Wednesday
May032006
White House Gaggle
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 at 3:00AM
By Ellen Ratner
President's Schedule:
The President has a very full day of public events. He had his usual round of
briefings. He met with the Secretary of Defense this morning. Later he will speak before the American Council of Engineering. This afternoon he will meet with bi-partisan members of Congress to discuss the root cause of gas prices. He will then meet with Chancellor Merkel of Germany in the Oval Office and have dinner with her and Mrs. Bush in the residence.
Other Schedule Information:
Scott and Fran Townsend will brief on the implementation plan on Bird Flu this afternoon. The State department will brief at 1:45 pm.
The President will make a two and a half day trip to Florida beginning on Monday where he will attend a "Friends of Clay Shaw" reception and on Tuesday and Wednesday he will attend Medicare events. On Tuesday in Broward County and Sun City and on Wednesday in Orlando. At least one stop will feature the Medicare enrollment bus.
The President will be traveling to Vienna on June 21 to attend the EU-US Summit.They will be discussing the Trans Atlantic Agenda which will include terrorism, Iraq reconstruction, world trade, energy, peace and democracy in Europe.
Other Issues:
Scott was asked about the CATO Institute report on executive power and said he had not seen the report. Scott will travel with the President while new press secretary Tony Snow stays at the White House. Scott's last briefing will be on Friday.
Bird Flu:
The President intends to include seven billion dollars in the emergency supplemental appropriations.
Tax Legislation and Supplemental Spending Bill:
Despite some Hill reports that the House and Senate are still not in agreement about tax legislation, Scott said that Congress is close to finishing legislation "to make sure we keep tax relief in place". Scott also said that it was important to get the supplemental legislation passed quickly for the troops and Katrina survivors. Currently, without the Bird Flu money it stands at $2.2 billion dollars.
Medicare Report from GAO:
Scott was asked about the GAO report due out today that seniors were not getting answers from the 800 number. He said he was not "going to talk about a report I haven't seen". He then said that seniors were pleased with new benefits and that they have exceeded expected enrollment numbers. In terms of the May 15th deadline he said that "our position has not changed".
Gas Prices:
He said that the purpose of today's bipartisan meeting was to listen to some of the ideas of members of Congress. Scott also said that the President is pushing ahead with the program that he has outlined. He was asked if they had really intended to buy oil for the reserve as no oil was bought this winter. He said they had to use some for Katrina but that they were originally planning to replace the oil this summer, but now they are not.
President's Schedule:
The President has a very full day of public events. He had his usual round of
briefings. He met with the Secretary of Defense this morning. Later he will speak before the American Council of Engineering. This afternoon he will meet with bi-partisan members of Congress to discuss the root cause of gas prices. He will then meet with Chancellor Merkel of Germany in the Oval Office and have dinner with her and Mrs. Bush in the residence.
Other Schedule Information:
Scott and Fran Townsend will brief on the implementation plan on Bird Flu this afternoon. The State department will brief at 1:45 pm.
The President will make a two and a half day trip to Florida beginning on Monday where he will attend a "Friends of Clay Shaw" reception and on Tuesday and Wednesday he will attend Medicare events. On Tuesday in Broward County and Sun City and on Wednesday in Orlando. At least one stop will feature the Medicare enrollment bus.
The President will be traveling to Vienna on June 21 to attend the EU-US Summit.They will be discussing the Trans Atlantic Agenda which will include terrorism, Iraq reconstruction, world trade, energy, peace and democracy in Europe.
Other Issues:
Scott was asked about the CATO Institute report on executive power and said he had not seen the report. Scott will travel with the President while new press secretary Tony Snow stays at the White House. Scott's last briefing will be on Friday.
Bird Flu:
The President intends to include seven billion dollars in the emergency supplemental appropriations.
Tax Legislation and Supplemental Spending Bill:
Despite some Hill reports that the House and Senate are still not in agreement about tax legislation, Scott said that Congress is close to finishing legislation "to make sure we keep tax relief in place". Scott also said that it was important to get the supplemental legislation passed quickly for the troops and Katrina survivors. Currently, without the Bird Flu money it stands at $2.2 billion dollars.
Medicare Report from GAO:
Scott was asked about the GAO report due out today that seniors were not getting answers from the 800 number. He said he was not "going to talk about a report I haven't seen". He then said that seniors were pleased with new benefits and that they have exceeded expected enrollment numbers. In terms of the May 15th deadline he said that "our position has not changed".
Gas Prices:
He said that the purpose of today's bipartisan meeting was to listen to some of the ideas of members of Congress. Scott also said that the President is pushing ahead with the program that he has outlined. He was asked if they had really intended to buy oil for the reserve as no oil was bought this winter. He said they had to use some for Katrina but that they were originally planning to replace the oil this summer, but now they are not.
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