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Press Briefing by Press Secretary Dana Perino
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary October 27, 2008

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Dana Perino James S. Brady Press Briefing
Room

˙ /news/releases/2008/10/20081027-1.wm.v.html ˙˙Press Briefings
˙˙Audio


11:37 A.M. EDT

MS. PERINO: Hi, everybody. The President is meeting with the President of
Paraguay right now and they'll have pool at the bottom. And then the
President will make remarks tonight in honor of Theodore Roosevelt's 150th
birthday. That celebration will be in the East Room tonight. And other than
that, I don't have anything to start with.

Q What is the likelihood of more raids into Syria like the one we saw this
weekend?

MS. PERINO: The United States government has not commented on reports about
that and I'm not able to here, either.

Q So we've talked about Pakistan, the raids into Pakistan, whether by
ground or by air. And there's been some acknowledgment by U.S. officials
that those are happening. We're now seeing this sort of thing spread to
other countries. Can you not -- you can't shed any light on why, when,
where, how, whether we're going to --

MS. PERINO: I can't comment on it at all, no.

Q Have you heard anything about whether the target was successful, that it
hit the target?

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to comment in any way on this; I'm not able to
comment on that.

Q You're not even able to say that there has been some decision taken by
the administration that "if you guys can't clean up your act we will clean
it up for you"?

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to comment on the reports about this, no, I'm
not. Anybody else?

Q Can you comment on Syria's protest?

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to comment on it at all. This could be a really
short briefing. (Laughter.)

Q Has anybody from the White House spoken to anybody from Syria?

MS. PERINO: I don't know. I don't know.

Q Let me ask you this one: You have another government making claims. At
some point, you either have to confirm or deny the claims they're making,
no?

MS. PERINO: Jim, all I can tell you is that I am not able to comment on
reports about this reported incident, and I'm not going to do so. You can
come up here and try to beat it out of me, but I will not be commenting on
this in any way, shape or form today. Or tomorrow --

Q What about another agency, nobody -- if it comes, it's going to come from
here, and so it's not going to -- nothing is going to come out of this?

MS. PERINO: I don't believe anybody is commenting on this at all.

April.

Q Dana, why can't you comment? Is it a reason for national security, or is
it political? I mean, why --

MS. PERINO: To give you an answer to that would be commenting in some way
on it, and I'm not going to do it.

Q But, I mean, Dana, you can't give us anything? I mean, this is a major
issue --

MS. PERINO: Nothing.

Q This is a major issue --

MS. PERINO: I understand the reports are serious, but it's not something
I'm going to comment on in any way.

Go ahead, Lambros.

Q Any readout of the talks between President Bush and NATO Secretary
General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer last Friday here at the White House?

MS. PERINO: Yes, they did have conversations on Friday. What was the
question?

Q The question was can you read out between --

MS. PERINO: Any results?

Q Any readout.

MS. PERINO: Oh, readout -- the President, himself, read it out when he had
his remarks after the event. So then we don't have anything to add.

Q (Inaudible) -- did discussions were the main issue between Athens and
Skopje send a solution of the probabilities that the condition for FYROM to
become a NATO member in December?

MS. PERINO: I was not in attendance, but I'll check for you and I'll have
Gordon get back to you; he was there.

Roger.

Q Switch to a domestic topic, does the President support any federal help
to General Motors and Chrysler beyond the $25 billion that's already out
there?

MS. PERINO: I think it's clear that the automakers are dealing with a very
serious situation, they have been for some time. And I know that the Energy
Department, the Treasury Department, and Commerce Department have been in
contact with the automakers. We have for years and increasingly so, but I
-- there's nothing I can tell you that would be specific as to what we
would provide. You're right that in the CR that was passed in August, there
were what we call 136 loans authorized by the Energy Department. We're
working as quickly as we possibly can to get those regulations finalized,
to be able to provide that, but other than that, I don't have anything to
add for you.

One thing is that automakers do have financing arms -- many of them do --
and it's possible that some of those financing arms could be a part of the
rescue package -- the TARP, as they call it at the Treasury Department. So
that's why -- that's one of the reasons Treasury has been in contact with
them.

Q Okay, so you're referring to GMAC, its lending arm.

MS. PERINO: Yes, and other companies who have similar -- I think Chrysler
has one, as well.

Q You're saying Treasury is examining that as a possible candidate for --

MS. PERINO: I'm just saying it's a possibility that they could qualify
under it. There's the application form that Treasury announced last week,
and if those companies apply for that, it's possible that they could be
included in it. But I have to refer you to Treasury for details because
they would analyze whether or not they qualify.

Q Has the President spoken to Secretary Paulson on this type of financing,
through the lending arm?

MS. PERINO: Let me say I assume so -- I do assume so. In terms of financing
beyond the $25 billion? Not that I know of.

Q Yes, beyond the $25 billion?

MS. PERINO: Oh, with Secretary Paulson? Not that I'm aware of, no.

Q So let me just -- so you're holding out the possibility of some sort of
federal aid beyond the $25 billion?

MS. PERINO: Not ruling it in or out. I can tell you we've been in contact
with automakers, GM and others. And beyond that, I'm just not able to
comment on any of those discussions, except for to say that when it comes
to those 136 loans, we're working as hard as possible to get those
regulations in place so that could move forward.

Q I'm sorry. On those loans, they seem to be stuck at DOE, and you alluded
to that. Is there any way to speed those up?

MS. PERINO: I would disagree with the -- with saying that they're stuck.
This is complicated. If you go back and you look at the regulations and all
that it spells out as to how it has to be written up, it takes a little bit
of time for the experts at the Energy Department, along with their
interagency brethren, to try to work it out and figure out what all the
ramifications are going to be of it, how it was going to be set up, which
ones would qualify.

If you look at it, it talks a lot about helping these companies move
forward, so that they could adapt, so that they could deal with the new
energy realities and consumer preferences that have been changing over the
years. Those things take a little bit of time. And they were supposed to be
-- those loans are specifically geared towards revamping those factories.
That's not necessarily going to help immediately with a capital problem. So
that was -- and that was never going to be the case. So I would not say
that they are stuck over there. I can tell you from watching them that they
are working very closely and are keeping us updated over here.

Q In light of that, the fact that these laws really were aimed at
alternative energy vehicles.

MS. PERINO: Right.

Q The question I guess, is how do they -- how do they help the current
situation? Or is there some attempt to adapt them to the current situation?

MS. PERINO: I don't know what all the automakers are thinking about. I'm
sure they're trying to devise ways that they can adapt and be the kind --
sell the kind of cars that consumers are wanting to buy right now. Part of
the problem is that they have to change over their factories so that they
could make more fuel efficient vehicles. We have regulations and laws that
we have put in place during the Bush administration years that would
increase both passenger car and SUV/light truck, mileage standards. So that
was already underway, but those are long-term projects.

And so that's one of the things that -- when I mention the TARP, the
Treasury program, it's possible that some of the finance arms could
actually fill out one of the those applications and be a part of that
program. So we're trying to work with them as much as we can. There are
some things we may or may not be able to do. It's still going to take a
little while for us to work on it, but we're moving as quickly as we
possibly can. That package only was passed three-and-a-half weeks ago, so
we're moving as quickly as we can.

John.

Q Dana, the 136 loans -- do you have any idea when the rulemaking might be
completed, when the rules might be able to --

MS. PERINO: I wouldn't want to put a time frame on it right now because
they are trying to do all the due diligence and dot the "I's" and cross the
"T's," and I wouldn't want to put a time frame on it that they either meet
or don't meet and it wouldn't be fair to anybody if I did that. But I can
tell you that they're working to get it done as quickly as possible.

Q Dana, have the automakers been in contact with the White House over these
various issues that we are talking about?

MS. PERINO: I don't know in terms of specific White House employees, I'm
not positive; it's certainly possible. But I know that the Energy
Department, Treasury Department, and Commerce Department at the highest
levels have been in contact with them, yes.

Q And one more thing, is it possible for you to say whether you have the
goal of preventing these companies from going into bankruptcy?

MS. PERINO: I think that any of us would -- nobody wants to see any company
go into bankruptcy. However, our system means that some businesses do fail.
That doesn't mean that this company is going to fail or not. I'm not -- I
just can't comment on it; it wouldn't be appropriate for me to do so and it
wouldn't be fair to anybody. And I don't want to send any confusing signals
to the markets, because I don't know what GM and other automakers are
planning or thinking or talking about amongst themselves. There's nothing
that I know that I can provide to you here today in the briefing room.

John.

Q Thank you. Dana, there seems to be concern in Congress about the way the
plan, the rescue plan, is going, to the extent that, like, banks have been
capitalized and given infusions of cash are hinting that they'll use that
money to buy other banks or that they won't move money around. There's also
concern from the -- on the mortgage standpoint that the folks on Main
Street are in trouble with their homes, distressed homeowners. There's
nothing really until now is starting to help them. Has the plan gone
slightly awry or is it missing its point?

MS. PERINO: Well, I disagree, and I think that if -- since you come here
and you cover the White House you'll have more information than maybe some
of our critics. But a couple of things: One, the program that we -- the
proposal that we put forward to Congress was broad and it allowed for a lot
of flexibility for changing market conditions. So what we have is the
rescue package that the Treasury Department is working on that allows them
to use a lot of different tools to address a lot of different problems. And
that's what they are moving forward to do.

On the housing side of things, look, 93 percent of Americans are able to
make their payments on time. There is a significant portion of the public
that is facing foreclosure. Those people have been -- we've been working to
try to help through two different types of programs: one through the
private sector, it's called HOPE NOW, which has helped about 1.4 million
homeowners keep their homes through reworking their loans; and then another
about 400,000 or 500,000 through FHASecure, which has been working to
rework mortgages in a way that they could get an FHA-backed loan so that
more people can stay in their homes.

No doubt there are more people that need help. Those programs are still in
existence and the administration is continuing to work on ideas, think
through all the problems and all the consequences for how can we continue
to try to help homeowners.

But in addition to that, if you look at one of the key problems that has
started this whole thing was the tightening up of the credit markets. And
we have seen that start to loosen. So we're not going to have an immediate
fix, but we're on the right path and we have the right tools in place. And
so right now we're going to continue to try to implement that. And we'll
continue to try to help homeowners and workers, those who are unemployed
who have been looking for work for a long time; in certain states that are
automatic extensions for people, that they have too high of an unemployment
rate, it looks like these people aren't going to be able to get a job.

We were mindful of all of those things. But we do think that we have the
right plan in place to be able to address it.

Q Yes, I just want to ask you, the Senate Foreign Relations Chairman had
recently said that the U.S. could face a generated international crisis in
the first half of 2009. Was that just speculation, or does the executive
branch have any information to indicate that there will be a higher --

MS. PERINO: That's a clever way to get me involved in 2008 politics, and
I'm not going to fall for it. But what I will tell you is this: We have a
very aggressive and thought out transition plan that we are already working
through. We have been in contact with both of the major party candidates,
identified people who would get security clearances, so that on November
5th, they can hit the ground running and make sure that they get all the
information that they need.

We pledge to have the most professional and robust transition that we
possibly can have for the safety of all of us, and for -- to the benefit of
our allies. And also when it comes to the economy, we'll make sure that
they have exactly what they need, so that when the next President gets
here, our goal and our mission is to try to make sure that we're on a path
to growth, and return path to prosperity come January, when the next
President takes over.

Go ahead, Mark.

Q Dana, new home sales, surprisingly up in September, and of course, we had
existing sales up last month as well. Is the housing market bottoming out?

MS. PERINO: Too early to say. Those are certainly welcome numbers, but too
early to say whether it's a trend or not. That's why we have to keep
working at doing what we're doing to try to recapitalize of banks, rework
mortgages where we possibly can, help people stay in their homes.

But if it is a trend, we'll certainly welcome it. But we're not going to
rest and hope; we're just going to continue to work. And maybe next month
the numbers will show a continued improvement.

Q Dana, on Israel, what does the President think about the decision to call
off coalition talks?

MS. PERINO: Well, this is Israeli politics, as the President says, it's
sometimes like full-court karate -- but they made a decision that this is
how their system works, that they weren't able to form a coalition and they
have to call for elections. So they will have those elections coming up in
the next couple of months.

From our standpoint, we're not going to get involved as to who should or
who should not prevail in those elections. What we will do, though, is
remain committed to the Annapolis process, which started last November 30th
-- so it's been about a year. We made some significant progress through the
two negotiators.

And in addition to that, we have General Jones, who is still on the ground
there and is working to help the Palestinians build up their security
capabilities, so that when they get to a point where they can define a
Palestinian state, those security forces will be able to defend a state and
also, prevent against terrorism.

Q Some have said it could really squash any hopes that the administration
may have of progress in the peace process. Is the President disappointed by
that?

MS. PERINO: I think that's a cynical way of looking at it. And I think what
the President wants to do is continue to try to work with them. No doubt we
have an uphill climb. But they have always had an uphill climb in the
Middle East. The path that we set out for them is one that is one of hope.
You have the first President of the United States to call for a Palestinian
state, and that has provided a lot of hope. And you also have the
conversation now in the Israeli election, a lot of -- basically,
surrounding that issue. We think that that's positive, because people are
able to talk about it, work on it.

So in the meantime , while the Israeli political system sorts itself out,
we will continue to work such as with General Jones and Tony Blair's office
and others, to help improve their economic and political situation, as well
as their security forces, because without that security the Israelis are
not going to be comfortable and the Palestinians would not be able to
survive in a state on their own.

Q Thank you.

END 11:52 A.M. EDT
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