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Press Briefing by Press Secretary Dana Perino
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary October 24, 2008

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

˙ /news/releases/2008/10/20081024-1.wm.v.html ˙˙Press Briefings
˙˙Audio


10:48 A.M. EDT

MS. PERINO: Hello, everybody. A few things for you. The President is
currently attending briefings at the National Security Agency. This visit
is similar to the ones the President has done at the CIA, at the State
Department and at other places. I expect he'll be doing that as much as he
possibly can between now and the end.

In addition to receiving updates on the work of the NSA, the President will
also have an opportunity to have lunch with employees there and to thank
them for their hard work in helping keep all of us safe.

This afternoon the President will sign the NATO Accession Protocols for
Albania and Croatia. Prior to the signing the President and NATO Secretary
General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will deliver remarks. The President has
supported NATO enlargement as part of an important vision of a Europe that
would be whole, free and at peace. He is proud to have supported the
aspirations of Albania and Croatia from the beginning of this
administration. The invitation to join NATO is recognition of a country's
achievements on the path to prosperity and peace. And in return, NATO
membership promises the security and stability of that country going
forward. And the President looks forward to signing the U.S. ratification
protocols, and that will then Albania and Croatia one step closer to NATO
membership.

The President recorded the radio address this morning, and in it he
discusses the current economy and the upcoming economic summit that he'll
be hosting here in Washington on November 15th. I have an update for you on
the venue for that location. I'm happy to announce that a site has been
chosen for the November 15th Summit on Financial Markets and the World
Economy. The summit will take place at the National Building Museum here in
Washington, D.C.

A scheduling update for you. On November 11th, Veteran's Day, the President
will visit the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York, and make
remarks at the rededication of the museum. The President will be presented
with the 2008 Intrepid Freedom Award, which recognizes world leaders who
embody the ideals of world freedom and democracy.

Of the many guests in attendance, 2,500 of them will be veterans, who will
also take place in New York City's Veteran's Day Parade.

And with that, I'll go to questions.

Q The stock markets around the world are plunging today on fears of a
global recession. I know you don't comment on stock market movements, but
is there any assurances that you can give about the economic crisis?

MS. PERINO: At this -- you're right, I don't comment on the daily
fluctuations in the markets. What I can say is that at this time the
markets are digesting a lot of information, a lot of economic news that is
coming in, as well as implementation of the policy tools that we have
implemented here, and that other nations around the world have started to
implement as well. So it's taking a while for the markets to digest that.

The President and his team are focused on addressing the issues as best we
can. I do have an update for you on -- in regards to the summit, in regards
to international markets. The President has designated three officials to
help organize this summit, and to make sure that the substance is clear,
and that we can have an effective meeting on November 15th.

They will be helping to define the agenda, and then incorporate ideas and
recommendations from their international counterparts, and then work on
consensus regarding the principles for reform that then the task force will
take back and work on individually. But it would be Dan Price, who is the
Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs; Reuben
Jeffery, Under Secretary of State; and Dave McCormick, Under Secretary of
Treasury. Their work has been underway for some time. And we'll keep you
updated as we go forward.

Q Are your goals still as you stated the other day, kind of a broad set of
principles to guide any policy changes, and not policy changes themselves
coming out of November 15th?

MS. PERINO: I think that what's going to happen on that day -- well, there
will be the dinner the night before, which will be a working dinner, and
then the next day's meeting. But the President and his counterparts will
look to do a few things. One, define the problem, the underlying problem,
the causes of the financial crisis, review progress to date. We've taken a
lot of steps here in our country. We've coordinated steps with others. And
then individual countries have taken action themselves. So we'll get a
report on that progress. And then they will talk about these principles for
reform, identify those, and then have working groups that are tasked with
going back and working with their financial experts in their countries as
to how they would be implemented in their own countries.

Q Dana, what's your message to people who are looking at what's happening
-- another 400- or 500-point drop right now -- they're looking at this and
seeing a disconnect between a multi-billion-dollar bailout that is
seemingly at this point having no effect and saying, wait a minute, we
could have got this for free. What's your message to them about how to sort
of -- why it's necessary to throw all that money and still have this kind
of terrible fallout?

MS. PERINO: Well, we've looked for an opportunity -- ever since the bill
passed said it was going to take a little bit of time for all of us to dot
the I's and cross the T's to get all of the policies in place. And that's
taking place right now. We've had Neel Kashkari, who is the Assistant
Acting Secretary for the rescue package implementation, was on Capitol Hill
yesterday talking about the progress.

What we tried to warn people about across the country is that it's going to
take a little bit of time. We weren't talking weeks, we're not talking
months -- we're talking just a few weeks for us to be able to hire the
contractors. There are so many people that have to be hired and they have
to -- we have to make sure that we're getting the right people. And before
money can go out the door we want to make sure that those contracts are
rock solid and that we're doing the best we possibly can to make sure the
taxpayers are paid back.

So we're in that period right now where -- we're waiting for that
implementation. We're closer than we were yesterday. They work as hard as
they possibly can. So what I would ask is that Americans be a little bit
patient with this program. We do think it is big enough to solve this big
problem; it's just going to take us a little while to get through it.

Q So people who are looking at this need to understand, wait a minute, the
cash hasn't actually gotten out yet, and you're confident that once that
money does start seeping into the system, that these rocky 400- and
500-point days, that should draw to a close and the market should stabilize
and begin to strengthen?

MS. PERINO: Look, we make no guarantees about what's going to happen in the
stock market going forward. But we do realize that we had a massive problem
and so we designed a massive solution to be able to deal with it. So it's
big and bold and decisive. It is going to take a little bit of time, but we
-- one of the root causes of the problem has been two things. One, the
credit markets froze up. And once that happened, no one was willing to lend
to one another; inter-bank lending was coming to a standstill. And we
started to see that unthaw a little bit, so that money can start moving
through the system. So we know that the plan is starting to work that way
-- just even on the suggestion and the promise and the application process
that is moving forward. People realize that the government is not going to
let the system fail.

And then secondly, we did today receive a bit of good news in the housing
sector. We're not out of the woods yet by any means when it comes to
falling house prices and our fundamental problem of an over-supply of
homes, but we're getting nearer to the bottom every day. So we just can't
make any promises, but we do think that we have the right tools in place to
help get this back to a place where we need it to be.

Toby.

Q Countries worldwide took coordinated action several times to try and calm
the financial markets, and it doesn't seem like it's had much of an impact.
So in the near term looking forward, what other steps can the United States
take, along with its partners overseas?

MS. PERINO: I just told you that our three -- the President has three
officials who are working with -- not just on the meeting, but they are
tasked with making sure that their counterparts are well informed about all
of our actions here. It's going to take a little bit of time for the
markets to digest all this information.

And four weeks ago one of the questions I got in this room was, is this
just a United States problem? And what we've realized is that it is not,
and that individual countries all across the world are feeling effects --
not just developed countries, but developing countries as well. And it's
like wildfires that pop up, and you're trying to extinguish them in a
coordinated fashion.

But also, countries are going to have individual ways of addressing these
problems themselves. We'll be working with them and coordinating with them.
You saw today that the IMF is continuing to work with developing countries.
And our Treasury Department is in contact with the IMF to try to help them
get through this economic crisis. So I don't have anything new to announce
to you. We're trying to implement the program that we have.

Kathleen.

Q I have another subject.

MS. PERINO: Anyone on this subject?

Q Yes.

MS. PERINO: Okay, Wendell.

Q Yesterday, the President's former Treasury Secretary said that the push
for homeownership, the bipartisanship push for homeownership simply went
too far. And he went beyond saying that unqualified people --

MS. PERINO: Are you talking about Greenspan, or --

Q I'm talking about John Snow.

MS. PERINO: John Snow, okay. Was he testifying?

Q Yes, he testified to the House committee.

MS. PERINO: Okay. I didn't see his remarks. So hopefully, I'll be able to
answer your question.

Q Well, maybe you won't. (Laughter.)

MS. PERINO: That was my warning to you.

Q Yes. He went beyond saying, you know, unqualified people were given
loans. It goes without saying that that happened. He said the push for
homeownership went too far; it should have been more focused on saving,
less focused on this ownership society that was a big part of the
President's agenda. Does he disagree?

MS. PERINO: Since I didn't see the comments, I won't comment on that. But
let me tell you what the President's policy was, and why he had it.
Homeownership is a really great thing for lots of Americans. The President
did promote homeownership, especially minority homeownership, which went up
at an amazing rate. The President never recommended risky loans. And in
fact, we were trying to put the kibosh on that for a long time, and we
didn't have a willing partner in Congress.

We do think that people being able to own their homes is a way to help
establish good communities, good families and help improve the economy. So
we did support that. But no one in this administration, nor the previous
administration, would have supported people getting into situations that
they weren't going to be able to -- where they weren't going to be able to
pay for their own mortgages.

John, you still on this?

Q Yes.

MS. PERINO: Okay.

Q Any further discussions about a lame-duck session, and what might be done
then, and could it possibly include more action on the housing situation?

MS. PERINO: I think people are aware of it and talking about it. I think
that the Democrats will come back and call for a lame-duck session. But I
don't know that for sure. I'd have to refer you to the Speaker's office for
that. But I don't think that you'll see any actions before the election on
anything that would be shaped up for that lame duck.

Q Do you need any action on anything?

MS. PERINO: Well, we have several things that we would like to see. One of
the best ways to deal with one part of our economy that has been doing very
well -- which has been exports, and it's been starting to shrink -- it
would be to open up more markets to American workers and American
businesses. And we have three free trade agreements in front of the
Congress right now: Colombia, Panama and Peru -- I'm sorry, South Korea.
And we'd like to see those voted on there in front of Congress. It would be
the fastest way to be able to help a lot of workers across this country.
That is something that we would like Congress to be able to do. But when
you asked me is there anything we need to have done, I don't think so.

Q Same subject?

MS. PERINO: Okay.

Q The Senate isn't scheduled to come back now until November 17th. Do you
think that, given the chance -- or at least, Pelosi is talking about coming
back sooner than that -- that it would be a good idea to come back --

MS. PERINO: Call the Speaker's office and see what they're really thinking.
I don't know. I can't speak for them. I don't know what they're thinking up
there. Who else had their hand up?

Q Same thing.

MS. PERINO: Okay, Goyal. Then I'm going to go to Kathleen. Go ahead.

Q Oh, okay. One, how you think this White House summit -- financial summit
will be different than the World Bank and IMF? Recently world leaders were
there?

MS. PERINO: Well, I laid out for you the agenda to the extent that we have
it. I know that it's loose, but we'll be filling out those details for you
as we get closer to the meeting. But this is talking about the problems
that we've had, and the ways to coordinate going forward on reform. So I
think it will be significantly different. But those two entities will be
there at the meeting.

Q And second, that many countries are in crisis, including the U.S., and
many countries seeking help from the IMF and the U.S. Now there's
demonstrations in Pakistan. They are seeking help from the IMF to forgive
their debt like (inaudible), $37 billion during President Musharraf now. Is
U.S. going to help?

MS. PERINO: We've been long concerned about Pakistan's economy, and the
concerns there about instability that could come from that. And we know
that they have been talking to the IMF, and we're working with them too. We
recognize that a stronger economic situation in Pakistan will help all of
us be safer.

Okay, Kathleen.

Q Dana, President Bush often speaks proudly about Afghanistan's fledgling
democracy, the need to support it and defend it. And he talks about how
women can vote there, and how young girls can go to school there. I'm just
wondering if he's aware of, or concerned about, the case of the young
journalism student, the 24-year-old student Parwez Kambakhsh. He's been --
he had been sentenced to death for blasphemy recently. But it was just
reduced to 20 years in prison. And according to reports, he asked questions
in class about women's rights under Islam. And he also had printed an
article off the Internet that asked why Islam does not modernize to give
women equal rights.

Now a group of Reporters Without Borders has called on Hamid Karzai to
intervene. The case can still go to Afghanistan's Supreme Court. Is the
President familiar with it? Is it something that he would consider bringing
up with President Karzai?

MS. PERINO: I don't know if he's familiar with that particular case. I am,
having read reports about it. And we're obviously disturbed about it. We
think that everyone should be able to express their views. And of course,
we think, and the President has been the biggest champion for women across
the world, starting here in this White House and going all the way to
Afghanistan, Africa, China, India -- any place.

But one of the things that we are very concerned about, as well, is that
these reports are very disturbing. But so are reports about what the
Taliban is doing to innocent people. And just this week you had buses -- a
bus stopped where 30 people were brutally murdered. And I think that
Afghanistan has a long way to go. They do have a fragile democracy. We have
NATO forces there. I'm sure that the President and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
will talk about that today. I will try to find out if he knows about this
individual case and if he's brought it up with the President.

Q Quick one. OPEC made a decision to cut its output by 1.5 million barrels
a day. How do you see this affecting the U.S. economy? And has anybody from
the White House contacted any of the OPEC members about this?

MS. PERINO: We have regular contact with all of those countries. But our
position has been well known, which is that we believe that commodities
should -- that the prices of commodities should be determined on the open
market. And we also believe that the NATO -- excuse me, not NATO, but OPEC
members recognize that when there's a slowdown in the economy and there's a
lower demand for their product, then we -- the price will go down, that's
one thing. But also, if we have markets that are well supplied and the
market is determining the price, then everyone would be better off.

So we deliver that message regularly. I couldn't tell you what impact their
meeting today would have on our economy, though I would -- I'm sure you're
following the oil prices, which continue to go down, and they're lower now
than they were, I think -- well, certainly this summer, and then probably
even this spring; it's down about $64 a barrel. So I don't know what sort
of impact it's having on the market.

Q Dana, on NATO, NATO expansion plans. Plans for providing MAPs --
Membership Action Plans -- to Georgia and Ukraine dead now, given their
position in Europe?

MS. PERINO: No. Not at all. The President and Secretary Rice and others,
including Angela Merkel, have said that those meetings should go forward
and we should debate those issues on the merits and see if we can get that
process moving forward. They said last April that they would meet in
December at the foreign minister level. As far as I know, that meeting is
still to take place, and our position certainly hasn't changed.

Q Is the President still as confident as he was that they will get MAP
status this December?

MS. PERINO: We see no reason that they shouldn't get MAP status, but I
haven't heard lately if we have any other designs on it. I think that we
have seen growing support for Georgia and Ukraine, given what happened this
summer, when Russia invaded Georgia.

Q So he is as confident as he was.

MS. PERINO: As far as I know, yes.

Q Is he going to talk about that today?

MS. PERINO: I don't know.

Q Quick question on the summit. Have all the world leaders confirmed that
they'll be in attendance?

MS. PERINO: I'll check for you. I don't know.

Q Thank you.

Q Dana, anything nailed down on the President's voting?

MS. PERINO: I'm going to try to get that for you by the end of the day.

END 11:05 A.M. EDT
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