strong support
during these difficult times and expressed the administration's
commitment -- his administration's commitment to maintaining strong
relations with the United States.
Following the call, the President convened a meeting and was
briefed by the Central Intelligence Agency, briefed by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, and then convened a meeting of the National
Security Council to go over the latest in the war effort.
And then this afternoon, the President will tape his radio address,
which will air tomorrow. And then the President has
additional meetings with staff, and then he will depart for Camp David
in mid-afternoon.
Two other announcements. The President will welcome a
visit to Washington on January 31st the Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard
Schroeder.
And, finally, the President is very pleased to announce today that
beginning in early February, the White House will once again be open to
tours, beginning on a limited basis, for school groups that are coming
to Washington. Spring is often a time of great tourism in
Washington, D.C., and much of that tourism comes from school groups
coming to town. And the White House will again be open for
business as school children visit.
It's a great place to visit and the President and Mrs. Bush
encourage tours to come to Washington, D.C. School groups
will be able to now to come and visit the White House. That
will all be done through the congressional offices. The
procedure will be, asking any school groups that want to come visit the
White House, get in contact with your member of Congress, with your
senator, and then they will work with the groups to obtain all
necessary information to get them cleared into the White House so that
school visits can begin. The President and Mrs. Bush are
very pleased to be able to take that limited step as part of reopening
the White House.
Q When is that, Ari?
MR. FLEISCHER: Beginning in February, we anticipate.
Q Is there a date set yet?
MR. FLEISCHER: We'll announce an exact date once we have
it. We're looking right now at early February.
Q Ari, does this reflect tighter security,
lower threat, both or neither?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, no, it is a reflection of tighter
security, because it is going to be done on a basis, just like anybody
else, just like you all are cleared into the White House. So
it's a way to recognize how to -- in this environment, which is still a
dangerous one, where threats still do remain on the domestic homeland
front -- how you can still balance the President and Mrs. Bush's desire
to keep this the people's house. And it is especially
important for our nation's school children, because school visits are a
big part of how children learn, how they grow. It is a time-honored
tradition, that is being balanced with a nation that is at war.
Q How far off is general admission --
MR. FLEISCHER: There are no indications on that yet.
Q Why would they not screen individual
tourists coming in? If you are going to be checking Social
Security numbers and dates of birth, why not do that for individual
tourists?
MR. FLEISCHER: The White House is pleased to be able to
take this step today, to be able to announce this
today. President and Mrs. Bush very much hope that they will
be able to, at some point, take additional steps. So this
will now begin. It will be a process now where the White
House will be clearing in -- or WAVE-ing in, as you know our procedures
are called -- many more people than is typical because typically the
process for those tours is they don't need to be waved
in. So this will be a new requirement, a new obligation, a
new burden on the White House staff. But it is one that the
President and Mrs. Bush very much want the White House to take
up. And I think, frankly, it comes at a very good time for
Washington, D.C. It's important to welcome people here this
spring.
Q Ari, going through the congressional
offices, does this mean that the Congress person or the staff has to
somewhat validate this group? And also, do they have to talk
to the -- I mean, what's the procedure going --
MR. FLEISCHER: No, they will be the office that obtains
the necessary background information, full name, Social Security
number, date of birth. They will then convey that down to the White
House. So they will collect that information and put it --
collect it and send it down to the White House. So it's a
helpful process so members of Congress can get the word out to their
school groups, come to Washington, visit this spring. We
need to get that information from you. They collect it, they
convey it to the White House.
Q In a follow-up, you say a limited
number. How many kids at a time will you be allowing
in? And is it, like, on certain days that they will be
allowed to come here?
MR. FLEISCHER: April, I anticipate as it gets a little
closer to February, I'll have a little more specific information on the
size of the groups. This will run from Tuesdays through
Saturdays. And I don't know yet if there are going to be any
numbers on the sizes of the groups. But like I said, the
President and Mrs. Bush are very pleased that they can take this step
today.
Q On the call that President Bush placed to
President Duhalde, the situation in Argentina is getting worse by the
minute. People are lining up in embassies trying to get out
of the country. Still people are protesting, they can't get
their money from the banks, their accounts are frozen. It's
a real mess. President Bush has reaffirmed the support of
the United States for the people of Argentina. But they also
insist on demanding an economic plan that can be approved by the
IMF. However, that's not going to be done overnight, and
there's strong political pressure there from the people. Is
there any way the United States can work with other governments and the
IMF to try and speed up the process? Because when the help comes, it
might be too late. We might have a sixth President.
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the United States is working with
Argentina. That's one of the reasons the President called today, to
reaffirm our commitment to helping Argentina. But the key
does remain for Argentina to internally come up with a plan that can
demonstrate sustained economic growth. And the world
community does stand ready to help Argentina, to work with
Argentina. But the President believes that that's the
prerequisite.
Q A panel of scientists from the National
Academy today recommended that Congress enact a ban on reproductive
cloning, but also recommended that cloning for the purposes of
harvesting stem cells go ahead. What's the White House's
position on that?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, on the ban on cloning, that's
action that was passed by the House of Representatives last
fall. The Senate has yet to act; the President hopes that
the Senate will act. The President is ready to sign that
legislation into law.
On stem cells, I refer you back to the remarks that the President
made in August, addressing the stem cell issue.
Q Would you reiterate those for us, since
they have just now recommended that nuclear transfer cloning techniques
be allowed to go ahead for scientific research on embryonic stem
cells?
MR. FLEISCHER: Let me do this, John. I'm
going to take a look at exactly what the National Academy report was on
the second topic you raised, so I can answer it in the context of
that.
Q They said, from a health and safety
perspective, they recommend that scientists be allowed to use nuclear
transfer techniques to create cloned human embryos to produce human
stem cells.
MR. FLEISCHER: I'll get back to you.
Q Ari, often when the President travels
abroad or the Commerce Secretary or Trade Representative or
high-ranking Cabinet officials, they take along corporate CEOs, company
honchos with them. Did Ken Lay or anyone else from Enron,
any Enron executives ever travel with any administration officials,
that you're aware of, on foreign trips or --
MR. FLEISCHER: Not in this administration, that I'm
aware of. You can check with the agencies. I can
speak for the presidential trips that I've been on, all the trips
abroad -- the answer is no. But you'd have to check with any
of the agencies. I think you'll find the answer is no, but
you need to check with them.
Q Ari, we got word that President Bush is
supposed to be observing on a larger scale, Dr. King's birth this
weekend and Monday. Dr. King, champion of civil rights --
President Bush said before he became President, at the NAACP Convention
that civil rights will be the cornerstone of his
administration. What will and has the President done in
efforts to keep Dr. King's dream alive in fostering civil rights in
this country?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, Monday is a federal holiday that
will commemorate Dr. King's birth, and the President looks forward to
welcoming a group of Americans to the East Room in commemoration of
that event. And the President will have additional remarks
at that time.
But let me share with you a couple of the things that the President
has done since January 20th, when he became President. I
think that it's fair to say that from the President's point of view the
most important accomplishment he has made has been in the area of
education. In fact, the President often has said that
education is the cornerstone of civil rights. Education is a way to
help all Americans to achieve a better future. And the focus
of much of the President's efforts has been on improving our nation's
public schools. And the President does view that as a key,
helpful part of improving life for all Americans including African
Americans.
Beyond that, the Armies of Compassion initiative that the President
has launched includes a number of incentives to help faith-based
organizations and community groups that are helping African Americans.
That's why I can give you a couple different
examples. Martin Luther King III and Rosa Parks, the Church
of God in Christ, all African American -- the Church of God in Christ,
being an African American church, has supported this initiative very
strongly and urged its passage.
You also recall, the President's budget contained a very large
increase in funding for historically black colleges and universities,
an attempt again to help people through education to have a better life
in the country.
The White House also has a working group on race. That's
a senior-level group that offers advice to various offices in the White
House on race relations. So there have been a whole series
of actions that have been put in place along those
lines. And the President again will reflect on that himself
in his remarks on Monday.
Q Ari, a follow-up to that, there's
something with a major bite, something that he started at the very
beginning that has fallen along the wayside, the issue of banning
racial profiling. Where is that now? Many people
championed that with him, because he said something that Bill Clinton
did not do. Bill Clinton studied, and President Bush said he
wanted to ban. Now, where is it?
MR. FLEISCHER: In the President's address to Congress
last year, upon taking office, the President called for a ban on racial
profiling. And the President remains committed to that. As
a result of the war that began on September 11th, the Department of
Justice, which had jurisdiction and purview over this, which was
working very closely with a lot of local governments, as well as
federal entities and agencies, has gotten distracted to other issues,
of course. The priorities of fighting the war on terrorism,
of taking the Justice Department away from this mission.
Now, I do want to remind you that the Department of Energy has
announced a ban on racial profiling throughout all their
entities. If you recall, that was put out earlier this
year. It is an area the President is committed
to. Progress has been slower than the President would have
liked as a result of what Justice is now involved in. But it
is a presidential commitment and he intends to keep it, he wants to
keep it; it has been delayed.
Q Could the ban happen before the end of his
presidency? I know there's a distraction because of the war
--
MR. FLEISCHER: The President has not forgotten his
promise. The war has intervened, but the President has not
forgotten the promise; it's a promise he intends to keep.
Q Ari, did anyone from Enron ever talk to
the Vice President or ask the Vice President to talk to the Indian
opposition leader about this project and the debt that it was owed by
the Indians?
MR. FLEISCHER: No.
Q No? So no, kind of -- and what
prompted the Vice President to bring it up in that June meeting was?
MR. FLEISCHER: Let me give you some broader context
about it, because you're asking about something
specific. The President views the job of the United States
government and its central function is to help protect American jobs,
whether those are the result of investments overseas that help create
jobs at home, or jobs domestically.
For example, the President has talked to China about purchasing a
Boeing aircraft. In the instance of the power plant, which
is the Dabhol power plant in India, as you know, Secretary Evans said
that he talked to Ken Lay about the plant in India, he said that on one
of the Sunday shows.
Former Secretary Ron Brown, former Secretary Mickey Kantor, former
Secretary Bill Daley, all of the Clinton administration also advocated
for the project during various phases of its development, which goes
back to 1994. There are other projects I could get into that
also financed or are backed by other OPIC or through Job Creation
America that President Bush and others in the administration have
talked to other governments about.
So it's in that context that the Vice President called* and
expressed, as -- what he did, was he asked about the status of the
project. It is an important project to create jobs in
* expressed in a meeting
America. And there's also a taxpayer exposure as a
result of the work that's being done through the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation, which is a government agency.
Q What is the size of that
exposure? What is the U.S. taxpayer on the hook for in this
--
MR. FLEISCHER: OPIC has an exposure of $160 million in
loans and $180 million in risk insurance. And the Ex-Im Bank
has a direct loan of $300 million.
Q If I can follow real
quick. OPIC believes that the President, himself, might have
raised it in a November 9th meeting with the Indian Prime Minister --
MR. FLEISCHER: That's correct.
Q -- but it was never raised.
MR. FLEISCHER: That's correct.
Q Why did the administration decide not to
raise it?
MR. FLEISCHER: As you can imagine, anytime before any
foreign leader comes to the White House to meet with the President for
meetings that are typically about half an hour long, everybody in the
government would like the President to raise just about everything
under their jurisdiction.
It's common for people to say, we want the President to raise
this. And then there's a process, usually, which goes through the
National Security Council to help vet it so it's a reasonable meeting,
because otherwise the President would probably cover everything that
everybody in the government does.
Q Ari, the decision about sort of the
appearance of impropriety or conflict of interest, it was not made for
that reason that he did not raise this with the Prime Minister?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, the Vice President had raised it
earlier and the determination was made that this would be one of the
issues that did not rise to the President's level.
Q These e-mails, though, from the National
Security Council to OPIC say somebody -- the name's blacked out --
confirmed that President Bush cannot talk about Dabhol--
cannot. And it also says Larry Lindsey was advised he could
not discuss Dabhol.
MR. FLEISCHER: That's correct.
Q Did the President and Larry Lindsey go to
the Counsel's Office and ask advice for an ethics ruling as to whether
they could discuss it?
MR. FLEISCHER: No. In the case of Mr.
Lindsey, the Counsel's Office did recommend to Larry Lindsey that he
have no direct involvement in the Dabhol plant as a result of his
previous holdings with Enron, so that was specific to Enron-specific
related, in the case of Mr. Lindsey. While, with the
President, it was a matter of not rising up to his level.
Again, as you can imagine, there is always an inclination from
everybody when a foreign leader comes here to raise it to the
President's level. And it's the jobs of the people who
prepare for those meetings to weigh what should go to the President's
level or shouldn't. And then what you would typically see as
somebody passed the word back that he won't raise that, he can't raise
that, he is going to raise other issues. So, thank you for
trying, this one didn't make it to the President.
Q Would it have been inappropriate for the
President to have raised it, if he had had unlimited time with Indian
officials?
MR. FLEISCHER: Appropriate in the sense that the
President always is looking out to protect America's jobs and
taxpayers' money. I don't see any problem with that.
Q I just want to follow up on the question I
asked about Haiti a couple days ago and the charge of economic
terrorism leveled by President Aristide against the United
States. And I wanted to find out the President's position on
the Aristide government now, and also on the harassment of journalists
in that country.
MR. FLEISCHER: The United States has expressed concerns
about the election process in Haiti, particularly with regard to the
legislative elections. The administration considers that the
solution is in the hands of the Haitians themselves. The
administration supports efforts by the Organization of American States
to bring all parties together to resolve what is an electoral impasse
there.
Currently, the United States provides Haiti with $70 million
through nongovernmental organizations for developmental assistance
directly to the Haiti people. Direct assistance to Haiti
will be reviewed once all parties involved reach a political
agreement.
Q On Israel, is the peace process dead
now? And what comments do you have to make in the wake of
yesterday's attacks --
MR. FLEISCHER: The President strongly condemns the
attack that took place in Israel yesterday which took innocent
lives. The President condemns, once again, another terrorist
attack on our friend Israel. The President believes that
Chairman Arafat needs to continue and must demonstrate that he has the
desire and the willingness and the ability to dismantle terrorist
organizations, and that is a vital precursor in order for peace to be
achieved in the Middle East in the President's opinion.
Q Is there any point in continuing peace
process talks at this point, at this juncture?
MR. FLEISCHER: Again, the President is committed to
achieving peace in the Middle East through whatever means are the most
likely to achieve peace in the Middle East. So the President
will continue the involvement, but it is a very difficult situation.
Q Larry Lindsey sought a ruling on the
Indian plant. Did he seek a ruling before he went ahead with
this study last fall on Enron's -- whether it would affect the markets
or not?
MR. FLEISCHER: Totally unrelated. The Dabhol
plant was directly something that would impact Enron. The
review had nothing to do with Enron specifics. It had
nothing to do with anything directly financial to Enron. It was a
review about markets and how markets would be impacted -- in other
words, whether or not consumers would have to pay more for their
natural gas, whether or not consumers would even be able to get natural
gas because of the disruption in supplies as a result of Enron's
bankruptcy. So you can't -- the comparison is very
different.
Q But that review could have ended up in the
government doing something about Enron. It didn't, but it
could have, right?
MR. FLEISCHER: But that didn't take
place. The review was of markets to determine whether
markets were impacted.
Q He didn't seek a ruling from the Counsel's
Office?
MR. FLEISCHER: It's apples and oranges. One
was a more direct involvement. The other was reviewing
broader implications having nothing to do with the specifics of Enron's
financing.
Q Does the President share Governor Gray
Davis's concerns that Enron took advantage of the people of California
and is any government agency looking into whether it, in fact, did
that?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President is very concerned that the
people of Enron, the leaders of Enron took advantage of the people of
Enron. That's the concern the President has, that the people
who worked for Enron now have lost their paychecks, and the people who
were counting on retiring, because they work for Enron, have lost their
ability in many cases to retire in the comfort that they were hoping to
retire. The President's concerns focus on people who work
for other companies that worry, will they be put in a position that
Enron workers were. That's where the President's focus is
at.
Q But no concern about the prices Enron
charged for the natural gas to California, the power to California?
MR. FLEISCHER: Anything dealing with the charges for
prices is something that would be examined by FERC and that's what they
do under their purview.
Q You said earlier that we continue to face
a threat here in the homeland. Can you explain why the
President has yet to nominate a head for the Food and Drug
Administration or for the National Institutes of Health a year into the
administration?
MR. FLEISCHER: Stay tuned.
Q Well, I mean, that's not an adequate
answer, Ari. A year has gone by, a quarter of the
President's term has gone by and he has yet to name such a
person. Why has it taken this long to come up with a name?
MR. FLEISCHER: Let me respond specifically on that, two
reasons. One, this is a -- these are very important positions that
need to be named, especially given the events of September
11th. And the President is not going to compromise the issue
of time in order to get the best person for the
position. And these positions often are people who come from
the private sector who have substantial private sector
knowledge. Not everybody from the private sector rushes to
get into the government.
Q Ari, back on Enron, does the President
think that it's the government's responsibility to at least partially
help reimburse some of these employees?
MR. FLEISCHER: The employees of Enron? Let me
take you back to December 5th and just let you know explicitly what the
Department of Labor did at the time that Enron announced its
bankruptcy.
Secretary Chao put out a news release on December 5th announcing
the investigation the Department of Labor was launching into Enron and
the assistance that was being provided to the dislocated workers there
and to the employees because of their pensions.
She said on that day -- and let me quote what Secretary Chao said
-- "Enron's employees have gotten the short end of the stick in the
sudden collapse of this company, and we are committed to doing
everything we can to help them." The United States
Department of Labor has activated a toll-free hotline to help workers
-- it's 877-US2-JOBS -- to take calls from laid-off workers of Enron
and to direct them to a nearby, one-stop re-employment
center. And Enron employees with questions about their
employee benefits can also call the Department's pension and welfare
benefit administration, and that's a Dallas office and the phone number
for that is 214-767-6831. So within the law there are things
that can be done to help Enron's employees and the Department of Labor
is on the case.
Q But at the end of the day, is it the
President's goal to help these people get their money
back? What's the end goal?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, again, through the Department of
Labor and through these provisions, there are steps that can be taken
to help those workers at Enron. But, clearly, anytime a
company in America -- the .coms, when they suffered major bankruptcies,
there are things that can be done within the law to help those
workers.
Q Ari, this weekend the President will mark
the conclusion of his first year in office. Does he see any
room for improvement in his own performance and, if so, upon what
aspect do you think he'd most like to improve his performance in the
next year?
MR. FLEISCHER: Would you mind if I answered the question
by telling you what the President thought was good in his performance
in the first year? (Laughter.)
Q You can do that after you answer my
question, we can compromise. (Laughter.)
MR. FLEISCHER: Okay, let's compromise. I
think the answer that I give will be longer than the one that you've
asked. As far as shortcomings, I think the President would
say that he'll leave that to critics. If any critics want to
offer some ideas about what they see as his shortcomings, he'll be
happy to listen and hear what they think.
But I think what the President would tell you, if he was looking
back -- and it is, on Sunday it will be the one-year anniversary of the
inaugural, when the President became President. And that
it's fair to say that this first year has been a year of results and
progress. And it's also been a year of challenge and defense
of our freedoms as a result of the attack on our country.
When the President refers to results and progress, he takes great
pride in the fact that on a bipartisan basis the Congress and the
President together were able to improve education for the country,
particularly for students in public school; that taxes have been
lowered for all Americans; that the marriage penalty has been reduced;
that the death tax has been eliminated; the environmental legislation,
which had been sought for 10 years, to help clean up abandoned areas in
our urban cities has been finally enacted into law, to protect the
environment through brownfields legislation.
And on progress, the President is very pleased that trade promotion
authority has finally been passed out of the House of Representatives.
That was almost a decade in the making. An energy
comprehensive plan to make America more energy independent was passed
by the House. Legislation to help people who are in poverty
was passed through the Armies of Compassion, a faith-based
initiative. And on health, a patient bill of rights has been
passed by both the House and the Senate the President would very much
like to sign into law later this year.
That really is a lot of progress on the legislative front in the
first year of a presidency, particularly given the fact that the House
has such a small margin, that the Senate switched
sides. That's a strong first year in office.
On the side of the war against terrorism, I think the President is
very gratified at how our nation has stood so strong together without
any sense of who belongs to any party and how this nation has joined to
fight a war against the terrorists who attacked our country and who
have supported him so strongly and the men and women of our Armed
Forces so strongly. I think that if you asked the President,
he thinks it's been a good first year.
Q He has not discussed with you any areas
for improvement, either on his part or on the part of the White House
staff?
MR. FLEISCHER: He will -- well, anything he talked about
on improvement with the White House staff, I will definitely leave
between the staff and the President. But as for if you want
to know about -- he understands how politics works. He will
leave that to others.
Q Is there any White House reaction to the
opinion of the President of Pakistan that bin Laden is probably dead
for lack of dialysis treatment?
MR. FLEISCHER: We just don't know. I don't
think the President would view that as an unwelcome
event. But the fact of the matter is, we do not know.
Q Is that just a possibility because of his
inability potentially to get treatment for his kidney
disease? I mean, another senior official said it's a
reasonable conclusion, but a guess. I mean, is there weight
given to that for that reason?
MR. FLEISCHER: Whatever the cause might be that would
lead to that event, it's a justifiable cause.
Q Ari, some social conservatives down at the
RNC's annual meeting have expressed concern; they are a little unhappy
with at least one liberal nominee up for a party
position. As titular head of the GOP, is the President,
first of all, aware of any of these concerns? And, secondly,
what is he doing to unify the party?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President does think the party is
wonderfully unified. I think it is a fair statement to
suggest that the Republican Party is more unified now than it has been
in a decade. And that is a sign of the great strength that
people have, the great support that people have given to President Bush
and his governance of the party.
Lester.
Q One more if I could. Are there
deep divisions within the GOP, though, between pro-life and pro-choice
forces?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think there's no question there are
divisions in the Republican Party between those groups. But
one thing they all have in common is they support the President, and
it's a sign of a healthy Republican Party that welcomes different views
into the party.
Q Ari, does the President, who has been so
deeply and, I think, commendably, concerned about the World Trade
Center bombing, believe that the statue of the three firemen raising
the U.S. flag should have two of them race altered from the photograph,
or not?
MR. FLEISCHER: I have not talked to the President about
it.
Q If you would take the
question. The Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson of Los Angeles, in
his lawsuit just filed against the Reverend Jesse Jackson, notes that
Jackson has implied that it is "necessary for business to pay from $250
to $2,500 annually to Mr. Jackson's international trade
bureau in order to have a reasonable chance of participating in
Toyota's $700 million worth of minority contracts," which is a
statement that Toyota firmly denies. And my question --
since the President is, by the Constitution, the nation's chief law
enforcer, why isn't Jesse Jackson at least investigated for this and
for spending tax-exempt contributions on his mistress, for which the
white man who did that remains in federal prison? What about
that, Ari?
MR. FLEISCHER: Lester, I've got nothing to offer you on
that topic.
Q On Saudi Arabia, the Washington Post had a
major story on the front page saying the Saudi government would like to
reduce the presence of the U.S. military there for internal political
reasons. Is the White House aware of that --
MR. FLEISCHER: The President spoke with the Crown Prince
just last week -- actually -- I'm sorry -- earlier this week from Air
Force One. And the President, in that conversation, as he
has done throughout his presidency, expressed his thanks to the
government of Saudi Arabia for their strong support in the war on
terrorism, which has been, as you can take a look -- just this weekend
in Tokyo, a conference that is being co-sponsored by Saudi Arabia to
help with the rebuilding of Afghanistan. The President is very pleased
with the actions the Saudis have taken.
As to the story specifically, of course, the story quoted unnamed
anonymous Saudi officials, and so I can't comment on anything if people
don't put their name on it. But I'm not aware of any
contacts that anybody named "anonymous" has had with the United States
government, let alone anybody who has a Saudi name with the United
States government suggesting that it's time for the United States to
leave. I'm not aware.
Q On the Enron case, Senator Grassley
yesterday said that his use of several hundred tax savings bolsters the
need for tax shelter legislation. Does the administration
support legislation to reign in abuse of tax shelters?
MR. FLEISCHER: Certainly, if there are abuses of tax
law, anybody, whether they are individuals or corporations, are not
paying their fair shares, the laws need to be enforced or the laws need
to be tightened up. The specifics of any legislation involving
corporate tax shelter reporting will always be looked at.
Q You mentioned earlier that the President
had talked to China about purchasing Boeing aircraft, and the Vice
President raising with the Indian opposition leader Enron's issues in
India. Can you say that's a regular order of business for
the President and the Vice President to speak to foreign leaders about
corporate interests overseas?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President doesn't look at it as if he
is expressing a corporate interest overseas. Unemployment is
sky high in the Pacific Northwest. It is among the highest
in the United States. I think when the President does this,
what he has in mind are the workers, the people that he met at the John
Deere factory, for example, earlier this week in Iowa. Those
are the people that the President is concerned about. They work for
American corporations and the President believes when those
corporations do well, their workers do well; when those workers do
well, their corporations do well.
And that's why it is not uncommon for leaders of the United States,
no matter what party they are, to help make certain that if contracts
are to be awarded overseas, they are given to
Americans. There is a lot of
competition. Europeans try to get into the
competition. Others do. And, of course, the
President is going to advocate that the best quality products are
American.
Q Let me just follow up
quickly. Do you have any other examples of that kind of
intervention by the President or the Vice President? And can
you assure people that Vice President Cheney's intervention on behalf
of Enron had nothing to do with the political contributions that the
company gave to the campaign?
MR. FLEISCHER: I can assure you that,
obviously. If that was the case, why did Ron Brown, Mickey
Kantor and Bill Daley do the same thing? I don't think you
could say that they were influenced by the contributions that were
given to the Bush campaign. It was done because they thought
it was in America's national interests to do it.
Q If contact with Indian officials involved
Enron, why not reveal it before now?
MR. FLEISCHER: Reveal it before now?
Q Well, I mean, specifically Cheney's
discussion with Indian officials.
MR. FLEISCHER: I am not sure I see what the question is
here.
Q Well, I mean, why are we only learning
about this in the last couple of days in more detail? It
seems to be sort of dribbling out, as opposed to --
MR. FLEISCHER: I am not sure there was any
revelation. This is something that Commerce Secretary Evans
himself said on NBC's Meet the Press last Sunday. He talked
about when he called -- when he spoke to Ken Lay, it was about the
Indian power project.
Q Right, but not that the Vice President had
spoken --
MR. FLEISCHER: Right, but this is the ongoing business
of the government. As I indicated, it is what was done in
the case of Clinton administration officials, and it was done by the
President in the case that Terry just mentioned, for
Boeing. I'm not sure what you're asking for.
Q We've been asking you about this contact
with Enron officials, contacts the administration has had involving
Enron for weeks now.
MR. FLEISCHER: This wasn't contacts with Enron
officials.
Q Well, I know, but it involves
Enron. So that's why important just curious why it wouldn't
--
MR. FLEISCHER: Okay, so now we're off of contact with
Enron officials and contact with anything involving anything that Enron
was involved in. That's my point. You're asking for us to
-- I'm not sure how to comply with your request in that sense.
And I also have the week ahead, if people want to get to the week
--
Q Ari, one quick question?
MR. FLEISCHER: One quick question, then let's do the
week ahead.
Q Mr. C. Daley, thankfully no relation, has
said that you are "like a rock star," and would like to have you on his
new show, Last Call. I don't know what the ratings are going
to be, but do you agree with that assessment? (Laughter.)
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm afraid, with that judgment, his show,
which I hope will be a popular show, is going to have very low
ratings. I hope he has better guests than me.
Let me do the week ahead and get myself out of this
topic. For the week leading up to the State of the Union on
January 29th, the President will continue to focus on creating jobs for
Americans and on homeland security. The President will
highlight the fact that economic security for America begins with
economic security for each of our families, and the President believes
the single most important way to protect the economy is to prevent
another terrorist attack on this country.
On Monday, the President and Mrs. Bush will join in a celebration
honoring Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King in the East
Room. The President will sign a proclamation observing
Monday, January 21, 2002, as a national holiday. Also on
Monday, Mrs. Bush will travel to Atlanta, Georgia, to make remarks at
an annual commemorative service honoring Dr. King.
Tuesday --
Q Ari, can I go back? What civil
rights leaders are going to be here?
MR. FLEISCHER: We will have all the lists out.
On Tuesday, the President will travel to Charleston, West Virginia,
to tour a factory and to talk about ways to create more jobs for
Americans.
On Wednesday, the President will meet with bipartisan leaders from
the House and the Senate in the Oval Office. And that
afternoon, the President will make remarks on the war effort to the
Reserve Officers Association here in Washington, D.C.
As part of the President's ongoing discussion that week of homeland
security, the President will meet with U.S. mayors and county officials
to discuss ways to keep the homeland secure.
On Thursday afternoon, the President will have a Cabinet meeting.
And, finally, on Friday, the President will travel to the
Northeast, where he will talk about homeland security. We
will be announcing the exact location, of course, closer to the 48
hours as we standardly do.
Q Northeast?
MR. FLEISCHER: Northeast. Thank you.
Q What about Senator Schumer's contribution,
Ari.
Q What did you just say, Northeast, Ari?
MR. FLEISCHER: Northeast, on homeland security.
Q I can't hear. All these people
screaming.
MR. FLEISCHER: They're always screaming,
April. (Laughter.)
Thank you very much, all you screamers. Have a good
weekend.
Q What about Senator Schumer's
contribution?
MR. FLEISCHER: Les, you're the lead screamer.
END 1:30
P.M. EST
#131-01/18
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