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.