White House Gaggle

By Scott McClellan
April 26, 2005

Office of the Press Secretary
(Galveston, Texas)

Aboard Air Force One
En route Galveston, Texas

10:23 A.M. CDT

MR. McCLELLAN: Good morning everybody. A couple of things to

begin with. The President had his usual briefing out at the ranch this
morning. We will be going to Galveston, where the President will be
participating in a roundtable with a Social Security expert and some
Galveston County officials to highlight their alternate plan that they
have for employees in the county. There are a couple of neighboring
counties — I believe Matagorda and Brazoria Counties — as well that
offer alternate plans for — retirement plans for their employees. And
this is a way to highlight the benefit of personal accounts, as well as
finding a permanent solution to make Social Security sound for our
children and grandchildren, and these are models that can guide us as we
move forward on the legislative efforts to make Social Security
permanently sound and make it a better deal for younger workers. And we
appreciate that Senator Grassley is moving forward in his committee
today on efforts to strengthen Social Security.

Let’s see, we return to D.C. after this event. I think that’s
really all I have to begin with, so I’m here for whatever questions you
all might have.

Q Scott, why — Tom DeLay is not from Galveston, why is he
riding back with the President today? And what’s the signal that the
President is trying to send by inviting him on Air Force One?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, he is from the area. Galveston is near his
district and we typically invite members of Congress to events in their
area, and we’re glad to have Leader DeLay flying back to D.C. with us.
I know the President looks forward to seeing him and visiting with him
on the way back.

Q Is this a way to, you know, express further commitment to
their relationship, you know, further backing DeLay?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think we’ve already made that pretty clear. I’m
sure it will be an opportunity for them to continue to visit about how
we can move forward in Congress on the important priorities facing the
American people. He is someone that the President has worked closely
with, along with other congressional leaders, to get things done for the
American people.

That’s the way I would describe it.

Q Does DeLay’s district touch on Galveston at all?

MR. McCLELLAN: No

Q Okay.

Q Does this have something to do with his ethics problems?

MR. McCLELLAN: What’s that?

Q Is it helping him with his ethics problem?

MR. McCLELLAN: This has to do with an event that is occurring in
his area and the fact that the President appreciates his leadership in
the House and that we work very closely with him, as well as other
congressional leaders, on the agenda for the American people.

Q But how strongly is the President supporting him at this time
in which he’s embattled in this ethics dispute?

MR. McCLELLAN: As strongly as he ever has, which is strongly.

Q He wasn’t deterred by the latest revelations about the
lobbyists paying for his plane tickets? That didn’t give pause to the
President?

MR. McCLELLAN: No. Look, those will be issues that Leader DeLay
has said he’s more than happy to address before the Ethics Committee and
those matters will be addressed by congressional leaders and by
Congressman DeLay.

Q Scott, what does the President think of polls that show
two-thirds of people disapprove of his handling of Social Security?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think you have to keep in mind what we’re
in. One, we are still in the early phase of our efforts to strengthen
Social Security and get something done this week [sic]. And the goal of
the initial phase has been to educate the American people about the
problems facing Social Security. And the American people now recognize
that there are serious problems facing Social Security. Survey after
survey shows that a majority of Americans believe there are serious
problems facing Social Security. And that, in turn, is helpful to get
the American people to urge Congress to act. In the Gallop poll just
the other day, more than 60 percent said they believe Congress is moving
too slowly. And Congress is now beginning to move forward in committee
on legislative efforts, and we appreciate that effort.

But the goal has been to make sure that the American people understand
the problems facing Social Security. There are significant problems and
the American people want to see Congress act to make Social Security –
to make sure that Social Security is around for our children and
grandchildren. There is a big hole in that safety net right now: it’s
fine for today’s generation, but we’ve got to fix it for our children
and grandchildren and the American people recognize that. So I think
that that has been important progress and that is exactly what we set
out to do in this initial phase. This is not an issue that we have ever
viewed was going to easy to get done right away. If that was the case,
it would have been done long ago.

Q But, Scott, just the mere fact that Tom DeLay will be at today’s
event is distracting from what the President is trying to accomplish.
Does –

MR. McCLELLAN: Oh, I disagree. Like I said, Leader DeLay, along with
other leaders in the House and the Senate, is someone who is committed
to getting things done on our shared priorities. And I think that’s
evident by the way he worked to move energy — comprehensive energy
legislation through the House last week. And he’s someone who has
participated in meetings with the President, along with other members of
Congress, to talk about ways to strengthen Social Security and get it
done this year.

Q What does the President think of this offer by Harry Reid and by
Senator Biden for a deal on judges, that if the President were to maybe
relent on some of the most, in their minds, most conservative judges,
that they’d be willing to work out a compromise and approve some of the
President’s nominees that have been either deadlocked or filibustered?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think our view is that Senate Democrats need to
stop playing politics and give all judicial nominees an up or down vote.
It is unprecedented the steps they have gone to, to prevent highly
qualified judges from receiving simply an up or down vote on the floor
of the United States Senate. In terms of senatorial procedures, those
are matters for the Senate to address. You know, I’m sure that the
leaders in the Senate will discuss those matters, but our view has been
and continues to be that all judicial nominees should receive an up or
down vote. The President has a responsibility to appoint individuals to
the bench, and the Senate should move forward in a timely way to make
sure that each and every nominee has an up or down vote. These are
nominees that we believe have a majority of the support of the United
States Senate and it is the constitutional responsibility of the Senate
to fulfill their responsibility to vote on those nominees.

Q Should the Republicans entertain the compromise?

MR. McCLELLAN: Like I said, those are discussions that will be held
between the leaders in the Senate. Our belief is that all nominees
deserve an up or down vote and it’s time to stop playing politics with
the judiciary. Some of these are judicial emergencies and these are
individuals that have received high marks for their qualifications and
their judicial temperament.

Q Did you think the Republicans were playing politics when nominees
when the Clinton folks had problems getting their nominees through?

MR. McCLELLAN: What has happened in this Senate is unprecedented.
There has not been a situation like this, where members of one party
have blocked nominees from even receiving an up or down vote on the
floor.

Q What did the President do this morning, anything fun?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think he was going on a bike ride. I’ll double check
that when he gets on. That was before his briefing this morning

Q As the 60 days winds down, what’s his role going to be? Is he
going to continue to travel the country like he is, like he has been?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, like I said, the 60-day push was our effort to go
out and really define the problems facing Social Security for the
American people. And we’ve accomplished that goal. But this is still
an early phase in our efforts to strengthen Social Security and the
President is going to continue reaching out to the American people as we
move forward to get something done this year. The American people want
to see Congress act and solve this problem.

Q How many states has he visited now?

MR. McCLELLAN: This is 23.

Q And you said we’ve accomplished that goal, what was laid out to do
in the first 60 days and now that this 60 days is coming to a close, do
we see the President laying out a new goal for the next 60 days?

MR. McCLELLAN: We’ve continued to consult with members of Congress
about how we move forward to advance a solution. The President believes
it’s important that we have a bipartisan solution. Our door is open.
We would hope the Democrat leaders would start coming to the table with
ideas for solving the problem, instead of simply standing in the way of
solutions.

Q Does the President pivot, or do we — I mean, does the President
stop traveling after these 60 days? I mean, what does he do now?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, as I said, he will continue reaching out to the
American people and continue going across the country talking about this
important priority. This is a high priority for the American people
that affects everyone and the President is going to continue talking
about the importance of acting this year. Congress is — you know,
we’re also entering a new phase in Congress, where they’re starting to
move forward on legislative efforts and we appreciate the leadership of
Senator Grassley and leaders in the House, like Congressman Thomas. And
we’ll continue to work closely with them as we move forward to advance a
solution. And the President will continue to work in a way and make his
views known in a way that helps advance a solution.

Q Is he open to a final solution that doesn’t include private
accounts?

MR. McCLELLAN: I appreciate the opportunity to sit here and negotiate
with the pool this morning. (Laughter.) I think the President has made
his views very clear, that all ideas are n the table as far as he’s
concerned, with the exception of increasing the payroll tax rate. This
is a time when we should be welcoming ideas, not getting into ruling
things out. And the President believes that we must address the hole in
the safety net, we must make Social Security permanently sound. And he
believes we also need to strengthen it for our children and
grandchildren by giving them the opportunity to realize a greater rate
of return on their retirement savings — that’s why personal accounts
are so important and that’s one of the things that he’ll be highlighting
today. I think there are examples in Galveston County, some where
people have realized a rate of return that’s almost twice as much as
what they would have realized under the current Social Security system.

Q But, Scott, at some point all these ideas have got to come together
and the President has to make it known which ones he’s in favor of. He
brought this idea to the American public. If he’s taking this forward,
why don’t we see a plan from the administration?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President will be focusing more on solutions as we
move forward. But the President I think made it clear that this is an
issue that we should work together on to advance a bipartisan solution.
And that’s why he’s been reaching out members of Congress, both
Democrats and Republicans, alike, and he will continue to do so. He
wants to continue to consult with leaders about how to move forward to
advance that bipartisan solution.

But he has I think made it very clear that he will — I mean, one, he is
leading on this issue and going out across the country and talking about
the need for action. And he’s been very open to welcoming ideas from
others. Unfortunately, Senate Democratic leaders — I mean, some
Democratic leaders continue to simply stand in the way of a solution,
instead of coming to the table with ideas. We would hope that that
would change.

But another aspect of this debate, keep in mind, just a couple of months
ago there was discussion about whether or not there were serious
problems facing Social Security. Today, people are now focused on
solutions and talking about solutions. But this is not a time for
people to be trying to block ways to advance a solution. This is a time
for people to come to the table with ideas to advance a solution. And
that’s the way the President has been approaching it.

Q Any reaction to Putin’s speech yesterday on democracy in Russia?

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me see if there is any more to add. I mean, I saw
where he talked about the importance of democratic reforms and those are
issues we continue to talk about with Russia. We have good relations
and we’ll continue to have discussions on those issues, but let me see
if there is any more from the President’s standpoint to add to it.

Okay, thanks.

END
10:37 A.M. CDT