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Press Briefing by Dana Perino
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary July 14, 2008

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

˙ /news/releases/2008/07/20080714-5.wm.v.html ˙˙Press Briefings
˙˙Audio


12:44 P.M. EDT

MS. PERINO: Hello, everybody. First I'd like to spend a moment just sharing
a word about our friend and former White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow.
We appreciate all of the emails and outreach that you did to me and for
Jill and the children this week -- this weekend, after we got the terrible
news about his death on Saturday morning.

President Bush always says that you never know what sort of hand you're
going to be dealt with, and sometimes you're dealt a hand that you didn't
expect and that you don't want to play, but that you have to play it. And I
think all of us can agree that Tony Snow played his cards to the best of
his ability and in a way that we would all aspire to.

During his first White House press briefing on May 16, 2006, Tony said, "I
feel every day is a blessing," and throughout the next 16 months people
around the world witnessed him live up to the statement.

At this podium, Tony was a passionate advocate of the President's policies,
a devoted public servant, and a true gentleman. He was also a lot of fun.
He greeted each day with enthusiasm and each question with a smile -- but I
think he usually won out in the arguments.

During his last briefing on September 12, 2007, Tony said, "This job has
been the most fun I ever had." And most importantly, Tony always made clear
that his family came first, and that's why today our thoughts and prayers
are with Jill and his three lovely children, Kendall, Robbie and Kristi.

And as I announced this morning, the funeral service will be on Thursday,
July 17th, at Catholic University, at the Basilica. The President and Mrs.
Bush will attend.

I've got a couple other things; I'm going to read out the President's
meeting with the Sudanese -- his Special Envoy for Sudan, Rich Williamson.
The President and Ambassador Wilson [sic] spoke about his efforts to help
bring together the north and the south to implement crucial parts of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement, also known as the CPA. They talked about
finding a lasting solution to the border area, along with a formula for
revenue sharing, which remains a key to a lasting peace in the area. I said
Wilson earlier -- I'm sorry, it was Williamson, Ambassador Williamson.

He also briefed the President on the situation in Darfur and the efforts to
help speed the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers there. The
President said he was troubled that nearly one year after the passage of
the Security Council resolution that authorized the peacekeeping force for
Darfur, that force is still not fully deployed or capable of protecting
large civilian populations.

We are looking at ways the United States can do more to increase the number
and effectiveness of peacekeepers there. We also discussed in the meeting
the deplorable humanitarian situation in Darfur. The President said he is
gravely concerned by the increased insecurity in Darfur and the impact it
is having on the civilians and on the aid workers who are risking their own
lives to help protect them. The government of Sudan needs to live up to its
commitment to provide increased security to humanitarian envoys.

And finally, in just about 45 minutes, President Bush will have remarks in
the Rose Garden in which he will announce that he is going to lift the
executive prohibition on the Outer Continental Shelf for -- that would
allow for increased domestic oil exploration and production if Congress
also lifts its ban. And about a month ago, President Bush asked Congress to
move forward and to work with him in order to do this. We asked Congress to
take that step. They have not even held a hearing on the issue, even though
there's been a lot of talk about it in the country. There's a big debate in
the country, and I think Americans are increasingly realizing that we need
to start to look for more of our own resources.

We have improved technology tremendously to be able to do so in
environmentally friendly ways. So we will take this action today and we
will continue to call on Congress to act, and now the ball is squarely in
their court.

Terry.

Q On that, why did the President change his mind? He was -- a month ago
when this happened, everybody kept on asking him, why doesn't he do -- why
doesn't he do it by himself? And there was this long defense, it wouldn't
have any impact. So why did he change?

MS. PERINO: What President Bush wanted to do and still seeks to do is to
get Congress to work with him because we talked about having two keys that
need to be turned at the same time. There's a legislative ban and an
executive branch ban. President Bush said that we should do these and we
should do this in a way that -- at the same time that gets the keys turned.
It's become increasingly clear that Congress is not willing to take that
step on their own, so President Bush is going to lead, and we hope that
they will follow us.

And there's actually a couple of pieces of legislation that are already
introduced, and I think that Senator McConnell has one, as well, and
they're planning to continue to try to push to get hearings on these bills.
So it's not like they have to start from scratch; there's legislation that
exists.

And all the legislation would allow for the states to decide whether or not
they want to participate. It would get Congress to work with the states
through the legislative process to figure out the amount of revenue sharing
that would take place. And also, states would be allowed to try to -- to
decide on their own for how far out the view shed should be, in terms of
you're standing on the shore -- if you get over the horizon, that's where
the wells would be.

Q Does his action today revoke entirely the executive order his father
signed, or is it more nuanced?

MS. PERINO: It doesn't. It doesn't.

Q Okay.

MS. PERINO: Yes.

Q Given the reluctance of the Congress to turn the other key, is it fair to
call this a symbolic gesture?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that you have seen increasingly Americans are
understanding the importance of this issue; they're becoming more educated
about the advances in technology that have taken place that would protect
the environment. I know that across Europe, especially in the North Sea,
there's a lot of offshore oil drilling that takes place, and they've been
able to do it in ways that has been able to be protective of the
environment.

So there's three more weeks left of Congress, and you've been in town long
enough to know that oftentimes Congress gets most of its work done in just
the remaining weeks right before it goes off for August recess. One thing I
know that the Democrats continue to recommend is that we -- or to suggest
-- is that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the answer to all of our
problems. We strongly believe that it's not. That trick has been tried
before and it doesn't work.

It's unfortunate that the only place Democrats in Congress seem to be able
to think we can get oil is from our insurance policy, which is the extra
supply that we have in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And to my
knowledge, Speaker Pelosi or others have not indicated how long they would
recommend -- or how many -- how long they would recommend taking oil out of
the SPR. They've not said what the price point is they're trying to get to.
They've not said how long it would last. And so I think those are -- a lot
of questions have to be answered before they could even be taken seriously.
I believe that Democrats believe a problem delayed is a problem half-solved
-- and in this case, it doesn't work.

Q Are you seeing increased support from Democrats?

MS. PERINO: I think -- you can -- I won't speak for them, but I think you
have seen increasingly there have been some Democratic members of Congress
who are starting to change their position on this, and what -- in ways that
they can look at the technology that has improved, the demand from
Americans because they are paying record-high gas prices. And I will repeat
again, there's no magic wand that's going to decrease prices overnight. But
what we're trying to do is send a signal to the market that more supply
would be coming on line. And we will work with Congress to try to do that.

Bill.

Q Well, how can you conflate the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with offshore
drilling? I mean, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, whether it's a good idea
or not, would at least bring supply to the market immediately. What you're
talking about in offshore oil is 10 years away.

MS. PERINO: Well, what we have seen in the past when people have tried to
use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to affect price is that it hasn't
worked. It might bring it down a penny or two, and that's not enough. What
we want to do is get to the root cause of the problem.

Q I'm not really arguing with you on that, I'm just saying that the two
things don't match up.

MS. PERINO: I actually -- I totally agree with you. Because we're saying
that we should do more in terms of domestic production and exploration, and
the answer we get back is we should release more oil from the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve. We're already not filling it at the rate that the
President wanted to, because of a law Congress passed earlier this year
that we agreed to go along with. It hasn't affected price. So I think we're
in agreement.

Ann.

Q Same issue. Is the President lifting the ban -- the executive ban under
the belief that the oil industry is currently exploring every inch of
available lease out there, that there's nothing else that they could do,
other than more leases?

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that it's -- I think you're referring to the --
Democrats have called it the "use it or lose it" provision. First of all,
already in statute, that exists. I believe it's at the 5th, 8th, and 10th
year companies have to have production or else they have to return their
lease. And so first of all, that already exists. And secondly, it's
nonsensical to think that anyone that has oil to sell is holding onto it
right now when there's historic high oil prices. That's just not how the
market works.

Q But does -- is the President satisfied that the oil industry is already
doing everything it can to squeeze --

MS. PERINO: I've heard nothing to suggest otherwise. And I would say it's
not only the offshore oil companies that are working on their -- to find
oil that they could produce, but certainly, as one from the West, I know
that it takes a while for these companies to be able to get through all the
processes and the permits. So for example, if you go and get a lease, the
next thing that you have to do is go through the Endangered Species Act
permitting process, the Clean Air Act process -- I think that you have to
get a permit for that. There's other -- the NEPA process, which takes a
long time.

So it takes a while to get through all the environmental and conservation
permits that you have to do, not to mention you're usually fighting in
court because conservation groups have sued you. So by the time you're able
to actually explore for the oil or the gas, it just takes a little bit of
time. And what the President is wanting to do is speed that process up.

Q And has this administration enforced the "use it or lose it" provisions?

MS. PERINO: As far as I know, yes. There's been no changes in the law.

Anybody else on this? Wendell.

Q It's my understanding the congressional ban expires at the end of
September without -- unless it's reauthorized.

MS. PERINO: Every year. It's a yearly ban that they do in the
appropriations process.

Q So would what the President wants be accomplished by allowing the
congressional ban to expire, or do you need new legislation?

MS. PERINO: You need new legislation. And in addition to that, one thing
that's just a detail point, the President's ban or executive branch ban
goes through 2012. And as Wendell said, the legislative ban is something
that they repeat on a yearly basis.

Q So in the new legislation, are you willing to go along with the idea of
giving states veto power over whether offshore drilling is allowed, how far
out it's allowed, and willing to renegotiate the revenue sharing with them
beyond -- what is it, 37.5 percent?

MS. PERINO: Yes. I think all of those things are up for discussion and
there's legislation that is in front of Congress right now, and states
would have -- most importantly, the states would have a chance to review
the decision and make their own determination. And I think states across
the board will take a good, hard look at it, and they all -- they have
constituents and their citizens pay gas prices, too.

Q Dana, on another subject, is the White House disappointed that this
lobbyist, Stephen Payne, is on a video tape suggesting that he can deliver
high-level White House meetings, including with the Vice President, in
exchange for big contributions to the Bush library?

MS. PERINO: I'd say there's categorically no link between any official
business and the Bush library. Steve Payne was never an employee of the
White House, but we do use hundreds of volunteers a year, as you know, for
helping us do advance work. And of course I don't know all of the facts
about that situation, but we certainly would not advocate for such
behavior.

Q How close is he to the President and has he ever brought any of his
clients to the White House for meetings?

MS. PERINO: That I don't know. I do know that he's been a Republican
fundraiser for many years, so I believe the President has probably met him
on a number of occasions. But he was never an employee of the White House,
and so I don't know particularly about any contacts that they would have
had or -- at the White House.

Q And the last thing, just to clear it up, then, would the White House be
willing to release any visitor logs to show whether or not he was here with
clients, because he's out there telling --

MS. PERINO: I'd have to have to check with Counsel's office. And obviously
we've been down this road before with visitor logs and there's lawsuits and
things, so I'll have to check where that sits with --

Q Same subject, please. Are there any written guidelines, is there any kind
of an official firewall between the administration and the library?

MS. PERINO: I can check for you. I mean, I believe so, in terms of just
practice of how we've been working here, but I'll have to check in terms of
if there's anything written or that needed to be written. There's obviously
many people who are working on the library, but none -- I don't know of
anybody at the White House who has any dealings with it -- any particular
dealings with the library, the development of the library, the foundation.
I don't know of anybody here at the White House.

Q There's no liaison at all?

MS. PERINO: Not that -- well, liaison possibly, I think -- obviously
because he'd have to do scheduling with the President and talk to the
President, but I don't know of anybody in particular whose assignment it is
to work on library issues in particular.

Roger.

Q Dana, what -- can you tell us the status of the veto threat on the
Medicare bill? Does that still stand?

MS. PERINO: In terms of when we would do it?

Q Right, when he'd do it --

MS. PERINO: It does still stand, yes. I don't know the exact timing. Part
of it is we always work with Congress because they have to then take a vote
to see if they can override, and that'll probably happen sometime this
week.

Q I was going to ask you, have you taken a count, do you know if you have
the votes to sustain?

MS. PERINO: I don't know. I know it's going to be a tough fight and it will
be very close, but I don't know where we are in terms of the final yet.

Q Do you expect a veto by Wednesday?

MS. PERINO: I would think so, but can I check with Legislative Affairs and
just to see, because I -- part of this is not a time that we would decide.
We've tried to work with Congress and be respectful of when they're going
to be here.

Matt.

Q Dana, the administration has taken steps to shore up Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. Is that the extent -- maximum extent to which the
administration is willing to go to throw a lifeline to these mortgage
heavyweights? In other words, is there -- is the idea of a bailout off the
table as a -- if things take a turn for the worse?

MS. PERINO: I think you're referring to what Secretary Paulson announced
last night, which was a package to help restore stability and confidence to
what has been a very nervous market. The actions that he's taken were done
in order to prevent any taxpayer dollars from being at risk. And as far as
I know, the two companies, which their own regulators say they are well
capitalized, have not taken advantage of the borrowing opportunities yet.

We do hope the Congress, when they get back tonight and tomorrow, since we
have heard some good, positive responses from them so far, would be able to
work quickly, because we think this is urgent pieces of legislation that
need to get done, and that will be important for increasing confidence and
stability in the market.

Q Dana, you're planning to add that to the housing measure that's out there
--

MS. PERINO: Yes.

Q -- what's the status of the veto threat against that housing measure?

MS. PERINO: Well, we believe that -- the reason that the President would
veto the bill has nothing to do with the GSE regulator, which is something
that the President has called for since 2003. Arguably, that's the most
important part of this legislation. Second to that would be the
modernization of the Federal Housing Administration.

But the reason the President said that he would veto the Community
Development Block Grant provision was because it was $4 billion that would
go to help lenders and banks, not homeowners. And the President doesn't
think that that $4 billion needs to be spent in that regard. So as far as I
know, the veto threat still stands.

Q So he'd rather sink the bill than accept --

MS. PERINO: Well, I think we'd have to see what happens in Congress. I
think that there's many people on Capitol Hill who agree with him on the
CDBG money, and I think people understand the urgency of needing to get
this bill done. And it's fortunate that we have this vehicle to be able to
tack this on, and hopefully get it done within the week.

Q Dana, quick question. First of all, on behalf of South Asian journalists,
I pay my respect and tribute and condolences to the family, and also Tony
Snow, greatly. It's a very sad day.

MS. PERINO: Thank you.

Q The question is that both the Kennedys were talking last week about
Latino votes, or immigrants or immigration issues. And Senator Obama said
that without Latino votes, the President will not be winner; no President
will become President this election. So what President doing about Latinos?
How can they win the Latino votes, because what Latinos are saying that it
has not -- nothing has been done for them.

MS. PERINO: Obviously the Latino population in America is very important,
it has contributed significantly to our country. But when it comes to
counting votes, President Bush doesn't have to worry about it this time.
He's not up for election.

Q And second and very quickly, on Iraq -- on Iran -- I'm sorry.

MS. PERINO: Okay.

Q As far as their missile tests and nuclear tests and nuclear knowledge is
concerned, it's going still forward. One, who's helping them? Two, as far
as that knowledge is concerned, do you think that they are going on the
same road as North Korea?

MS. PERINO: I think that we're on the same road when it comes to North
Korea in terms of working a multilateral process to solve this problem
diplomatically. And what we call on Iran to do is to halt its uranium
enrichment. And I think one of the things they've been asked to do is to
not be so isolated from the international community. And slowly, very
slowly, and with verification, North Korea is on the path to being able to
have better relations with the international community. So that's the path
we're on and we're going to keep at it.

April.

Q Dana, back on Sudan, what's the White House say as to the actions of the
ICC? Were they just right, or were they a little over the top? What say the
White House?

MS. PERINO: We certainly urge all sides to remain calm in the wake of this
decision -- or this announcement by the ICC. We will monitor the situation
in The Hague. I'll remind you, April, that we are not a part of the ICC,
and so our input isn't necessarily what was going to matter in this
situation.

Q I understand that, but the issue is the fact that they've done -- this is
a very extraordinary step that they have taken and, even so, this White
House has talked about the fact that Sudan needs to follow through with the
resolutions at the U.N. and they have not. So is this action -- does this
action actually fit the case, fit the cause?

MS. PERINO: In terms of what the President is doing, I think as I told you,
we are focused on how do we get the peacekeepers into the area; how do we
get the peace agreement, the CPA, to take hold. And one of the ways that we
can do that is to try the help broker a revenue-sharing agreement. That's
one of the ways that we'll be able to see the goals of the CPA realized.

And we do believe that the government of Sudan needs to live up to its
obligations. That's one of the reasons we have United Nations Security
Council resolutions. We take them very seriously and we would expect others
to, as well.

But we want the entire international community who cares about Sudan and
who cares about the civilians, especially the ones who have been displaced
in Darfur, to be protected. And that's why the other thing that the
President focused on in this meeting today with Ambassador Williamson was
the peacekeepers and how do we get them there. And I heard a very
interesting statistic that in -- not in Darfur, I don't know the statistic
in Darfur -- but in the south of the country, there's only three kilometers
of roads. And so getting people around and getting this country moving
again, after the longest civil war -- I think in history -- is something
that the President is very concerned about. And that's why he met with
Ambassador Williamson today and is sending him back to the region to try to
work on it some more.

Q So is this meeting somewhat a result of what was going on, the
controversies that have been --

MS. PERINO: They meet periodically. Whenever Ambassador Williamson is back
and has a report for the President, he comes in. I think it's been about
every couple or three months.

Olivier.

Q Where is he going? And you mentioned --

MS. PERINO: Who?

Q The Ambassador. You said the President directed him to go --

MS. PERINO: I meant more in general, that he would be going back to the
table to keep the process going.

Q You mentioned that they discussed ways to get that force -- to speed up
the force. Can you talk about what kind of mechanisms, what the United
States can do to do that?

MS. PERINO: Not in specifics, but obviously these sources are needed to be
able to move people around, and that's something that the international
community has been calling for -- helicopters and the like. But I have
nothing to announce right now.

Q One on Syria -- I'm sorry. President Assad says that any country that is
serious about peace in the Middle East has to talk to Syria. Do you share
that view with Syria?

MS. PERINO: As Secretary Rice has said, we do have diplomatic relations
with Syria, and we have laid out conditions for which we would talk. And
she's been willing to talk with her counterpart. And we think that the best
way for Syria to have better relations with the international community and
for there to be peace in the Middle East is for, first and foremost, for
Syria to stop allowing fighters into Lebanon, and meddling in Lebanon's
business, as well as sending -- allowing foreign fighters to get into Iraq
through their border.

Q Dana, just one question today.

MS. PERINO: Wow. There's a collective sigh of relief. (Laughter.)

Q Senator McCain said that "If elected, I will ask Congress to grant me the
privilege of coming before both Houses to take questions and address
criticism, much the same as the Prime Minister of Great Britain appears
regularly before the House of Commons." And my one question: Wouldn't the
President be willing to give this McCain promise even a one-time Bush
tryout on Capitol Hill, since they also do this in Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, Ireland, India and Sweden?

MS. PERINO: I don't think it's going to happen under this President, but
I'm sure John McCain will have a good run of it.

Q Does he -- why not? Why not?

MS. PERINO: You said one question. (Laughter.)

Q -- a follow-up on the same one.

MS. PERINO: No, I don't think it's going to happen under this President.

Q Even giving this a chance --

MS. PERINO: No. No. Let's move on to Connie.

Q On oil prices, do you see any movement behind the scenes by the OPEC
countries to do something to reduce prices?

MS. PERINO: Not that I've heard, Connie, no.

Yes, sir.

Q A couple of weeks ago, the Mexican authorities released a video of police
being trained for torture. Some members of the U.S. Congress are worried
that the President already signed into law for giving Mexico $400 million
to train police and military officers in Mexico. Is there any word by the
President that that agreement and money could be used to train another
police --

MS. PERINO: I have no -- I would need to check into it. I -- obviously we
were grateful to get the money for the Merida Initiative. We think it's
very important for improving law enforcement, especially along that border
region where it's been a lawless situation for a long time.

But President Calder˘n has been dedicated to trying to improve the
situation and we will help him there. I would actually point you back to
the government authorities in Mexico, who had some things to say about that
video in terms of the training issues. I don't want to get in the middle of
that because I'll let them speak for themselves when it comes to that.

But when it comes to the Merida Initiative, we're pleased to be able to
work with them and we are going to be sharing a lot of intel -- not just
intelligence, but also a lot of human capacity building. We're going to
help with a lot of training down there, which we think is essential to
improving the situation.

Go ahead.

Q What's the White House view of their good friend, Israel, a democracy in
the Middle East, negotiating with terrorists and having -- releasing a
known terrorist -- actually it's five of them -- in exchange for possible
dead bodies of murdered Israeli soldiers?

MS. PERINO: Obviously I think that you come to this with a particular point
of view and I respect it, but I'll let Israel answer the questions for the
actions that it's taking. We have already commented about its decisions to
have conversations with some of its neighbors and we think that they made
those decisions on their own, but they've kept us fully informed.

Q As part of a worldwide fight against terrorism though, as far as setting
precedents of negotiating with terrorists --

MS. PERINO: I don't think that's how Israel describes the conversations
that they're having. I really don't. And I respect your point of view, but
--

Q That's not my point of view. I'll be glad to send you editorials as well
as articles from --

MS. PERINO: I'm sure that others -- I'm sure -- and I'm sure you're not
alone in that view.

Q Right.

MS. PERINO: But I don't think Israel describes it that way and I'm not
going to speak for the government of Israel.

Yes, ma'am.

Q Thank you. Senator Obama is planning a trip to the West Bank. Is there
any comment from the administration as to how that could potentially help
or hinder America's role in the region?

MS. PERINO: No. No, I'm not going to comment on his trip.

Yes.

Q Is the President satisfied with the progress of the investigation into
the anthrax attacks?

MS. PERINO: I don't know if he's had an update on it, but obviously this is
something that the FBI is doing. We don't do the investigation from the
White House.

Q Well, is he following the progress?

MS. PERINO: You know, I'm sure he -- he gets updated by Director Mueller
once a week on a variety of issues, and if that comes up, I'm sure he gets
an update.

Q You don't know if he's satisfied with the progress?

MS. PERINO: I don't.

Q Thank you.

END 1:09 P.M. EDT
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