For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 24, 2001
Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer
Aboard Air Force One En Route Andrews Air Force Base
12:58 P.M. EDT
MR. FLEISCHER: I'm at your
disposal.
Q Is the President
going to meet with Tom Daschle?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President's
focus now is getting the tax relief bill conferenced and sent to him so
he can sign it into law. That's his immediate focus, that's
his top priority and that's what he's going to continue to work
on. As you heard Senator Jeffords say, he will remain a
Republican and will remain in the party until that is
done. So until that step is done, the tax bill is sent,
there will be no change in the make-up of the Senate. So I'm
certain that at some point the President will, but the President's
focus today is on getting the tax bill done.
Q But in the interest
of bipartisanship, he is not meeting with Senator Daschle quickly?
MR. FLEISCHER: Again, the
President's focus is on getting the tax bill signed into
law. And Senator Jeffords remains a Republican, the make-up
of the Senate has not yet changed. So the focus is going to
continue to be on getting the tax cut signed into law.
Q Did the President --
when did the President last talk to Senator Jeffords?
MR. FLEISCHER: Tuesday, in the Oval
Office meeting.
Q And in that meeting,
did he -- and did the White House make any further efforts, then -- not
the President, but other people -- yesterday to dissuade him?
MR. FLEISCHER: The White House
reached out to people who are close to Senator Jeffords. But
I think it was clear the Senator's mind had already been made up.
Q Is there a lot of
recrimination going on now within the White House, about the fact that
Senator Jeffords left?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think people have
recognized for a long time that Senator Jeffords is independent
thinking, he's a maverick and he makes up his mind and he
acts. And he has done so.
Q Is the President
angry?
MR. FLEISCHER: No, I wouldn't say
that. I think the President disagrees. The
President disagrees with him on matter of policy; and the President is
going to continue to proudly present his agenda to the American people
to get things done.
Q What do you mean, he
disagrees? I didn't understand the President's comment, or
your comment that the President disagrees. He disagrees with
the Senator about what?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President
disagrees with Senator Jeffords' assessment that the agenda that has
been presented to the Congress is not a bipartisan agenda, an agenda
that suggests there is no room for centrists, for independent
thinkers.
Obviously, the vote in the House yesterday
says the President's agenda on education is a bipartisan one that makes
plenty of room for independents and centrists. The
President's tax cut is an agenda that appeals to all, except the far
left. There are going to be people who are going to be part
of a minority who will not agree with a bipartisan majority that the
President has formed. That's what the --
Q So, Ari, now that the
shift in power has happened in the Senate, how do you guys beyond that
new obstacle, in terms of judiciary appointments, bringing them to the
floor? I mean, what's the strategy now? I mean, the
dynamics have shifted significantly.
MR. FLEISCHER: The strategy will be
to -- the President believes that the best way to achieve bipartisan
agreements and to work well with the Democratic Party is through the
power of good ideas. Good ideas attract bipartisan support,
which is why almost 25 percent of the Democrats defected from their
party leadership to support the President's tax cut
proposal. That's why the President has attracted so much
support to his education plans. And that's a pattern that
the President sees continuing.
Q Ari, is there
anything in the wake of this that you all in the White House think you
need to do or think about any differently, in terms of your relations
with Congress and with the Senate, in particular?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think the
President is very proud of the fact that the plans he has submitted to
Congress, his two top priorities, have attracted so much bipartisan
support. That says a lot about how the President is
governing and leading this country. That says a lot about
how he's going to continue to govern and lead this country.
He's respectful of the senators who disagree,
of congressmen who disagree. And he understands that there
may be a unique circumstance, in the case of Senator Jeffords, that
made him follow through on his long-standing maverick and independent
streak.
Q In the course of all
of this Jeffords story, we've seen some comments, particularly from
Lincoln Chafee, about what it feels like in the Senate to be -- to hold
the kinds of positions that Jeffords did or that he does. Is
the White House doing anything to make sure that the Lincoln Chafees,
Olympia Snowes, Susan Collins of the world feel like they're a part of
what the White House is doing and where the Republican Party is going?
MR.
FLEISCHER: Absolutely. And if you recall, on the
flight to Portland, Maine the President spent -- invited Senator
Collins and Senator Snowe into his private cabin to talk with them,
one-on-one, or two-on-one, about his agenda and whatever they had on
their mind.
This President has a history of reaching out
to people in his party, in the opposite party. That's how he
led in Texas, that's how he's going to continue to lead
here. I think the circumstances of Senator Jeffords were
unique. It was a part of the Senator's history and his
independence.
But the President is going to continue to work
productively with moderates like Senator Chafee and others.
Q Given what's just
happened, is there anything coming up in the next days or weeks in
which he's going to meet with, say, the main senators or the --
MR. FLEISCHER: We'll advise you.
Q Does the White House,
Ari, take any -- or feel any responsibility for what transpired
here? Are you suggesting that this was sort of a God-given
thing, that this was what was going to happen and there was nothing
that could be done to avoid it?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, that's a good
question. But let's break it down, let's take a look at some
of the things that people were focused on yesterday.
The Senator could not have said it plainer
himself this morning, that it's a laughable notion that the teacher
event had anything to do with his change, even though yesterday that
seemed to be what many people wanted to allege. I think that
is now dismissed with.
Senator Jeffords has an aide who was quoted in
the Washington Post today as saying that there is nothing that
President Bush did, no action that he took that contributed to this
decision.
Senator Jeffords is an independent thinker,
has always been a maverick and he has followed through on that
tradition.
Q Ari, you're right,
when Jeffords came out today, he certainly didn't say that this was
about lapses of etiquette or things like that. But isn't it possible
that what he did say is even more damaging for the White
House? I mean, he either said, or strongly implied, that he
stands in the center of American politics and you guys stand farther to
the right.
Isn't that potentially a much more damaging
and damning thing to you guys than him saying, I wasn't invited to
Teacher of the Year?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think there is a
lot of irony in the fact that this event took place on the same day
that the Senate, in an overwhelming bipartisan show of support for
President Bush's agenda, passed the tax cut; and that the House, in an
overwhelming bipartisan vote, passed the President's education plan.
The President believes the actions and the
votes of the Senate and the House speak louder and clearer to the
American people than anything else possibly could.
Q Did the President
listen to Senator Jeffords' speech on board the plane?
MR. FLEISCHER: He heard it Tuesday,
in the Oval Office. He heard the Senator's speech Tuesday,
in the Oval Office.
Q So he didn't listen
to it on the plane?
MR. FLEISCHER: He knew what he was
going to say.
Q And, Ari, in that
Oval Office meeting, did the President ask -- what did he say to
Senator Jeffords? Did he offer -- ask him if there was
anything he did, or the White House did, that drove him
away? And we've seen that in the papers, you know, on
background. But can you confirm that the President did ask
if there was anything he could do to keep him?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President -- you
saw those background reports. I'm not going to contradict those
background reports.
Q Ari, are you
concerned about more defection? Is the White House concerned
about more defections from the Republican Party, if not actually
leaving the party, but departing with the party on key votes in the
House and Senate?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, again, the
President believes that the votes that took place in the Senate and the
House yesterday speak louder than any other events. And in
that 12 Democrats joined with President Bush in a healthy showing of
support for the President's agenda on a matter that -- it's hard to
imagine anything that counts more than a vote on the tax cut, it's one
of the centerpieces of the President's agenda. Education, a
couple hundred Democrats -- or more than a hundred Democrats voted with
the President.
Q Is he worried about
defections by moderate Republicans from the party, in votes after
Senator Jeffords becomes an independent, you know, after this tax cut
situation is over with?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President's
focus is on those Democrats who support his agenda and will work with
the President and vote for it. That's what the President is focused
on, which is a sign of where he thinks the future lies.
Q Ari, do you guys
suspect once all these procedural things click into place and Tom
Daschle, I guess, becomes the Majority Leader, do you expect that Trent
Lott will remain the Minority Leader, or that there will be a change?
MR. FLEISCHER: I have no reason to
expect any changes.
Q Do you guys feel
adequately served by Trent Lott in this whole situation?
MR. FLEISCHER: The President thinks
that Senator Lott is doing an excellent job as Majority Leader.
All right, anything else? Thank
you, enjoy your lunches.
END 1:07
P.M. EDT
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