Text 1627, 275 rader
Skriven 2005-10-28 23:33:08 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0510282) for Fri, 2005 Oct 28
====================================================
===========================================================================
Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
October 28, 2005

Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Norfolk, Virginia




9:16 A.M. EDT

MR. McCLELLAN: All right, good morning, everybody. Let me go through the
President's day real quick, and I have one additional announcement to make.
And then I'll be glad to take your questions.

The President taped his radio address this morning. Then he participated in
his usual intelligence briefing. We are going to Norfolk now, where the
President will be speaking to military personnel and families. This is
another in the series of speeches that the President has been making on the
war on terrorism and builds on what we've been saying recently about the
stakes involved in the war on terrorism, and the nature of the enemy that
we're up against.

Then, following that, we will return back to Washington. And this afternoon
the President has a meeting scheduled with the Secretary of Defense. Then
he'll make remarks in the East Room at the 40th anniversary of the
President's Commission on White House Fellowships. And then he's scheduled
to depart for Camp David around 3:50 p.m. this afternoon.

The announcement that I have is that this afternoon we are going to be
sending a savings package of spending rescissions and a reallocation of
existing funds to Congress. We will do a conference call probably sometime
after 3:00 p.m. today -- we'll get you the exact time on that later today
-- with our OMB officials to talk about this package that we'll be sending
up. But again, this is a savings package that will include a reallocation
of existing funds, funds that have already been appropriated to begin the
recovery and rebuilding in the Gulf Coast region. And then it will also
include a spending -- a package of spending rescissions, as well.

It will have zero impact on the deficit. The funds -- and the reallocation
will be limited to activities that are in need of funding until -- by May.
So it's going to be essentially shifting funds the Congress has already
passed for FEMA's disaster relief fund. And the rescission will be in
addition to the reallocation.

We do expect to seek additional funding for the recovery and rebuilding
efforts in the Gulf Coast region next year, but we think this will address
what is needed for that time period I just mentioned, from now until -- or
the upcoming weeks until May.

And then I'll do the week ahead at the end if you remind me.

Q -- dollar sign on the rescissions?

MR. McCLELLAN: We will -- that's what the conference call will be about
later today.

Q Exactly how much money?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, about what we're talking about.

Q So you're reprogramming funds from the disaster relief fund --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- reallocating or shifting funds from what's already been
appropriated for the disaster relief fund. And then there will be spending
rescissions on top of that.

Q Okay, and taking those together, a net impact of zero on the deficit?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's correct.

Q So what's the word on Mr. Rove? Is he spared an indictment today?

MR. McCLELLAN: One, there -- I know there's a lot of speculation that's
been going on; two, it still remains an ongoing investigation at this
point, so I don't really have anything else to add to it at this time. If
the special prosecutor has any announcements to make, then I think you can
expect that we'll have more to say after that. But I don't have anything to
add to what we've previously said about it.

Q Will the President be prepared to talk once Mr. Fitzgerald has made his
announcements?

MR. McCLELLAN: Let's see what the special prosecutor has to say, if he has
something to say later today.

Q Were Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby in senior staff this morning?

MR. McCLELLAN: They were both at the White House this morning and
participating in meetings.

Q But specifically in senior staff?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think Karl left his house a little bit later than
normal, so he was in a little bit later. And Scooter did come to senior
staff.

Q Has Karl informed anybody at the White House that he's been informed that
he is not to be indicted today, as his lawyer is telling others?

MR. McCLELLAN: All I know, Geoff, is that there's a lot of speculation and
I don't have anything to add beyond that.

Q Karl, we understand, met late last night with the President. Was that --
can you tell us if that was about the pending indictments, or was this on a
regular business matter?

MR. McCLELLAN: I saw that report and I'm not sure what they were referring
to. If you have more information I'll be glad to check into it.

Q Is that typical that Karl talks with the President outside of normal
business hours?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes. He's Deputy Chief of Staff to the President. We don't
have normal business hours at the White House. But again, I don't know what
the Associated Press is referring to, that Geoff was bringing up. If you
find out more, let me know and I'll check into it. Obviously, there are a
lot of meetings that go on, on a lot of important priorities that we're
focused on, and so --

Q On the rescissions, do you have any kind of ballpark number on how much
it is?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, not yet. We'll have that later today.

Q Not like within tens of billions --

MR. McCLELLAN: They're finalizing up the package and putting it all
together. I'm not going to get out in front of the announcement until we're
ready to do so. And plus, there are congressional consultations that we
have, as well, so I want to make sure that those have the opportunity to
proceed forward.

Q Is there an expectation that people would tender their resignations if
there were indictments?

MR. McCLELLAN: If there are, you can ask me those questions after that.

Q On Harriet Miers, are we expecting an announcement today in terms of her
replacement?

MR. McCLELLAN: Thank you for bringing that up. I do not expect any
announcement today. The President is moving forward, and as he indicated,
he will name a nominee in a timely manner. But I do not expect any
announcement today.

Q What about over the weekend?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't expect any announcement today. I'm not going to go
beyond that.

Q It's been suggested that he wants to move in more than a timely manner,
it would seem, that he wants to move very quickly on this. Do you expect us
to have something, if not this weekend, then early next week?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm just not going to speculate about the timing, but he is
moving forward on making an announcement soon, and when he's ready to do so
you will hear from him.

Q Did he meet with anybody --

Q Has he already talked to potential nominees?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not speculating about any announcements. Anything else?

Q Scott, on the reprogramming and the rescissions, when news of this
surfaced from the Hill around midweek, some members of the Louisiana
delegation are concerned that the President may not make good on promises
for the amount of aid that he suggested would be available to them for the
hurricane, and that he's kicking the can down the road by not allocating
new funds for this at this time. So I was wondering if you could respond to
that.

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, a couple things. One, I think the President made it
very clear that we're going to do our part to help the people in the Gulf
Coast rebuild and -- rebuild their communities and rebuild their lives. The
initial funding that we provided of some nearly $63 billion that we thought
would be needed for the -- some of the immediate needs, it has turned out
that some of that funding hasn't been needed. And so that's why we're going
to be able to shift some of those funds to needs that will be coming up in
the coming weeks and months. But we -- as I indicated, we expect to come
back next year and seek additional resources to address ongoing needs. This
is, as the President indicated, going to be one of the largest
reconstruction efforts ever. The private sector -- it's important to help
the private sector get back up on its feet, too, and that means getting
people back in their communities and working, and that will help address
needs, as well. So we have to take all that into account.

And what we want to make sure that we are doing is acting in a fiscally
responsible way while meeting the needs of the people in the region. And
you can do both.

Q Any consideration of expanding to include Wilma now?

MR. McCLELLAN: Sorry -- funding?

Q Yes.

MR. McCLELLAN: On this request? Well, check later today, but I'm not --
we've already issued the disaster declarations for Florida to address some
of their needs. And obviously, we'll look at what's needed there, as well.

Q One more thing on Karl. If he were to escape an indictment today, but be
told he is still in legal jeopardy, still under investigation, could he
continue on in his capacity in that mode?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not going to get into what-ifs at this point. If, as is
reported in the media, the special prosecutor has more to say today, then
we'll be ready to talk after that.

Q I want to go back for a minute on the spending rescissions, you called
them, and then the reprogramming of existing funds within the disaster
relief funds -- that's an accurate way to portray it?

MR. McCLELLAN: The spending rescissions are in addition to the reallocation
of funds that will go to meet needs in the Gulf Coast region needs. Through
-- or up until this May, essentially is what we're thinking that this will
address. But you'll have more on the conference call later today to explain
that and answer some of the questions.

All right, let me do the week ahead. Monday, the President will be meeting
with Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy at the White House, as you all are
aware.

On Tuesday, the President is going to be making remarks on our national
strategy for pandemic and influenza preparedness and response. As you know,
we've been moving forward on our preparedness plan and the President is
going to be talking more about that in remarks on Tuesday in Washington.

On Wednesday, the President and Mrs. Bush look forward to welcoming the
Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to the White House, where they
will participate in the arrival greeting, and then a dinner.

And then Thursday through Monday we will be traveling to South America, and
I expect we'll do a trip briefing before we all depart for South America.

I might have an additional announcement to make for you in a minute.

Q What about the speech today? Any more you can give us in terms of an
advance on the speech that he's about to make?

MR. McCLELLAN: What I just told you in the beginning, and that's the
general outlines. I think it will be similar to -- he wants to continue to
reiterate what he has been in the speeches, to talk to the American people
about the stakes involved and the nature of the enemy that we're up
against, and the progress that we're making in Iraq, as well.

Q And he'll probably talk to families, right?

MR. McCLELLAN: The other additional announcement is that the President will
be attending the memorial service for Rosa Parks on Monday in Washington.

All right, thanks.

Q One more thing. Has the special prosecutor communicated at all to the
President in the last couple days, as he's wrapping up his investigation?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, if there's more to say, I'm sure the special
prosecutor will do so at the appropriate time. I don't have anything else
to add to what I've already said.

All right, thanks.

END 9:25 A.M. EDT

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051028-2.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)