White House Gaggle

By Scott McClellan
April 15, 2005
Office of the Press Secretary

Aboard Air Force One
En route Cleveland, Ohio

10:57 A.M. EDT

MR. McCLELLAN: Good morning, everybody. Let me kind of go through the
President's day to begin with. He had a meeting with the Secretary of


Defense this morning, one of his regular meetings with him. And he
received -- he also was able to receive an update on his recent trip.
And then he had his usual briefings. He had his usual briefing, and
then the President met with Prime Minister Junker of Luxembourg, and
that was an opportunity to talk about the upcoming EU -- or U.S.-EU
summit, and to also reiterate our commitment to working together with
the European Union to address common challenges and advance the --
support the advance of freedom in the world.



And following that, the President met with President Kagame of Rwanda,
and they had a good visit. The President expressed our appreciation for
President Kagame's leadership and Rwanda's participation in the African
Union's peacekeeping role in Sudan. And they also talked about some
regional issues. The President expressed our continued support for
Rwanda as it continues to strengthen its democracy and economy. And
they also discussed Rwanda's efforts to move forward on its -- move
forward from its past and heal old wounds and divisions. And the
President reiterated his commitment to Africa and our continued support
-- or our continued focus on Africa.



And, let's see, then when we arrive in Ohio, the first event will be a
coffee with some small business owners. This will be an opportunity for
the President to mark tax day. The pool -- you all will be there for
the entire time he is there, to cover it. As families and small
businesses and other Americans all across the country are filing their
tax returns, this is an opportunity to highlight the importance of tax
relief. And every American who is paying federal income taxes is
receiving tax relief because of the actions that we have taken. And the
economy is seeing strong and sustained growth because of the action that
we took, as well. And that's the purpose of that event.



Then following that, the President will participate in a roundtable
briefing on Social Security. This is a little bit different from the
conversations that he has participated in. The President will receive
a briefing from Ohio officials about their public employee retirement
programs. They really have two systems and he'll hear more about that.
And there are a number of state -- or millions of state and local
employees around the country who have opted out of the Social Security
system and are participating in alternative programs. And one thing
that I think the President -- well, the President will talk about the
importance -- I expect, talk about, emphasize the importance of
permanently fixing Social Security. But this is an opportunity also to
talk about providing younger workers with choices and giving them more
ownership.



And some of the things that he'll hear about that are going on in the
Ohio programs meet some of the same principles that he believes ought to
be part of any plan to strengthen Social Security. And one of those is
voluntary personal retirement accounts. We want to give younger workers
the option of investing a portion of their own retirement savings in
personal accounts. And this gives -- what he'll highlight here, I
suspect, is that Ohio employees have had the option of investing in
personal accounts and realizing a greater rate of return on their
retirement savings. And that's one of the -- that's why the President
feels so strongly about personal accounts, that it's a voluntary option,
and it gives younger workers the ability to realize a greater rate of
return on their retirement savings, and to build a nest egg that is
theirs to keep that the government can't touch. And so that's the
focus.



Now, we'll have a fact sheet out on that shortly, hopefully by the time
we arrive. And, let's see, we'll get you the conversation participants
and all, as well. And then after that, the President heads to Camp
David for the weekend. And I've got the week ahead whenever you all
want it.



Q Did the President and the Luxembourg Prime Minister discuss Iran?
And does the President think the EU initiatives that he backed are
having any effect?



MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, their visit was only a brief visit. I'll check and
see if it came up. I was in the later meeting, but I wasn't in that
one. It was a brief, I think, about 15-, 20-minute visit. The real
purpose of it was how I described it. I'll see if there's anything to
add to that.



But I think in terms of our views on Iran, I mean, they are well known.
And our support for the European efforts are well known, as well. So, I
don't know, do you have a specific question?



Q Do you think they're getting -- they're making any progress?



MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we continue to support the efforts of the
Europeans to make sure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon.
Those discussions continue, and we believe it's important that Iran --
that the focus needs to be on Iran, because Iran's the one who has to
make the decision to fully comply with its international obligations.
And that's where the focus is -- Iran needs to change its behavior. And
we are continuing to support those efforts.



Q Scott, how serious is this idea that the economic advisor mentioned
in this breakfast with reporters about making the retirement accounts an
add-on --



MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think -- you're talking about Al Hubbard, and by
the way, he'll be on the -- be a participant in the roundtable briefing,
as well. But I don't think he said anything really differently from
what we've said before. The President made it clear that we're not
going to get into ruling things in or out. We have put forward ideas
that ought to guide us as we move forward on strengthening Social
Security. We believe that the personal retirement accounts are an
important part of strengthening Social Security. They're an important
part of any solution, for the reasons I stated a minute ago.



And now is the time to be welcoming all those who are talking about ways
to come up with a bipartisan solution. And unfortunately, we have too
many Democratic leaders who are trying to -- who are simply saying what
they're against and ruling things out. Now is not the time to be
getting into ruling things in or out. Now is the time to be discussing
about how we can move forward in a bipartisan way to permanently fix
Social Security, and also make it a better deal for our children and
grandchildren. And that's why personal accounts are so important.



And you heard the President state very early on in this discussion that
he welcomes all ideas. We've been talking about what we're for, and
that's what we're going to continue to do. But we're also going to say
we welcome other ideas, as well. And that doesn't mean we're ruling
them in, it doesn't mean we're ruling them out. We're saying that in
order to get to a bipartisan solution, we ought to be talking about what
we're for and putting ideas on the table, not getting into ruling things
out.



And we would hope that Democratic leaders would start talking about what
they're for instead of what they're against, and not playing the game of
ruling things out. It appears they're more interested in trying to
block a bipartisan solution than they are in solving this problem.



Q Scott, on this developing fight over the filibuster rule, how does
the White House feel about making this a debate on whether people are
hostile to people of faith if they take a different stand than the
Republican leadership on this?



MR. McCLELLAN: The President believes -- I mean, in terms of --



Q Is this a faith issue?



MR. McCLELLAN: In terms of the issue that you brought up, that's a
matter for the Senate to address. We don't get involved in procedural
matters in the Congress.



The President's view is very clear. He believes that all judicial
nominees should have an up or down vote. There are some Senate
Democrats that are playing politics and trying to block some nominees
from having an up or down vote on the floor. These are nominees that
are highly qualified and that have the support of the majority of the
Senate, and Senate Democrats have taken the unprecedented step of
blocking these nominees from receiving an up or down -- from receiving
an up or down vote.



The President believes that judicial -- that nominees to the bench ought
to be people that strictly interpret the constitution, and that's the
kind of nominees that he's -- that's the kind of nominees that he's sent
forward to the United States Senate. The Senate has a responsibility, a
constitutional responsibility, to give those nominees an up or down
vote, and --



Q But is this -- is there a danger in making this a faith issue?



MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know -- I don't know what you're referring to
that we've done. The President's views --



Q Well, no, I mean --



MR. McCLELLAN: The President's views --



Q -- it's going to be made a faith issue this weekend.



MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the issue here is that Democrats are not giving
these nominees an up or down vote. They're blocking up or down votes on
the nominees. That's what the issue is here, and some want to take
attention away, try to divert attention away from that. The issue here
is that Senate Democrats need to stop playing politics and allow these
nominees to have an up or down vote.



Q Want to do the week ahead quickly?



MR. McCLELLAN: That's the President's view.



Q Week ahead?



Q Is he actually going to talk about how many states have that option
on Social Security?



MR. McCLELLAN: We can get you more information, but I think it gets
into -- it gives a general overview of that. We can get you information
on that.



Q Thanks.



MR. McCLELLAN: Let's see. On Monday, the President will go to
Columbia, South Carolina, where he'll make remarks on strengthening
Social Security. On Tuesday, the President will go to Springfield,
Illinois, where he will tour the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
and Museum, and then make remarks at the dedication of the library and
museum. And also on Tuesday, the Vice President will deliver the
keynote address at the Oklahoma City National Memorial ceremony to
commemorate the 10th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building there.



And on Wednesday, the President makes remarks to the 2005 National and
State Teachers of the Year in the Rose Garden. And then he'll make
remarks at the U.S.-Hispanic Chambers of Commerce Legislative
Conference. Those remarks will be on energy, as I mentioned. And the
President will then present the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the
United States Naval Academy football team in the East Room.



On Thursday, he'll make remarks on strengthening Social Security to the
Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America in Washington.
He'll also make remarks at the President's Environmental Youth Awards in
the East Garden.



And on Friday the 22nd, the President will participate in a service
project. As you're aware, we put out a proclamation the other day
commemorating Volunteer Week. And then he'll make remarks on Earth Day.
And both those events are in Townsend, Tennessee. Then he goes on to
the ranch in Crawford, where he'll remain for the weekend.



On Monday, as you all are aware, he'll meet with Crown Prince Abdullah
of Saudi Arabia at the ranch. And then on Tuesday, we will go to
Galveston to participate in a roundtable on strengthening Social
Security. This was the event that had been postponed because of the
Pope's funeral.



Q When is he signing the bankruptcy bill?



MR. McCLELLAN: I'll keep you posted on that -- soon. I mean, he does
intend to sign it. I'll get your more information on that once it's
final. We're working all that out with members, too.



Q Any members on board, or in attendance?



MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, Congressman --



MS. GODFREY: LaTourette. Steven LaTourette.



MR. McCLELLAN: Congressman LaTourette.



END 11:10 A.M. EDT