*EPF101 01/14/2002
Transcript: White House Briefing, January 14
(Pretzels, Bush phones Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah and Syria's President Assad, President's trip to Illinois, Missouri, Louisiana, John Deere, Bush trip to Asia in February, India/Pakistan, President's health) (1620)

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer briefed the press travelling with President Bush on Air Force One as he headed to Illinois to make a speech.

Following is the White House transcript:

(begin transcript)

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

January 14, 2002

PRESS GAGGLE WITH ARI FLEISCHER ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE EN ROUTE TO EAST MOLINE, ILLINOIS

9:48 A.M. EST

MR. FLEISCHER: I come bearing a gift to the press corps from the President. For the press. If you can read it, it says, "From POTUS. Chew slowly," saying we're going to make you the recipients of pretzels. (Laughter.)

Q: Did he have any?

MR. FLEISCHER: Did he have any? He wanted the press to test it first.

Q: Is that the bag he ate from last night?

MR. FLEISCHER: No. A gift to the press.

Let me give you a rundown on a couple of things. One, the President this morning called President Assad of Syria from Air Force One. He also called Crown Prince Abdullah to discuss the war on terrorism. Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, to discuss the war on terrorism, and also with Crown Prince Abdullah, to talk about working together to achieve peace in the Middle East. He thanked Saudi Arabia for their friendship, cooperation and help, and emphasized the mutual goal of bringing peace to the Middle East.

Let me describe to you the trip today, tomorrow, and interestingly, also the third portion of it, which is the Asia trip in some ways. A big part of this trip is to make vivid the powers of free trade, the job-creating powers of free trade. Often in Washington, the debate about free trade is a hard to understand debate. This trip is designed to make clear to the American people the job-creating power of trade.

So the President is going to go to the heartland and then basically follow the path of the Mississippi River down to a port, and then, of course, in February, when the President goes to Asia, the land where we export our products in a way that creates jobs.

Now, the purpose of the Asia trip is much broader than that, but the purpose of today and tomorrow is to visit a manufacturing facility today where combines are made in Illinois, and then in Springfield, the President is going the visit -- or, I'm sorry, Aurora, Missouri, the President will visit a feed mill, both of which are big job-creating industries -- manufacturing, agricultural -- which puts bread on people's plates, jobs for people at home in the heartland -- and then basically, trace the path of these products, which go down on barges in the Mississippi River to the Port of New Orleans, where 25 percent of the products at the Port of New Orleans -- the jobs at the Port of New Orleans are the result of exports.

And it's a metaphor --

Q: Twenty-five did you say?

MR. FLEISCHER: Twenty-five percent of the activity, economic activity is a better way to put it -- 25 percent of the economic activity at the Port of New Orleans is as a result of exports. The jobs the longshoremen have is a result of exports. And, of course, the rest comes from imports, signaling the two-way street that jobs be created in our country.

Now, it's not literal. The combine that he's going to visit in Illinois won't literally be exported from the Port of New Orleans. But many manufactured products will; many agriculture products will.

So the President is going to basically follow the path of the Mississippi River to demonstrate to workers at home the job-creating powers of free trade. And you will be able to just picture it in your mind as you see workers on an assembly line in Illinois, and then jobs created in the shipping industry as barges move down a river, to the jobs created for our longshoremen in our ports. And then to the powers of exports and free trade that create jobs. And, of course, the President will call on the Senate to pass trade promotion authority.

In East Moline, Illinois, the President will tour and make remarks at the John Deere Harvester Works, which employs 1,850 people and manufactures roughly $1.5 billion worth of combines every year. From there, the President

Q: That sounds too low, Ari.

MR. FLEISCHER: That's $1.5 billion.

Q: Dollars worth?

MR. FLEISCHER: Of combines.

Q: A combine, itself, is a couple hundred thousand dollars.

MR. FLEISCHER: Billion -- with a "b". Nearly 25 percent of combines are exported.

Q: How many employees again?

MR. FLEISCHER: 1,850. Now, John Deere, nationwide, employs approximately 43,000 people. The East Moline facility where we're going to visit employs 1,850 people. And John Deere has had layoffs through a combination -- has had job losses as a combination of retirements, layoffs, restructuring in asset sales. And the facility we're visiting has laid off 80 employees since last fall.

So the President will take a tour, visit workers, and then give remarks. And then at 11:00 a.m. the President is going to have a meeting with some 50 grass-roots supporters from Iowa and Illinois -- private meeting prior to his departure.

And then the President will arrive into Springfield-Branson Regional Airport, where he will deliver remarks to a couple thousand people at the airport. And those remarks will focus on the economy.

And then the President will travel into Aurora, Missouri, where he will visit the Aurora MFA -- Missouri Farmers Association -- Feed Mill. That's a collective bargaining organization for farmers. It's affiliated with the National Co-op Association. And they produce approximately 100,000 tons annually of feed, which is then distributed throughout southwest Missouri to co-op retail sites and individual farms.

And then the President will arrive into New Orleans. Tomorrow he will tour the Port of New Orleans, visit with workers, make remarks about the economy and trade, once again. And that's the highlights of our trip.

Q: You said something about an Asia trip.

MR. FLEISCHER: We announced on Friday that the President will be traveling to Asia in February.

Q: Into what countries?

MR. FLEISCHER: Japan, Korea, and China.

Q: Do you have the dates yet?

MR. FLEISCHER: It's on the release. It's mid-February --

Q: How about the situation between India and Pakistan?

MR. FLEISCHER: As you know, Secretary Powell is leaving for the region. The President and his advisors continue to monitor it. The President yesterday called President Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee. He praised President Musharraf for the speech he gave. The President viewed it as a courageous speech. And the situation remains one of concern, and the President will continue to monitor it and stay fully engaged.

Q: In that speech, President Musharraf specifically called on the United States and the international community to step up and mediate the Kashmir dispute. He said there will be no more violence in trying to resolve that dispute, it will be done diplomatically and politically. But he said the United States has to step up and do something about Kashmir. What's the administration's response?

MR. FLEISCHER: The United States will continue to play a constructive role and to be helpful to the two parties. I'll just leave it at that, Terry.

Q: Was he examined again this morning with the doctor?

MR. FLEISCHER: He was. Dr. Tubb examined the President this morning shortly before 7:00 a.m. and checked out the President's vital signs -- his blood pressure, neurological exam. And the Doctor reported that all checked out normal.

Q: Do you know if he was given a CAT Scan last night?

MR. FLEISCHER: He was given an EKG.

Q: Has he had an X ray since he hit his face?

MR. FLEISCHER: No, he has not.

Q: -- checked for breaks in the facial bones?

Q: You said it was just an EKG, is that what you said?

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes. An EKG last night.

Q: Is he planning any tests like that, any X rays or tests?

MR. FLEISCHER: At this point, the Doctor does not see a need for additional tests. Now, if anything else develops, he hasn't ruled it out, but at this point, no additional tests are planned.

Q: How does the President feel today?

MR. FLEISCHER: He feels fine. Still a little under the weather. But in terms of the fainting, he feels fine, he said, but he still has a runny nose and feels a little bit under the weather.

Q: Due to the size of the injury, is he still concluding that he hit his glasses?

MR. FLEISCHER: Yes. The President said this morning his glasses -- told me last night, too -- his glasses are bent.

Q: So you think that's actually what he hit and didn't bend them some other way?

MR. FLEISCHER: He thinks it was either any combination of the table, the floor and the glasses. He was wearing the glasses. They could have hit the table, hit the floor.

Q: The dogs are in the clear then?

MR. FLEISCHER: Dogs are innocent.

Q: But they looked at him funny.

MR. FLEISCHER: That's what he said. He did not report that the dogs rushed over to lick him. I don't know if that's an indication that the dogs were giving the President de marche.

Q: Barney is a little slow, I think.

MR. FLEISCHER: Barney is too small to get up there to lick.

Q: Thanks, Ari.

MR. FLEISCHER: Okay.

(end White House transcript)

(end transcript)

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