Today at Talk Radio News

Today off the Hill, the White House Gaggle will be covered by Correspondent Lovisa Frost. Remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute will also be reported. A conference call discussing Rep. Bob Latta’s (R-Ohio) attendance on the American Energy Tour with House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) will be reviewed. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on the legal foundations of fighting terrorism will be attended, as will remarks by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) concerning trade with China.

A news conference introducing a new economic agenda with, among others, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Christopher van Hollen (D-Md.) will be covered, as will a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on childhood obesity. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on global nuclear detection and the Senate Special Committee on Aging will hold a hearing on the status of retirement savings.

On the House side of the Hill, staff will attend a session of the Small Business Committee in which prosthetics for veterans will be discussed. Staff will also take part in a Homeland Security Committee hearing on the implementation of biosurveillance requirements of the 9/11 Act. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke will testify before the Financial Services Committee in a hearing on monetary policy.

Today at Talk Radio News

Legal Affairs Correspondent Jay Tamboli will be covering Supreme Court decisions. Chief United Nations Correspondent Dan Patterson will be covering events at the UN. The Washington Bureau will also be covering the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on "Russia, Iran and Nuclear Weapons: Implications of the Proposed U.S.-Russia Agreement", the Joint Economic Committee's hearing on "The Future Costs of Funding the Iraq War", the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's markup of a proposed report on the investigation of contacts between the White House and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee's hearing on the condition of the nation's infrastructure, which New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be attending, the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) briefing on "President Bush's FY2009 Budget Request for Biodefense", House Foreign Affairs Committee's hearing on "U.S.-Japan Relations: An Overview", the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's hearing on the relationship between U.S. renewable fuels policy and food prices, and the Republican press conference with Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, (R-Ky.), House Leader John Boehner, (R-Ohio), and House Whip Roy Blunt, (R-Mo.).

White House Briefing

Briefer: Dana Perino

White House press secretary Dana Perino briefed the press on the president's radio address which will focus on the administration's priorities for Congress. She specifically mentioned the war supplemental funding, the GI bill, the FISA legislation, the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and the approval of Steve Preston to be the new secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The president will be giving the commencement address at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Perino said that the speech will focus on the culture of responsibility and the importance of volunteering and serving in the military.

The main topic for questions was the book of former White House press secretary Scott McClellen which alleges "a culture of deception" in Washington and in the White House in particular during the run up to the Iraq war. Perino said that the president has not read the book and she has not discussed it with him. She said that the White House will continue to push back against the premise of the book that the White House communications department mislead the public as the administration approached the Iraq war.

In response to a question about the allegations that a Commerce Department laptop was hacked into during a trip to China, Perino said that the White House does not comment on on going investigations but that it has taken all measures to protect against cyber attacks, including international trips where White House staff are prohibited from brining Blackberry phones.

White House Gaggle

Briefer Dana Perino

The focus of the morning gaggle was Scott McClellen's book. White House press secretary Dana Perino said that she has heard about the calls for McClellan to testify before Congress, but that she has not had a chance to address it specifically with White House counsel. When asked if Perino had plans to read McClellan's book she replied "I certainly have no plans to buy it." She said that the White House counsel had reviewed the book and that the White House had been aware of the effect it would have for some time. She said that McClellan has the right to write what he wants, but it is White House wish "that is would be based on some semblance of fact."

There was a discussion about Perino's own perspective on the job as press secretary. She said that one can be as involved as a press secretary as one desires to be. She defined it as a matter of will , not a matter of access. She said that she was very satisfied with her access as press secretary.

She reiterated the White House's primary objection to the book, which is, as Perino phrased it, McClellan's allegation that the White House purposefully misled the American people in the run up to the Iraq war. "Our central objection is to the message of the book , not just the messenger," Perino said. She said that she doesn't remember McClellan complaining about access when she worked under him as deputy press secretary. She said that this book is written with hindsight and that at the time of McClellen's tenure there was nothing to object to as the White House was going off the intelligence it had at the time, which Perino pointed out was accepted by other nations as well.


The President had his normal briefings and later on will record his radio address. The topic of this weeks address is the priorities that Congress should focus on when it returns from Memorial Day recess. The President spoke to Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff on the phone as a follow up to their meeting in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. Perino announced that Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer will lead a delegation to Rome for the conference on world food security in the first week of June.

When asked whether the president agreed with Vice President Cheney's characterization of the war in Iraq as "succeeding brilliantly," Perino said that while Iraq's progress remains reversible, the strategy of the surge was the right one and that Gen. David Petraeus, who she said was "brilliant in his own right" was implementing the strategy that is gaining progress. She said that Maliki is uniting his government through the offensives in Basra, Mosul, and Sadr City. And she said that the donor's conference to get other Arab nations to invest in Iraq, is something that will take time to gain the trust of donors.

White House Gaggle

Briefer Scott Stanzel

Schedule
This morning the president had his normal briefings.
He will be meeting with the Secretary of Treasury, Henry Paulson for a regular update on the economy comments. The office on Community and Faith-Based Initiatives are having a roundtable today to talk about the role that faith-based groups may have in disaster preparedness and emergency response.

When asked if the president had any reaction to reports that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he would resign if there is not any meaningful progress in the peace process, Stanzel said that he wasn’t sure if the president had discussed it in private meeting. He reiterated the president’s view that both Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are two men who are committed to peace ad moving the process forward. Stanzel said that the president remains optimistic but that if it were an easy process it would have been resolved already.

The topic of the strategic oil reserve came up and Stanzel said the Congress did pass a bill to halt the fill of the strategic reserve. He said that the president will sign that legislation. While the White House thinks this measure won’t have a meaningful impact Stanzel said that President Bush is not going to stand in the way of it. Because of the legislation the Department Energy has to regularly enter into contracts to sustain the filling of the reserve. Stanzel said that the DOE took the initiative to not enter into new contracts because the legislation passed with such bipartisan support. Stanzel said that he hopes this legislation won’t distract members of Congress from real priorities, like increasing production in an environmentally sensitive way.

On the economy Stanzel said what is important to the White House is the question of what is being done about an economy that is not growing fast enough. The President is not satisfied with the .6% growth of the first half of the year. Stanzel said that the president has confidence in the business tax incentives, and the tax rebates. They are concerned that the Congress don’t pass new tax increase and is focused on action and results. Stanzel said that the White House wants to make sure we strengthen the legislation that oversees Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and that the administration hopes that Congress can move forward on FHA modernization and GSE reform.