White House Gaggle With Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

Iraq Bombing:
Gibbs said that the administration condemns the violence and that the leaders in Iraq who have moved democracy forward and who have made elections possible are overcoming those who have caused the violence. Gibbs added that the bombers are trying to send a message that most Iraqis won’t hear because they are focused on electing leaders.


Economy/President’s Speech:
Gibbs said that the administration will continue to look at what options there are and will try to help the private sector create more jobs. Gibbs said that the administration will continue to take in ideas. Gibbs said there is no silver bullet, and that 7-8 million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession. Gibbs said the administration wants to target ideas that can move the country positively in the direction of new jobs. He said the recession is “deep in length” and it’s sad to see “how much we’ve fallen.” Gibbs said the possibility that TARP may be $200 billion less, “gives us flexibility.” Gibbs said the administration will try to create twice as many projects, but without twice as much money. “Even shovel ready projects take time to get underway,” he said. If there are things that can be done in terms of using TARP funds to spur small business lending, that is something the administration will look at.


Supreme Court Ruling On Campaign Laws:
Gibbs said this is an important case for the American people and that the administration is concerned about special interests controlling the political process. Gibbs reminded reporters that the President talked about this issue during his campaign. The administration will wait to see if the high court delivers a ruling today.

Oslo:
On whether or not the President will give away his charity money, there is “no clarity yet on the charity,” said Gibbs. The President will also address sending troops into battle as he accepts the Nobel Peace Prize.


Healthcare:
Gibbs was asked about the reimportation of drugs and said the President still supports the reimportation of drugs, but there are safety concerns that still need to be addressed. “Safety is the number one concern,” said Gibbs.


Iran Sanctions:
Asked who will make the decision about Iranian sanctions, Gibbs said the Iranians will, but added, “we’re not at that point.”


Poll Numbers:
Asked about the latest poll numbers, Gibbs dismissed the Gallup numbers at 47%. He called the Gallup daily trend meaningless. Gibbs also said that if he was a patient and Gallup was his doctor, he would get a new doctor.

White House Gaggle With Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

By Victoria Jones - Talk Radio News Service

START Agreement
White House Press Secretary Gibbs opened the gaggle by saying that President Obama spoke with President Medvedev this morning from the White House to continue to make progress on a renewed START agreement that expires on December 5. In the likely event that negotiations are not concluded in the next 24 hours, there will be a joint statement from the two presidents outlining that the status quo will continue as the two make progress toward a renewed agreement.  Issues can probably be worked out with a little more time, Gibbs said. Gibbs said there are no face-to-face meetings planned anytime soon.

A joint statement by the two presidents has since been released.


November Jobs Numbers
Gibbs said the numbers today show that the nation continues to make much needed progress in getting the economy going again, and in getting the right trend going in terms of hiring. These numbers were the best numbers that have been released in 22 months. The two previous months’ numbers were revised downwards. The US is clearly moving in the right direction, Gibbs said. According to Gibbs, the Recovery Act got economic growth going again; Now there is positive movement in jobs. There will be bumps along the way. There will be ups and downs in this process. The President is pleased that we continue to move in the right direction.

Asked if there were any areas of concern, Gibbs said that the President would say that even though the number is less than it has been in 22 months, still 11,000 more people lost their jobs in November. That is too many. We have to return to an economy that is not just growing, but creating jobs. The President held a jobs summit at the White House yesterday, where he heard from CEOs, small businesses and others in the private sector. Today in Allentown, Pa. and in a speech on Tuesday, he will talk about some of his ideas for job growth. We are moving in the right direction, but there will be bumps along the way, said Gibbs.

Pakistan
Gibbs was asked whether the CIA’s expanded use of drones in Pakistan includes targets in Baluchistan. He replied that he respects the longstanding tradition of not talking about it.

Osama bin Laden
Gibbs was asked about a report that says that a Taliban detainee says that bin Laden was in Afghanistan earlier in the year. He refused to discuss it when asked if the US has independent intelligence on it. 

Economy
Gibbs said the President believes he has seen and heard good ideas from his economic team, based on discussions yesterday. He will outline some of what he supports going forward on Tuesday. It will not be the totality, but the President believes we must create an environment for job growth and job creation. Gibbs said there would not be another $787 billion stimulus plan. Using TARP money for job creation is being looked at. Asked whether the job package would be deficit neutral, Gibbs said he did not want to get ahead of that.

Gibbs said the President has asked to be as aggressive as we can be in ideas that will create jobs. If somebody has an idea to create jobs, the President is anxious to hear and look at it. There is not a political constraint on good job creating ideas. Gibbs hoped it would be true from both parties that good ideas create jobs.

In the speech on Tuesday, the President will outline specific ideas for creating jobs and creating an environment where hiring can happen. The President will talk to Congress about these ideas, and Gibbs added that there have already been some discussions with members of Congress.


NATO and Afghanistan
Asked whether the rules of engagement for NATO would be loosened as 7,000 more troops have been announced by NATO for Afghanistan, Gibbs said different countries would make some of those determinations. The US is extremely pleased by the continued cooperation and continued contribution that the international community is making to efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. 

An additional 7,000 troops is a hefty contribution on their part, Gibbs said, and the NATO Secretary General said he believes there are likely more to come.  That is a very positive development in helping us with the mission of combating the insurgency, as well as training the security force that will ultimately take responsibility for security of Afghanistan, said Gibbs.

Gibbs said that General McChrystal’s original equation did not include any NATO troops. One of the points of progress throughout the time period in which the President’s team analyzed the situation was to ensure that our international partners were continuing along our pathway with us. 

Gibbs said that the strategy that got the US into July 2011 is a number and a date that came from military planning at the Pentagon, based on their belief in what could be accomplished, given the strategy that the President would approve, in terms of incentivizing for the Afghans changes in their governance and corruption and an acceleration in their training. 

The full force is likely to get in by the end of next summer. This is a significant ramp up from what was originally proposed in General McChrystal’s assessment, which spread out deployment well into 2011.

Health Care
Gbbs was asked if a realistic date for a health care bill was closer to the State of the Union, given that it took four days to pass two amendments this week. He said he would not wiggle on the date. He said there has been a motion by the Democrats to post amendments on the internet, and Republicans objected. So there had been hours and days debating what the Republicans had wanted to be posted previously. At some point the American people understand there are people in this town to solve the problems people have, and there are people looking to continue to play the same old Washington political games that have gotten their party’s approval ratings a (low rating). If the bill passes, the President would be happy to sign it in Hawaii at a number of picturesque locations.

White House Gaggle With Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

By Victoria Jones - Talk Radio News Service

Afghanistan
Robert Gibbs said the President talked on Sunday afternoon by phone with Secretary Clinton, met last night at 5 pm at the Oval Office with Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen, Gens. Cartwright and Petraeus, National Security Advisor General Jim Jones and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

The President communicated his final decision on the strategy, and issued orders on the strategy’s implementation. After that meeting in the Oval Office, the President held a similar meeting by secure video teleconference in the situation room with General McChrystal and Ambassador Eikenberry in Afghanistan at 6 pm.

The President believes the situation in this region is a shared international challenge. Building on the work he has been doing in this regard, including productive calls last Wednesday morning with Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy, the President will be in close consultation with friends and allies throughout the day today.

The President spoke this morning with President Sarkozy. He will meet with Prime Minister Rudd and discuss our strategy moving forward as well as the economy and climate change. He will not ask for more troops from the Australians as they have increased their contributions throughout the spring to a level the US is quite pleased with. He spoke at noon with President Medvedev, and will speak at 1 pm over secure
video teleconference with Prime Minister Brown. Many of the calls will be to update leaders on the process that has gone into this. Conversations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Zardari will either happen later today or tomorrow. The President is not yet getting overly specific with foreign leaders as to the number of troops he will send.

Consultations with Congress will continue throughout today and tomorrow in the run up to the speech. The President continued to work through the weekend primarily with Ben Rhodes on tomorrow night’s West Point speech.

Tomorrow afternoon at 4.45 pm a bipartisan group - so far about 31 names, maybe more - will gather at the White House with leadership, as well as a number of the committees of jurisdiction. Today, tomorrow, and in this meeting there will be consultations with Congress on strategy.

Gibbs said the President and his team have ensured that there are benchmarks for progress, whether it is on the training or governance side.

Gibbs declined to respond to requests for troop number increases.

In tomorrow night’s speech, the President will reiterate the limits on our resources, both from a manpower perspective and budgetary perspective, and he will say this is not an open ended commitment. The goal of the strategy is to train an Afghan national security force comprised of the Afghan national army and police that can fight an unpopular insurgency in Afghanistan, so we can transfer that responsibility back to them. This is not open-ended.

A big part of this policy is ensuring that the Taliban in Afghanistan are not capable of providing a safe haven for al Qaeda that existed prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001. The President will discuss that in the importance of why we are there, Gibbs said.

Gibbs was asked if the President would talk about what success would look like in Afghanistan. He replied that he would go through why we are there, what this process brought about, and outline what he hopes to achieve there.

Gibbs was asked if the President would address human rights in Afghanistan, particularly the condition of women and girls, in his speech tomorrow night. He said that he would have to check the speech on that.

Asked if there would be an embargoed copy of the speech made available to the press ahead of the speech, Gibbs said that at 7.30 tomorrow it was their hope to put out a full embargoed text.

Asked if there was a point at which they could just not afford the war anymore, Gibbs said from a broader perspective the President has many concerns about long term debt and the deficit. Throughout the next several weeks and into the next year and beyond, the President will continue to take steps to address fiscal responsibility. Health care costs are part of that fiscal responsibility. Getting the economy back in good health and creating jobs will also help the fiscal situation.

Pakistan
Gibbs said that throughout the campaign and his time here the President has been deeply engaged in improving our bilateral relationship with Pakistan, and ensuring we are working together to root out violent extremism.

Prime Minister Rudd Photo-Op
Gibbs was asked why there would not be a photo op with the press. Gibbs replied that there would be an official photo, to which the reporter pointed out that that was not the same. Gibbs said there would be two people in the photo.

Iran
Gibbs said that a number of the President’s forthcoming conversations with foreign leaders would involve discussing Iran. He said we have seen from the Board of Governors at the IAEA a clear statement from the international community in rebuke
to the activities of Iran. We have seen now purportedly the response of the Iranian government. The Iranians have clear responsibilities and obligations. Their failure to uphold these means that time is running out and failure to take those responsibilities seriously will result in further action.

Jobs Summit
Gibbs said the jobs summit is going ahead on Thursday. The President is eager to hear the private sector’s ideas and where they see the economy. It took extraordinary action at the beginning of the administration to get economic growth going, which has to happen before we can see job growth.

Asked what the real purpose was of having a community event to talk about jobs, Gibbs said they were happy to get ideas and suggestions from anybody. Wisdom is not the dominion of Washington.

Secret Service Investigation - Salahis
Gibbs said as best he knew the Secret Service continues to look into that situation, and when there is something complete, they will have it.

White House Press Gaggle

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release November 25, 2009


PRESS GAGGLE BY
PRESS SECRETARY ROBERT GIBBS;
DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR FOR
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC AFFAIRS MIKE FROMAN;
AND ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR
ENERGY AND CLIMATE CAROL BROWNER

Press Secretary's Office


10:08 A.M. EST


MR. GIBBS: I will do two quick announcements before we get to one other topic. Normally we do -- as you all know, at the end of the last Friday of every month we have been doing the look-back WAVES requests, before starting the policy at the beginning of the year. So that would normally have been the Friday after Thanksgiving. We instead will, the next couple hours, release the October requests for pre-September 15th WAVES information. So that will come over the threshold in a couple of hours, so nobody was stuck having to do this on Friday.

Q How many names is it?

MR. GIBBS: Sixteen hundred.

Q Great. (Laughter.)

MR. GIBBS: The second piece of information -- the President will address the nation on Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. from the Military Academy at West Point, on Afghanistan. So that is your second tidbit.

Q What's going to be the press --

MR. GIBBS: We are just at the very beginning of logistics on that, so we will -- I will make sure that Katie Lillie et al get information out quickly on that.

Third, the President will travel -- as you all know, on December 10th will be in Oslo; December 9th, will stop in Copenhagen, around the climate change conference there.

We have with us today Mike Froman and Carol Browner to walk through the efforts that the President has been undertaking recently, particularly on his trip to China. And Carol can go over some of our domestic efforts as it relates to clean energy and climate change that have happened over the course of the past year -- to walk us through a little of this announcement.

Mike.

MR. FROMAN: Great. Well, as you -- as we've talked about before, you know the President has helped reestablish American leadership on the climate change issue through a number of actions this year. He relaunched in March the Major Economies Forum, which has met several times -- six times, I believe, plus, at the summit level in L'Aquila, Italy; and have worked through a number of issues related to the U.N. negotiations around mitigation, adaptation, technology and finance; in addition -- with a meeting during the summer, there was a major step forward with a number of provisions of a statement that developing and developed countries agreed to that helped move the ball forward on the Copenhagen negotiations, including developing countries agreeing to take significant mitigation actions and agreeing to a peak here and agreeing to take actions that would create a significant deviation from business as usual.

This fall at Pittsburgh at the G20 summit, again under the President's leadership we agreed to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, which has a significant impact on greenhouse gases, somewhere between 10 and 12 percent reduction of global greenhouse gases in 2050, which is, as you know, is about 20 percent of the overall target of a 50 percent reduction. So a significant step forward. And at APEC two weeks ago, the APEC countries embraced that commitment as well, and so it's been further internationalized.

In China, the President made some significant progress with the Chinese leadership on climate change -- it's reflected in the joint statement -- a number of steps forward there, including with regard to full transparency as to the implementation of commitments, a commitment to take significant mitigation actions and to stand behind those commitments.

And yesterday here with Prime Minister Singh, he made further progress with the Indian leadership as well on climate change, also reflected in the joint statement.

Based on all of those developments and on the recent progress he made the decision that it made sense to go to Copenhagen, as Robert said, on the 9th, to give momentum to the negotiations there.

In addition to the President -- and we'll be putting out I guess a release later this morning -- there will be a number of Cabinet officers who will be participating in various parts of the Copenhagen negotiations and making presentations there, and you'll see the details of that in the press release later this morning.

At this point, with two weeks left before Copenhagen, the focus is on how to create an accord that has immediate operational effect and covers all the major areas of the negotiation. It's a comprehensive accord that can get a quick start at dealing with the climate change issues. We're working very closely with Prime Minister Rasmussen of Denmark, the chairman of the conference, and his team toward that end, and we'll be working with other countries as well to maximize the chances that the negotiations can make progress towards an accord in Copenhagen.

At this point, it's critical that all countries, all major economies come forward with their mitigation actions -- and Carol will have more to say about that -- to maximize the chance of progress in Copenhagen.

MS. BROWNER: Thank you. As you all know, the President believes that the foundation of a successful international agreement has to begin with domestic actions. And in that vein, from the first day in office we have sought to take aggressive actions towards a clean energy economy and to put a cap, or to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Recovery Act was the first significant step in that direction, $80 billion in clean energy investments that are rolling out across the country. We have proposed the first-ever greenhouse gas and the toughest fuel economy standards for new cars and trucks. Congress said get to 35 miles per gallon in 2020; we have proposed 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016. We have promulgated rules to promote the development of offshore wind and energy. And the Department of Energy has set aggressive new energy appliance standards and continues to move forward on setting more standards.

Now as the Copenhagen meeting comes into view, and based on the progress that we have made, as Mike spoke to, in the last couple of days and weeks, and in the context of an overall deal in Copenhagen that includes robust mitigation contributions from China and the other emerging economies, the President is prepared to put on the table a U.S. emissions reduction target in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels in 2020, and ultimately in line with the final U.S. domestic energy and climate legislation.

In light of the President's --

Q Can you repeat that again? That's a lot of detail.

MS. BROWNER: There's more detail coming. Okay, it's in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels in 2020, and ultimately in line with the final legislation, U.S. legislation. As you are aware --

Q By 2020, you would reduce it --

MS. BROWNER: -- 17 percent.

Q So that's the Waxman-Markey level?

MS. BROWNER: It is. What we're saying is in the range of 17 percent. Waxman-Markey, as you all are aware, passed 17 percent. The debate is not completed yet in the Senate. When the debate is fully completed then we will adjust accordingly.

Let me give you the rest of the numbers so you see the whole thing, okay? I know they're just dying to -- (laughter.)

MR. GIBBS: Here comes a lot of numbers.

MS. BROWNER: A lot. I'll read really slow. (Laughter.)

In light of the President's goal to reduce emissions 83 percent by 2050, the expected pathway set forth in pending legislation would entail a 30 percent reduction below 2005 levels in 2025, and a 42 percent reduction below 2005 levels in 2030.

MR. FROMAN: There will be a test on this. (Laughter.)

MS. BROWNER: Yes, let me do that again.

Q One more time.

MR. GIBBS: The poor guys trying to find the symbol function on their BlackBerry. (Laughter.)

MS. BROWNER: You have to go to the second set of symbol functions to do that. (Laughter.)

Okay, we'll do it again. In light of the President's goal to reduce emissions 83 percent by 2050 -- okay, 83 by 2050 -- the expected pathway set forth in pending legislation would entail a 30 percent reduction below '05 levels by 2025.

Both the Senate and the House bills include interim measurements. They're slightly different, but they're fairly similar. So it would entail a 30 percent reduction below '05 levels in 2025, and a 42 percent reduction below '05 levels in 2030. Everybody got it?

Q The 83 percent is also measured against 2005?

MS. BROWNER: Yes.

Q That's the G20 part adopted in L'Aquila, right?

Q Your larger point is that the House and Senate ranges are similar to what the President --

MS. BROWNER: Right, the interim is out to 2050. Obviously the House's is completed at 17 percent. The Senate is still debating. But when you look at the bills, what the House did and what's been in discussion in the Senate -- those interim measurements out to 2050. In 2050 they're the same, and then in between they're fairly close.

Q Could you just repeat that one more time, Carol?

MS. BROWNER: The whole thing? Okay.

MR. EARNEST: We'll have paper on it

MS. BROWNER: Eighty-three percent by 2050, which entails a 30 percent reduction below '05 levels in 2025 -- it's all '05 -- I'll make it simple for you guys. It's all the baseline, okay? So the 83/2050 --

Q That's 30 percent reduction --

MS. BROWNER: -- 30 percent in 2025, and 42 percent in 2030.

Q And are those figures that he will propose, that you will propose in Copenhagen, that the U.S. will do? Is that correct?

MS. BROWNER: And again, on the 17 percent, just to be clear, it's in the range of 17 percent and we will obviously make adjustments when we complete the domestic legislative work.

Let me just finish. Obviously we now hope that other major economies are going to put forth ambitious actions of their own. We think those will be a necessary component of any accord in Copenhagen. As I said at the beginning, we believe this is a very serious step. We believe that we need to complete the domestic legislative agenda here. We have been working hard to do that. We've already concluded work in the House, and we will continue to work in the Senate.

Q What countries are you looking to that hopefully will commit as much as the U.S. is?

MR. FROMAN: Well, I think all major economies will need to make submissions as to what they're prepared to do for there to be an accord.

Q Is this the starting point of the negotiations, or is this the max that this administration is willing to do, since obviously a lot of these other countries are coming forward with 1990 baselines that are going to be much more dramatic reductions?

MR. FROMAN: This is the U.S. position on what we will be submitting in Copenhagen as to our commitment. And as the President has always said, we want to make sure our international commitments very much follow in line with our domestic legislation.

Q Are these mitigation efforts the result of China and India?

MR. FROMAN: I'm sorry?

Q The decision to announce this, is it a result of mitigation efforts by both China and India?

MR. FROMAN: It was based on that long list of actions that have been taken over the last nine months that have led to this point, but including over the last two weeks constructive discussions and progress we felt was made with them over climate change, and it's reflected in the joint statements both in Beijing and here yesterday.

MS. BROWNER: And I think as well as the progress we've made on domestic legislation.

Q Should we interpret this as a prod to the Senate to get going on this early next year?

MS. BROWNER: Well, we've had we think very good conversations with the Senate. As you're aware, two committees have now acted. Others are preparing to act. I think the fact that you have a bipartisan group of senators -- Senator Kerry, Senator Graham, Senator Lieberman -- all announcing that they are working together, working with their partners, to craft leadership legislation is obviously something we find extremely encouraging.

Q Did you guys have consultations with any of the members of the -- of Congress before announcing these numbers?

MS. BROWNER: We're in -- I mean, we talk to members virtually every day about a whole list of things.

Q But, I mean, you told them about -- that these numbers were what you guys were putting on the table?

MR. FROMAN: We've been in close consultations.

Q Will the President do anything else besides this address? Will there be bilaterals, multilaterals?

MR. FROMAN: We are -- there's no schedule yet established. We're working with the Danes to ensure that his visit there, his time there is maximally productive and gives maximum momentum to the ongoing negotiations.

Q Is this overnight in Oslo?

MR. GIBBS: I don't think we have the itinerary yet. Well, the 9th here and the 10th in Oslo. I haven't the slightest idea where we're spending the night.

Q The 9th here?

MR. GIBBS: In Copenhagen -- sorry.

Q It will be just during the day, then, right? I mean, there's not an overnight in Copenhagen -- or we don't know?

MR. GIBBS: We haven't picked a hotel yet. We were focused on the target.

Q Mike, on the 9th, will there be a number of other world leaders there? Because it's a long summit and obviously there's going to be times when most of the leaders --

MR. FROMAN: We're talking with the Danes, again, about how that day might be structured. So we -- at this point we don't know what -- who else will be there or what the program will be at this point.

Q Have you got any kind of ballgame estimate of what the economic impact of these targets would be?

MS. BROWNER: Well, as you know, the Waxman-Markey bill was scored by CBO prior to final passage, and for the average family of four, full implementation of the bill I think was about $173 a year.

Q In 20 --

MS. BROWNER: What was the year for the score in the CBO? Do you remember?

MS. ZICHAL: I believe it's 2020.

MS. BROWNER: In 2020.

Q What's your reaction to the British e-mails that have come out recently?

MS. BROWNER: I've read them. I don't know that I have a reaction.

Q The Copenhagen talks are going from December 8th to the -- or 7th to the 20th -- 18th, something around that. And 65 heads of state will be attending at the end. Will the fact that Obama does not plan to be there make any agreement politically binding -- or a political agreement at that point less legitimate?

MR. FROMAN: I think the President going to Copenhagen will give positive momentum to the negotiations, and we think will enhance the prospects for success.

Q Who will go then at the end?

MS. BROWNER: We're releasing it today -- we have a whole delegation of Cabinet members and other top officials who will be in attendance throughout the conference.

Q Will Al Gore go?

MS. BROWNER: I don't know. You'd have to ask him.

Q Okay. But not as part of the delegation?

MR. GIBBS: I don't know where he's spending the night, either. (Laughter.)

MS. BROWNER: The U.S. delegation is made up of Cabinet members and senior White House officials, and we're releasing that list today. Are we releasing when they'll be there, the main --

MR. FROMAN: Yes.

MS. BROWNER: Yes, they're coming at various different times throughout the two weeks, so you'll see all of that. I think we have, what, six or seven Cabinet members going.

Q I hate to back you up on this, but those e-mails -- I know they're controversial, but they're actually feeding the run-up to Copenhagen. You might have read them, but you know basically the gist of them, which is being used by opponents of this deal to say that the whole thing is made up. But you have to have more than just "I don't have any reaction."

MS. BROWNER: Well, first of all, we've all seen bits and pieces, we haven't seen the full e-mails. But I think more importantly there has been for a very long time a very small group of people who continue to say this isn't a real problem, that we don't need to do anything. On the other hand, we have 2,500 of the world's foremost scientists who are in absolute agreement that this is a real problem and that we need to do something and we need to do something as soon as possible.

What am I going to do, side with the couple of naysayers out there, or the 2,500 scientists? I'm sticking with the 2,500 scientists. I mean, these people have been studying this issue for a very, very long time, and agree that the problem is real.

Q On Afghanistan?

MR. GIBBS: Yes.

Q Can we expect the President to outline an exit strategy in his speech? And do you still want to engage the so-called moderate Taliban elements in this new strategy?

MR. GIBBS: Well, I don't want to get, again, far ahead of what the President will talk about on Tuesday. I will say that throughout this process, the President has repeatedly pushed and prodded not simply for, as I've said, how are we going to get a certain number of troops in, but what is their strategy -- what has to be implemented ultimately to get them out. We are in year nine of our efforts in Afghanistan. We're not going to be there another eight or nine years -- which is why the -- a lot of the focus in these meetings has been on training for the Afghan security forces comprised of the army and the police; how do you ramp up this training as you are securing different areas that will ultimately be transferred back to the Afghans so that when that transfer occurs there is a security force that can keep the security gains that have been made. That is imperative -- that is imperative in this strategy. In terms of --

Q Has the President actually made up his mind on troop levels?

MR. GIBBS: He's not told me a final decision.

Hold on, hold on, let me address the second part of the question. In terms of reintegration, I would point you to any number of statements that General Petraeus, Central Command, has made about efforts that are needed to reach out to elements throughout the population in Afghanistan.

Q Is the President going to ask his allies for more troops? Because yesterday he seemed to emphasize the global fight against terrorism.

MR. GIBBS: Well, look, first of all, there is a robust international force presently in Afghanistan. This is not one country or one region of the world's problem alone. And I anticipate that the national security team and the President will begin to talk to our allies about different parts of his decision as well as contributions that could be coming forward from them. I think you've heard or seen the NATO Secretary General talk about this as well.

Q Is this what the President meant about finishing the job, ramping up security operations by Afghanistan? Is there a Taliban or al Qaeda component of finishing the job?

MR. GIBBS: Well, again, I'm going to let the President outline the fullness of his strategy and all of the components to it. Our training of security forces is obviously one that is ongoing.

Q Robert, there's a report that the President on Tuesday will be meeting with 31 members of Congress who he previously met with in regard to Afghanistan. Is that correct? And could you give us an idea of kind of the rollout, you know, the role of Cabinet members, et cetera?

MR. GIBBS: Well, some of this obviously is still being finalized. I anticipate the President will meet with members of Congress, just like he will talk to allies and others about the decision that he's made. He did a similar meeting -- did a similar set of meetings earlier in the year around earlier decisions on Afghanistan and Iraq. So I don't know -- I have not seen a final list of who the members will be, but I do anticipate that he'll certainly brief members of Congress.

Q Before the speech?

MR. GIBBS: Before the speech, yes.

Q Robert, can you --

MR. GIBBS: Hold on, hold on. Let me just -- the second part of your question, in terms of -- I do not -- I have not seen a finalized schedule for testimony. I anticipate -- again, we've all watched this in -- happen a few times, particularly in Iraq, and I anticipate some -- the relevant committees will invite and testimony will occur. I don't have a schedule on that.

Q But just to be clear, Robert, on Tuesday the President will meet with members of Congress?

MR. GIBBS: Yes. Tuesday he will meet with members of Congress in the White House prior to traveling to West Point to deliver the speech.

Q Robert, do you have any reaction to Speaker Pelosi's comments? And more broadly, can you talk --

MR. GIBBS: What are -- I didn't hear --

Q Just that there's going to be, I think, unrest in the Democratic Caucus over this decision on Afghanistan. And more broadly, can you talk a little bit about what --

MR. GIBBS: Let me give the -- let me let the President announce his decision before we -- I don't want to play the Jeopardy version of "unrest."

Q Okay, but more broadly, can you talk a little bit about what you think the challenges are, in particular with the sort of communicating and convincing members of the President's own party on Capitol Hill, and more broadly in the country, on this?

MR. GIBBS: I think this probably speaks for everybody in the country regardless of where you are in the political spectrum. And this is what the President will do Tuesday.

Again, we've been here -- we've been in -- we're in the 9th year of efforts in Afghanistan, right? The American people are going to want to know why we're here. They're going to want to know what our interests are. The President will want to walk through his decision-making process and give people a sense of the importance of our efforts, but reiterate for them that this is not -- this is not -- the President does not see this as an open-ended engagement. Our time there will be limited, and I think that's important for people to understand.

Q Will he give a time frame? Will he give a timeline?

MR. GIBBS: I want you guys to have something to write on Tuesday.

Q We'll find something.


MR. GIBBS: I don't doubt that. (Laughter.)

Q You say you're not going to be there for another eight or 10 years -- does that make sense -- I mean, the time --

MR. GIBBS: Again, you should thank Mark for following up on his question. No -- again, I don't want to get ahead of, again, what exactly the President is going to say. Again, I would simply reiterate throughout these meetings you've heard the President say this: We're not going to be there forever. We are -- it is unsustainable to think that, for any number of reasons: for the impact that it has on the thousands of men and women that serve, on the overall health of our force, on the sheer cost in monetary terms of what this means. That's why the President has taken the time to meet with the national security team in order to get a strategy that gets this right, so that this can ultimately be handed off, and the responsibility for security of the Afghan country can rest and lie with the Afghans.

Q Will he meet with McChrystal before he announces it?

MR. GIBBS: Pardon me?

Q Will he meet with General McChrystal in person before he announces --

MR. GIBBS: We may have more on that later today.

Q Robert, speaking of the cost, will the President actually in any degree explain to the American people how much it will cost, how much it will be -- how will it be paid for?

MR. GIBBS: Well, look, guys, it's a billion dollars -- it's a million dollars a troop for a year. It's -- 10,000 troops is $10 billion. That's in addition to what we already spend in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That also does not include training, and it doesn't include the maintenance of -- the maintaining of a security force. It's very, very, very expensive.

Q So there will be a supplemental?

MR. GIBBS: I'm going to let the President make a decision before we go get the budget for the decision to implement what he does. So let's -- again, I don't know what you guys would do on Tuesday if I just blurted it all out here.

Q Robert, just a question -- so does the President lay that out to the American people? Will he say --

MR. GIBBS: Well, I just laid it out for you.

Q I know, but I mean in that speech, will he actually say this is very, very, very expensive --

MR. GIBBS: If Ben could show me that paragraph in his speech, I would have a better answer. I think the President has throughout this process talked about the cost in terms of American lives and in terms of the cost to our Treasury, and I think he'll continue to talk about it.

Q Robert, will the President be --

Q -- satisfied at this stage that his new effort will be received --

MR. GIBBS: I'm sorry?

Q Does he feel fully satisfied at this stage that this new effort wouldn't be seen as --

MR. GIBBS: Will not be seen?

Q Will not be seen --

MR. GIBBS: Well, again, another thing that we've spent a lot of time working through is, with civilian and defense, is -- and as the President has said and as the President has told Karzai -- there has to be a new chapter in Afghan governance. And that is something the President will talk about on Tuesday.

Q And will it be cadets, military personnel?

MR. GIBBS: Yes.

Q Cadet -- both?

MR. GIBBS: Yes.

Q Robert, have you lined up television coverage yet? Do we know that this is going to be carried by the networks?

MR. GIBBS: I don't want to speak for the networks, but we have -- we talked to them yesterday.

Q If the President is reelected, are you basically saying the President --

MR. GIBBS: Thank you. Have a good Thanksgiving. (Laughter.)

END 10:37 A.M. EST

White House Press Briefing With Robert Gibbs

By Meagan Wiseley, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

-Recovery Act

Robert Gibbs introduced Jared Bernstein and Melody Barnes to discuss the report released this morning on education-based jobs saved by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Bernstein, the Chief Economist and Economic Policy Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, said that preliminary recipient data that is coming in to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board shows 250,000 education jobs saved or created. These jobs are a subset of the 1 million jobs saved or created thus far through the act, which leaves the Economic Council on track to accomplish the stated goal of saving or creating 3.5 million jobs by later next year.

Bernstein added that the data reflects direct jobs, or jobs that are directly created and funded through spending in the Recovery Act. The Council of Economic Advisers has estimated that the Act has saved about 1 million jobs so far, and this estimate includes direct and indirect jobs.

Bernstein said this is clearly the most transparent and accountable treatment of a government program that has ever been seen before.

Barnes, the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, said the Recovery Act has made schools able to avert massive layoffs and also created jobs for educators in the pre-kindergarten, K-12 and higher education fields.

Barnes pointed out that preventing layoffs averted class size expansion, which has been a concern in the educational context.

Additionally, Barnes said reforms have been put in place to increase standards and assessments, teacher effectiveness and student progress tracking. An extended school day and school year for struggling schools has also been implemented.

When asked how the revenues to keep the new jobs in place when the federal dollars from the Recovery Act money are gone, Barnes said the administrations was very cognizant of such a scenario when developing the Recovery Act and that it was created in the context of the economy improving. Thus, states would be able to support these jobs and increases once the economy strengthens.

-Afghanistan

On the possibility of a runoff election in Afghanistan, Gibbs said that, in his assessment, General McChrystal knew the election would be taken into account. Gibbs said a sizable American force in Afghanistan must be met with a credible partner, and that, without a credible partner, no one involved can make a difference. Gibbs said he is supportive of Deputy Chairman of NATO, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry’s plan to work with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on this matter.

Gibbs refused to comment on hypothetical situations regarding a future election, but did say the administration is encouraging processes by the Afghan people to choose a candidate that is legitimate.

-Health Care Reform

On Heath Care reform, Gibbs said the administration is working to ensure choice and competition in the insurance market. He said the President has been clear on his preference for a public option to be in the final bill.

-Sudan

On Sudan, Gibbs said a comprehensive policy is needed to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Gibbs said there is pressure being put on the Sudanese government, and if steps are taken to address components of this issue by the government, there will be incentives.

-Iran

On Iran, Gibbs said that Iran has an opportunity and a responsibility to demonstrate to the world their purpose for a nuclear program. He said the U.S. obligation is to get a sizable amount of low enriched uranium out of Iran in order to make the world more secure.

-Economy


On the financial sector, and Godlman Sachs/JP Morgan executive bonuses, Gibbs said the administration does not want to be in the business of executive compensation. He said last September that the American people went through great lengths to make sure the financial system didn’t collapse. He said the banks are equally as responsible to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.