For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 2, 2004
Press Gaggle with Scott McClellan
Marshall Community and Technical College
Huntington, West Virginia
12:20 P.M. EST
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm ready. A couple of quick updates on the
schedule. The President this morning called the President of
Uzbekistan to express our condolences on the recent terrorist attacks.
The President reaffirmed our commitment to continue working closely
with Uzbekistan in the -- to win the war on terrorism.
And I do want to bring a couple of things to your attention. I
said that I would keep you posted on discussions that we have with
friends in OPEC and others around the world on the whole -- on the
whole oil price issue. Last night, Prince Bandar met with Dr. Rice,
and he went to the stakeout last night. And he -- if you don't have
the comments, he -- these are direct quotes from Prince Bandar.
He said, "We will not allow any shortages in the market." He said,
"Saudi Arabia's policy is consistent." And he went on to say that,
"The President and the Crown Prince have been in touch on this subject
for a while now. Both leaders feel strongly that higher energy prices
have a negative impact on the world economy." So we appreciate that
commitment.
The Kuwait Foreign Minister, again today, met with some State
Department officials and made some similar comments. We remain
actively engaged with our friends in OPEC and other producers around
the world to address these issues. And I just wanted to bring that to
your attention.
With that, I'll be glad to take whatever questions you have.
Q Are Uzbekistan's problems local, or are those of concern to
the global fight on terror?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we work closely with them in the global war
on terrorism, and we will continue to do so. And I think that if you
can -- specific questions about recent attacks, that would probably be
best addressed to Uzbekistan about who is responsible.
Q -- (inaudible) --
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, look, this President remains focused on
making sure that we are doing everything we can to create as robust an
environment as possible for job creation. That's what he will continue
to do. Today's numbers are a powerful confirmation that our economy is
growing stronger. The tax relief that we passed is working.
However, we are in a changing economy. There are a number of
high-growth sectors in our economy. And as the President talked about
today, we need to make sure that our workers have the skills to fill
these high-paying, high-skilled jobs. And that's what the President
will continue working to do. There is more that we can do to create an
even more robust environment for job creation.
Q Did the President get a heads-up on the numbers last night?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think he -- I think the standard process is that
he is informed through a memo right before the numbers are made
public.*
Q But the White House has access on the night before. The CEA
-- but you don't know --
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, there's a standard process in place where --
and everybody that's involved in that understands the importance of
respecting the confidentiality of those numbers until they are
released.
Q Scott, what about this issue of the Clinton documents which
have been withheld from the 9/11 Commission?
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, I'm glad you brought that up. A couple of
things. One, we have been fully responsive to the commission's
request, and any allegation to the contrary is simply ridiculous. The
commission wanted the White House to be the facilitator in this
process. It was mutually agreed to -- it was a mutually agreed to
process between the White House, the Archives, and the commission. And
we follow the same standard for our administration as we do for
documents from the previous administration. And if the commission now
wants to go back and verify that some documents are duplicative or
non-responsive to their request, then we are more than happy to work
with the commission so that they can do so.
Q Are you going to release additional documents?
Q Scott, that's a key question. Are you releasing additional
documents?
MR. McCLELLAN: I said, we'll work with the commission to make sure
that they are able to verify that those documents are non-responsive to
their request, or that -- or that they're duplicative. We're more than
happy to do that, if they now want to verify -- verify that. But we --
we have been fully responsive to their request. And we will continue
to do so. We have worked to make sure they have all the information
they need to do their job.
And I'm sorry, but we've got to go. The President's leaving.
END 12:26 P.M. EST
* the night before the numbers are made public.
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