Text 271, 655 rader
Skriven 2005-01-06 23:33:18 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0501066) for Thu, 2005 Jan 6
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Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 6, 2005

Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

Press Briefing
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  þ Ohio election results
      þ Reference B
  þ Tax reform
  þ Social Security Reform
      þ Reference B
      þ Reference C
  þ Tsunami response
  þ Chirac
  þ North Korea
  þ Canadian drugs
  þ Medical Malpractice
  þ Washington state election

12:44 P.M. EST

MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everybody. The President had a good
discussion earlier today with Republican congressional leaders on some of
our big priorities for the upcoming year. A number of priorities were
discussed at this meeting in the Cabinet Room, including tax reform,
lawsuit reform, the budget, and Social Security.

This afternoon, the President looks forward to meeting with a bipartisan
group of congressional leaders to talk about the importance of acting as
soon as possible on class action reform, and helping to stop lawsuit abuse
in this country.

Then, following that meeting, the President and Mrs. Bush and Barney look
forward to welcoming Miss Beazley to the White House. And you all will be
there for coverage of that at 2:15 p.m.

Q Is this a state arrival? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: With that, I will be glad to go to questions.

Q Scott, I know we talked about this earlier, but can you give us your
reaction to the move by Democrats to challenge the result in Ohio?

MR. McCLELLAN: Sure, and we did discuss it earlier. I think the American
people spoke very clearly on election day. And the election is behind us.
The American people now expect their leaders in Washington to focus on the
big priorities facing this country, and to act on those priorities. It is
time to move forward, and not engage in conspiracy theories or partisan
politics of this nature.

Q Follow-up, Scott, on that?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, let me go over here to -- go over here.

Q Scott, on tax reform, you're talking about it now. Does that mean that
you actually intend to do something this year? Because experts are telling
me you have a better chance of getting tax reform during an election year,
because it's so popular.

MR. McCLELLAN: The President wants to move on tax reform now. And the first
step to moving on reforming our tax code and making it simpler and fairer
and making it a code that encourages economic growth and job creation is to
put a bipartisan advisory panel in place. The President will be ready to
move on that very soon.

And that bipartisan advisory panel is going to look at a number of ideas
for meeting the President's principles when it comes to reforming our tax
code, the ones that I just mentioned. And he'll look forward to seeing what
they report back to the Secretary of Treasury, and the Secretary of
Treasury will be making some recommendations to the President. We're
already talking about this issue with members of Congress and the
legislative timetable. And we'll continue to do that. The President
believes this is a very important priority in this coming Congress.

Q Scott, there have been a couple stories suggesting that the White House
was going to move slowly on tax reform and even on Social Security reform.
What did the President tell Republican lawmakers today?

MR. McCLELLAN: We're going to move in partnership with members of Congress
to get these priorities done. These are high priorities for the President.
I'm not going to get into talking about legislative timetables. That's for
members of Congress to talk about. They're the ones who ultimately set the
timetable for the consideration of legislation. But you've heard the
President make it very clear that we need to act now to strengthen Social
Security and help our younger workers realize a greater rate of return on
their benefits. And we need to act now to reform our tax code and make it
simpler and fairer. It's an outdated, complicated mess -- as the President
has talked about. And so those are matters that we're discussing with
congressional leaders of both parties.

Q Now -- I understand you don't have your tax reform commission yet, or the
results of their work, but the Social Security Advisory Commission's work
was three years ago. You've had that in hand for quite a while, how does
the President plan to proceed on this? How quickly, what does he plan to do
to put this issue before --

MR. McCLELLAN: The President is already proceeding on this issue. He had a
meeting a few weeks ago with bipartisan leaders in Congress to talk about
the crisis that we're in when it comes to Social Security. He had a very
good discussion earlier today with members of his own party on that issue,
as well. Social Security is in a crisis situation. We need to work now to
strengthen it and fix it for future generations. We want our children and
grandchildren to be able to realize the benefits of their own retirement
savings. And we want them to have the best possible system and realize the
greatest possible return on their retirement savings and have some
ownership in the system, as well. Those are important principles that the
President outlined.

We have a unique opportunity to seize this year. The American people just
spoke in an election, and they made it very clear the priorities that they
support. The Social Security -- strengthening Social Security was a central
part of the President's campaign; reforming the tax code was a central part
of the President's campaign. And now it's time for members of Congress to
move forward on these priorities, and we're going to work very closely with
them as we do and in a bipartisan way. That's what the President wants to
do.

Q You often talk about not negotiating with yourself on specific other
things that could be done with Social Security, aside from personal
accounts. Do you recognize, as the White House memo suggests, that there
have to be other things aside from personal accounts to fix Social
Security? And how will you proceed on that? Democrats on the whole who have
dealt with, also say, no one wants to take a position on any particular
thing because, as the late Congressman Matsui said recently, someone will
hang it around your neck. But what do you do to sit down with members of
Congress and get them to look at and agree on this?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President believes this is one of the biggest priorities
and biggest challenges facing the American people. And he is committed to
doing -- solving this problem in a bipartisan way. We are open to all ideas
and proposals that are consistent with the President's principles. We are
not closing doors, we are looking at a number of ideas for solving a very
real problem. The President has made his principles very clear that should
guide us as we move forward on reform.

And those principles are that younger workers should have the option of
setting aside some of their retirement savings in personal retirement
accounts. We should not be increasing payroll taxes. And the President
believes it's important that those at or near retirement see no changes.
And the President wants to move forward in a bipartisan way on this
important priority. And that's why we're reaching out to members on both
sides of the aisle who recognize that we have a very real problem facing us
and that now is the time to seize -- to solve that problem.

Q Can I just follow on that? There have been reports that the President is
not going to come out with his own plan until the end of February. Is that
correct, that it's going to take that long?

MR. McCLELLAN: I would say that there haven't been any decisions about a
specific proposal at this point. I just said that we're in the process of
discussing a number of ideas with members of Congress. We're listening to
ideas that they have, and we're open to all ideas and proposals that are
consistent with the President's principles. We don't want to close doors at
this point; we want to discuss ways we can solve this problem together. But
the first thing we have to do is come to a common understanding of the
situation that we are in and the problem facing Social Security, and that's
what the President is talking about right now. He's talking to the American
people about it, he's talking with members of Congress about it. He had a
good discussion about some of these issues earlier today.

Q But is it true that you're not going to make these decisions until -- for
a couple months?

MR. McCLELLAN: We're going to discuss timetables with members of Congress
and move forward together, in a bipartisan way, to get this done. But there
have been no decisions made regarding specific proposals at this point.

Q Scott, can I follow up? The memo, the email memo that Jim just referenced
is from Peter Wehner -- he's the White House Director of Strategic
Initiatives -- and it's making its way around the Hill. First, this is an
authentic memo from one of the President's top aids, is it not?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes.

Q In it, he says, that, "we're," the White House, is "going to take a very
close look at changing the way benefits are calculated. If we don't address
this aspect of the current system, we'll face serious economic risk." So
it's fair to conclude the White House is going to change the way Social
Security is --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think what's important in this argument, Terry, is that we
should not be selective in how we approach it and talk about it to the
American people. There are, really, just a couple of options facing us on
Social Security, when you boil it down. We can either do nothing, and let
the current system continue as it is -- and the current system right now is
unsustainable, and workers are facing either massive tax increases or
massive benefit cuts -- or we can act now and strengthen Social Security,
and help workers have a new guaranteed benefit so that they can realize a
greater rater of return on their benefits. Because right now, under the
current system, younger workers are facing massive benefit cuts if we do
nothing.

And that memo says a lot more than just what you pointed out there.

Q It does, but one of the questions --

MR. McCLELLAN: And I think that the -- well, let me --

Q -- that we have and that a lot of Americans have is, what does it mean
when you say we're going -- we need to act now. And here's one of the
President's top aides saying, it means we're going to change the way
benefits are done.

MR. McCLELLAN: The -- let me tell you what it means. That memo -- or that
email is referring to the serious nature of Social Security and the crisis
situation that we're in. It talks about how right now we have an unfunded
liability of more than $10 trillion under the current system, and that's
why we need to act to solve this problem. But the President is open to all
ideas and proposals that are consistent with his principles at this point.
He has not made any decisions.

And the Social Security Commission that was appointed by the President, and
was bipartisan, led by the late Senator Patrick Moynihan, looked at a
number of these issues. And they talked about the importance of acting to
solve this problem now. And they talked about the benefit of allowing
younger workers to invest some of their own money into personal retirement
accounts, and how they can realize a greater rate of return on their
accounts, or on their own savings.

Remember that the Social Security Commission pointed out the great success
story with the thrift savings plan. They called it a "singular success."
That's where federal employees have been able to have a control over their
own dollars and invest those in safe investments and realize a great rate
of return on those investments. And they've seen huge increases in the
return on their investments under that -- under the Thrift Savings Plan.

Q And one more question about Mr. Wehner's memo. He says -- and this is to
conservative members of Congress -- he says, "If we succeed in reforming
Social Security, it will rank as one the most significant conservative
governing achievements ever," and he goes on to say that -- he says that
the Democratic Party is the party of the past on this issue. "For the first
time in six decades, the Social Security battle is one we can win. And in
doing so we can help transform the political landscape of the country." Is
this a political effort by the President to strengthen the Republican
Party?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, it says more than just what you pointed out, I would
just say.

Q But it also says this.

MR. McCLELLAN: But this would be an important achievement for all the
American people.

Q And for the Republicans.

MR. McCLELLAN: This is critical for our future generations, our children
and grandchildren in helping them have a significant retirement savings
when they do, ultimately, retire. I think that if you look at some of the
information that has been put out, a younger worker at age 30 right now is
facing massive benefit cuts under the current system. That's why we need to
act.

Let me just read to you one other thing to point out the situation that
we're in: "And all of you know, to a greater or lesser degree of
specificity, every one of you know that the Social Security system is not
sound for the long-term so that all of these achievements -- the economic
achievements, our increase in social coherence and cohesion, our increase
in efforts to reduce poverty among our youngest children -- all of them are
threatened by the looming fiscal crisis in Social Security. This is our
obligation to you and, frankly, to ourselves. And let me explain that. The
fiscal crisis in Social Security affects every generation. We know that the
Social Security trust fund is fine for another few decades, but if it gets
in trouble and we don't deal with it, then it not only affects the
generation of the baby boomers and whether they'll have enough to live on
when they retire, it raises the question of whether they will have enough
to live on by unfairly burdening their children, and therefore, unfairly
burdening their children's ability to raise their grandchildren."

That was February 9th, 1998 in remarks given by President Clinton. This has
been a problem that has been looming for quite some time. We know that by
2018, that the benefits being paid out are going to exceed the taxes coming
into the system. We know that more people are retiring -- living longer and
retiring, and that there are less workers to support those retirees. That's
the crisis that we face. It's very real. We should not pass it on to future
generations because it only gets worse over time. And the President is
committed to doing this in a bipartisan way and he's going to listen to
ideas from people who are committed to solving this problem now and not
passing it on to future generations.

Q Does he agree with his top aide that this is a huge political opportunity
for the Republican Party?

MR. McCLELLAN: This is a huge opportunity for the American people. That's
what the President believes.

Let me go back here. John, go ahead.

Q Okay. Two brief questions. First, I feel like this is almost a deja vu
from the morning session -- was immigration discussed at any of the
meetings between the President --

MR. McCLELLAN: No. No, it was not discussed this morning.

Q Second point, I'd just like to get this behind us -- you may have
addressed it earlier, but for days when the President was in Crawford,
there were so many reports that he didn't respond quick enough to the
tsunami and the tragedy of the victims there. It seemed to me as though I
heard the report, and in a very short time on the same day he was
expressing the feelings of he and the First Lady. Has anyone put out an
exact timetable of when he made his statement and when the report came?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that that's all well documented. The United States
government was acting immediately in the aftermath of this grave human
tragedy. The United States went into action mode on a number of fronts. We
started forming a core group of nations to immediately begin moving
supplies into the region and distributing relief and aid to those who were
suffering in the immediate aftermath. And that core group now is going to
be merged into the United Nations efforts. We've been coordinating closely
all along with the international community.

But the reason we were able to establish that core group in the first place
is because of the relationships that the President has built with leaders
in those countries. We were able to come together very quickly -- in a
matter of hours -- with Japan, and Australia, and India, and then I think
Canada and the Netherlands joined the core group. And that's because of the
strong relations we have built over the last few years. And those countries
were able to come together and quickly get in place a way to distribute aid
to those who were suffering and quickly help try to save lives in the
region. So the President was acting. He didn't have to go out in front of
the cameras to talk about it. He was focused on how can we help those who
are suffering, and how can we get aid to the region as quickly as possible.
And we are doing it on a number of fronts. And you've since heard from him
on many other areas.

Q Scott?

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead.

Q Back on the memo, as well as some other questions that have been raised,
some people are saying that memo, in effect, somewhat uses scare tactics to
get the American public to be convinced that it's more of a crisis state
than really what it is. And is that -- what do you say about -- what does
this administration say about that and how you're trying to convince the
American public --

MR. McCLELLAN: I dismiss it. It's talking about the serious nation of the
problem if you look at it.

Q Scott --

Q But, but wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. But using things --
using key words like you're going to "go up against the iceberg" and things
like that? I mean --

MR. McCLELLAN: Social Security is in a crisis, April. I just talked about
the reason why it is. And when you're talking about more than $10 trillion
being needed to fix the system, I would say that that is a very serious
problem.

Q And then the second question real quick, going back to Ohio, going back
to Mark's question, you talked about conspiracy theories; people need to
let go of conspiracy theories. Well, does the administration understand
that the voting system still in America has problems, and that is some of
the reason why there are people who consider conspiracy theories? What do
you say to the fact that people are considering issues that the elections
process is flawed? You have machines that are flawed, that you don't have a
paper trail. What do you say about that?

MR. McCLELLAN: How many times were the votes counted in Ohio?

Q Excuse me?

MR. McCLELLAN: How many times were the votes counted in Ohio?

Q But that leads to the fact that --

MR. McCLELLAN: How many times were the votes counted in Ohio?

Q That leads to the fact there was a problem. What do you say about that?

MR. McCLELLAN: That the decision in the election was very clear. It was a
decisive win, and the American people want us to get about doing their
business. That's what I say.

Go ahead.

Q But when can we get the elections process right for --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm going to move on. Go ahead.

Q -- for us not to have to keep recounting like Ohio?

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead.

Q Scott, Chirac said today he's going to come to Washington this year to
meet with Bush and try to repair the relationship. What needs to be done?
What does he need to say to repair that relationship?

MR. McCLELLAN: First of all, we are working with the French government on a
time for President Chirac to come to Washington and meet with the
President. The President made it very clear at the outset of the
post-election period that he was going to be doing more to reach out to our
European friends and allies so that we can work together to solve common
problems that we face. There's some big challenges we have abroad -- not
only at home, but abroad, as well. And we need to continue to move forward
on those challenges together. He talked about a number of the key areas on
the foreign policy side where he would focus in his remarks in Canada, when
he made that trip in late November. And so we're working on a timing for
that visit. The President also looks forward to seeing him in Brussels, as
well. And we'll be talking about the common challenges that we face, and
how we can work together. There are many areas where we already work
together.

Q Are there left-over bad feelings about his opposition?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think everybody is focused on how we can move forward
together.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, it's not just the Democrats who say that the White House is
overstating the crisis. I'm wondering if you could just tell us about the
meeting this morning, what sort of reaction he got, was it a receptive
reaction for the possibility of moving to price indexing, because the
Republicans are split on this issue as well?

MR. McCLELLAN: Corbett, what they talked about was the importance of having
a common understanding of the problem that we face, and the importance of
working together in a bipartisan way to solve this problem. And they talked
about the real opportunity we have this year to get it done. And I would
disagree with the way you stated your question, because there are a number
of Democrats who are committed to solving this problem because they
recognize that the longer we wait, the worse it gets, and the more of a
burden it places on our children and grandchildren, as I pointed out from
one of those Democrat's comments earlier in the briefing. And we're
reaching out to all members who recognize the problem that exists and
asking them to work with us to solve it.

Q What kind of reaction did he get --

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead, Bob.

Q -- did he get this morning as far as the possibility of switching to
price indexing?

MR. McCLELLAN: That wasn't discussed.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, what's the message to that Democrat on Capitol Hill who agrees
with you that there's a problem, but who now questions how genuine the
bipartisanship is when he reads a senior policy memo saying that the
Democratic Party is the party of the past on this?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm speaking for the President of the United States, and I
just told you what his views are. It's what he has stated publicly. He
wants to work together in a bipartisan way to solve this very real problem.
He is looking at all ideas that are consistent with the principles that he
outlined for strengthening Social Security. And we're listening to ideas
from members of Congress. That's what the President's message is.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, you have said that Social Security is in a crisis, it's in a
crisis situation, it faces a crisis, faces long-term crisis. Which is it?

MR. McCLELLAN: A number of people have said that on both sides of the
aisle. A number of leaders and statesmen have said that.

Q Well, is it an immediate problem, or are you facing a crisis in the
future, because if you're facing it in the future but it isn't one now,
then is it accurate to say that we're in a crisis?

MR. McCLELLAN: Based on what I just -- what I laid out earlier, I would
say, it is a crisis, as the President said at the -- at his end of year
news conference last year. When you talk about the facts, I think that says
clearly, it is in a crisis. Look at the demographic facts: more people are
living longer, more people are retiring, there are less workers to support
those retirees, more retirees taking money out, and there are not enough
workers to support those retirees. We have an unfunded obligation under
current law of more than $10 trillion. The President made it very clear
that he's committed to address not only short-term deficits, but long-term
deficits, and that means the unfunded liabilities that we face.

And if you go back and look at the Social Security Commission Report, it
talked about how, beginning in 2018 -- that is not very far off -- the
government will begin to pay out more in Social Security benefits than it
collects in payroll taxes, and then shortfalls will continue to grow larger
with each passing year until 2042, when the system is projected to become
insolvent. That's why we need to act now.

Q Peter Wehner has been speaking for the administration when he basically
said that you cannot solve this problem with retirement savings accounts
alone and that you have to eliminate wage indexing or you will suffer
economic --

MR. McCLELLAN: What we've said is the personal retirement accounts are part
of a comprehensive solution for strengthening Social Security for younger
workers. As you are well aware, there are a number of proposals that are
out there from the bipartisan Social Security Commission to members of
Congress. They all have a number of different ideas for how we go about
strengthening the Social Security and fixing this unfunded liability. And
we're open to talking about all those ideas that are consistent with the
President's principles. And we're looking at a number of ideas.

Q But are investment accounts --

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm going to keep moving because we need to go -- well, the
President has got a meeting coming up here that I need to get to, as well.

Q Are investment accounts and the wage indexing mutually exclusive?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?

Q Can you do one without the other and not adversely affect the economy?

MR. McCLELLAN: There are a number of idea for funding and fixing this
unfunded liability.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, after the President's inauguration, if North Korea eventually does
not come to the six-party talks, is the United States government prepared
to bring the matter to the U.N. Security Council?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, right now we're focused on working through the
multinational effort in the six-party talks. The President wants to see a
peaceful, diplomatic resolution to the situation in North Korea. North
Korea needs to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons and then it can realize
-- or then it can become a part of -- or realize better relations with the
rest of the international community. The President's views are very clear
on this. We're continuing to work with all nations in the region who are
sending one, unified message to North Korea: We want a non-nuclear
Peninsula, and you need to abandon your ambitions for nuclear weapons.
That's the message that's being sent to North Korea. It's in North Korea's
interest to come back to the six-party talks as soon as possible. The
President outlined a proposal -- or we put forward a proposal at the last
round of talks for moving forward. It offered some practical steps for
resolving this important problem.

Q Could I ask you a question about Canadian drugs?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, go ahead.

Q There's an allegation from some Canadian groups that the President and
Mr. Martin talked about prescription drugs and that as a result of those
discussions, the Canadians are now restricting or curtailing the
re-importation of drugs, or the re-exportation of drugs to the United
States.

MR. McCLELLAN: Any such assertion is just nonsense. They did talk about the
importation of drugs. And I think the President's views are very clear and
very well-known when it comes to drug importation. The President's top
priority is the safety of the American people. He's also committed to
reducing the high cost of prescription drugs. That's why we've acted on a
number of fronts to do so. We worked to pass a prescription drug benefit
for our seniors under the Medicare program. We have worked to speed the
approval of generic drugs, and we have also urged Congress to move forward
on medical liability reform. So those are practical ways we can act now to
reduce drug costs. And the President remains committed to that.

We also had a HHS task force, just came back with a report looking at the
issue of the importation of drugs, and they reported on some findings and
we're willing to move forward with members of Congress on the findings of
that task force. But the President's views are very well-known when it
comes to the importation of drugs. We want to make sure that those drugs
meet the same high safety standards as drugs approved in America have to
meet.

Q Did he press the Canadians to change the way they deal with sending drugs
to the United States?

MR. McCLELLAN: Absolutely not. Any such assertion is nonsense.

Q Scott?

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead, Helen.

Q On the question of malpractice, does the President think there is any
price tag you can put on the loss of a limb, through bad surgery, your
eyes, or anything else? Is there any money -- why is it that he has never,
never accused the HMOs and the insurance companies of jacking up the price?

MR. McCLELLAN: People who have been harmed should have their day in court.
That's what the President believes and that's one of the first --

Q He believes they can arrive at any price?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's one of the first priorities of his plan to reform our
medical liability laws. There is a very real problem in this country when
it comes to our medical liability laws. As you heard the President talk
about yesterday, there are doctors being forced to shut down their
practice, there are being doctors forced to leave one state to go to
another state before they -- because they can't afford to keep their
practice open. And what you're seeing is that pregnant mothers, like the
one the President met with yesterday, are having to switch doctors
constantly. She went through -- she's on her third doctor now, a pregnant
mother who is soon going to deliver another baby.

Q Well, why do you put a cap on any kind of settlement?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President believes that there ought to be reasonable
caps on non-economic damages and punitive damages, but the people who are
truly harmed and wronged ought to have their day in court and ought to have
fair compensation for that.

Q Any amount?

MR. McCLELLAN: Go ahead, Sarah.

Q Thank you. Florida legislators are introducing a bill designed to prevent
the Navy from laying up the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, which is home
port in Florida. As Commander-in-Chief, how does the President feel about
the Pentagon's plan to retire and would the President keep the carrier
active as a favor to his brother, Jeb?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not sure the latest status on that. I think that's a
question probably best directed to the Department of Defense, but I'll look
into it.

Go ahead, Geoff.

Q Thank you. While the Democrats are challenging the Ohio results on
Capitol Hill, Democrats in Washington state have disqualified any number of
military votes in order to win that gubernatorial election there.
Considering that American soldiers are in Iraq fighting to give those
people there the right to vote, the right to free and fair elections, don't
you think we owe it to them to make sure their votes are counted back home?

MR. McCLELLAN: Every eligible vote ought to be counted. We've made that
very clear in the past.

Q This -- nobody is taking up for these men and women --

MR. McCLELLAN: And certainly our men and women in uniform ought to have the
opportunity to participate in our democratic system, as well, and have
their vote counted, just like everybody else.

Q Will the Commander-in-Chief speak out so that these votes will be
counted?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think our views are very well-known, and that's an issue
that continues with -- between the Republican Party and Democratic Party in
the state.

Q Thank you.

MR. McCLELLAN: Thank you.

END 1:14 P.M. EST
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