*EPF401 08/15/2002
Transcript: White House Daily Briefing, August 15
(President's schedule, Freedom Corps, economy, Mexico/Fox, Iraq/Kurds leader Barzani, homeland security, Egypt, Palestinian Authority, East Timor/Indonesia) (2630)

White House Deputy Press Secretary Claire Buchan briefed reporters aboard Air Force One the morning of August 15 as they accompanied President Bush on a trip to Keystone, South Dakota.

Following is the White House transcript:

(begin transcript)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Keystone, South Dakota)

August 15, 2002

PRESS GAGGLE BY CLAIRE BUCHAN

Aboard Air Force One
En route Rapid City, South Dakota

8:45 A.M. CDT

MS. BUCHAN: Good morning. He's had his intelligence and national security briefings on board this morning. When he arrives in South Dakota he will have -- actually, first, let me tell you -- sorry -- he'll be met by Freedom Corps volunteer Jerome Harvey. Jerome is 36 years old. He started volunteering with the City of Lead Fire Department at the age of 13, where he was tagging along with his father, who was a volunteer fire fighter for 50 years.

In 1987, his volunteer commitment turned to a full-time job with the city, where he became assistant fire chief and emergency management coordinator. He continues to volunteer with incident management teams throughout the United States, responding to wild fires and other disasters. And he's also volunteered with the local ambulance service as an emergency medical technician and with the Northern Hills Fire Prevention Team, teaching people about fire prevention.

Following that, he will -- the President will participate in a roundtable on economic issues with South Dakota citizens. And then he will make remarks on homeland security at Mount Rushmore.

Q: How were the citizens chosen for the roundtable?

MS. BUCHAN: It's a fairly broad range of citizens, including ranchers, farmers, representatives of the Cattlemen's Association, representative of the Wheat Commission, representative of the South Dakota Women in Timber and Black Hills Multiple Use Coalition. So it's a broad range of individuals from the South Dakota community.

Q: Why did he want to talk to them about economic issues or hear from them?

MS. BUCHAN: As you know, the President is very concerned that we be doing all we can do to generate economic growth. And he is interested in hearing from people, as you saw earlier this week, from across the country about what's going on in their respective communities with regard to the economy, and their ideas as to how to address them.

Q: Why would that be closed to the press?

MS. BUCHAN: That's typically the way the roundtables are held.

Q: Has the President spoken today -- let me take that back. Has the President spoken since Tuesday with President Fox?

MS. BUCHAN: He did speak with him on Tuesday, I do not believe he spoke with him yesterday. And I don't know if there were any conversations this morning. If there are any and I can advise you of them, I will do so.

Q: So you don't know of a conversation upcoming today or this week?

MS. BUCHAN: To my knowledge, he has not had one this morning. If there is one and we're able to share that with you, I will.

Q: Claire, do you feel that President Fox's decision not to come to the United States in any way damages U.S.-Mexican relations?

MS. BUCHAN: As I said to you earlier, President Bush and President Fox share a strong professional relationship, as well as a friendship that represent the deep bonds of our two countries. And the President very much looks forward to his next meeting with President Fox.

Q: But do you think it hurt at all that he has chosen to cancel?

MS. BUCHAN: As I said, the President has great respect for President Fox and that continues.

Q: Scott told me that you said "no" earlier today, and I'm wondering why you're not repeating that?

MS. BUCHAN: Oh, I'm -- it's not anything.

Q: So you don't think it will hurt relations or --

MS. BUCHAN: No, as I said, the President has great respect for President Fox, they share a strong professional relationship and a friendship.

Q: Claire, did President Fox indicate his intention not to come to the U.S. in that Tuesday conversation?

MS. BUCHAN: I don't have the details of that conversation.

Q: Was he re-invited?

MS. BUCHAN: As I said, the President looks forward to future meetings with President Fox.

Q: Do you know whether or not there is anything on the schedule for a future meeting between the two? Is there anything concrete planned?

MS. BUCHAN: If there is anything to announce to you, we will do so, as we always do.

Q: Claire, what about the questions we asked you earlier, the one about the Kurdish leader coming? Was the President or was the White House disappointed that he failed to come to the meeting last week?

MS. BUCHAN: He was invited to the meeting and -- hang on one second -- he wanted to come. The United States worked to facilitate his travel to the United States, but for a variety of logistical reasons he was not able to come.

Q: There is -- is the President encouraged by his visit to Wisconsin and Iowa, about the prospects that there might be some Republican gains in the congressional races and also particularly the Senate, and then in the governor races for Republicans in November?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, the President would very much like to see representatives in the House and in the Senate who share his vision for America, and he'll continue to campaign across the country for candidates who share his vision.

Q: We're about to enter Daschle country. Can we anticipate some strong, challenging remarks from the President in the same kind of defiant tones that we've heard at the economic summit about, you know, he wants the Senate to do this, he wants the Senate to do that, and let's get together and give me this, that and the other? Is he going to be more, shall we say, frank, that some of this responsibility lies at the doorstep of Senator Tom Daschle?

MS. BUCHAN: Well, the President feels very strongly that, for example, on homeland security, that the House passed legislation that provides the necessary flexibility to build an agile homeland security department. And you heard the President talk about the importance of that flexibility yesterday. And you can expect him to do so again today. Those are very important issues that he thinks are critical to good homeland security legislation.

Q: Claire, indications are that CEOs have moved to comply with this requirement that they certify their financial statements. That was the indication yesterday, that they met the deadline. Is the President encouraged by that? Does it send a good message on investor confidence?

MS. BUCHAN: The President felt that the recertification was an important step toward accountability. The President believes that investors and shareholders need confidence in corporate leaders, and that the recertification process is an important step on that road.

Q: Did he make any specific request of CEOs to go any step further in continuing to reassure investors, or continuing in sort of transparency of these sign-offs?

MS. BUCHAN: The President continues to call on CEOs, on business leaders, to be open and be transparent in their reporting to provide additional disclosures, and to do so in a way that shareholders can understand the information, so that when they make decisions, they're doing so in an informed way.

Q: Any new specific request that you would anticipate?

MS. BUCHAN: That the President will call on? If there's anything to share with you, we will.

Q: Claire, can we go back to Barzani for a minute? At least from my reading of the Times story, his fears seem to be that the U.S. had not done enough to give the Kurdish people cover, whether it was the mobile units, or saying that they would intercede if Saddam gassed them. Is there any sort of reaction in terms of things the U.S. is willing to do, to make him feel more comfortable, that essentially we would help his people out if he did join us?

MS. BUCHAN: As I said, he was invited, he wanted to come. And for logistical reasons, not for other reasons, for logistical reasons he was not able to come.

Q: So you disagree with the report that he -- okay.

Q: Claire, on the Washington Post report about aid to Egypt, is it true that the administration will not support additional new aid to Egypt because of the case of the civil rights?

MS. BUCHAN: Egypt is an important friend and ally. And the United States has expressed its deep concerns about this particular case. As a friend and ally, we will meet our Camp David commitments.

Q: Sorry, will meet --

MS. BUCHAN: We will meet our Camp David commitments. But at this time we don't contemplate additional funds beyond the Camp David commitments.

Q: And is that because of the -- this particular case?

MS. BUCHAN: We'll meet our Camp David commitments, and that's really --

Q: But the fact that you don't envisage any additional aid, is that because of the treatment of this particular individual?

MS. BUCHAN: We've expressed our concerns about this individual. And I -- you know, there's nothing to add beyond that. We've expressed our concerns about this matter.

Q: So there's no link between the two?

MS. BUCHAN: We've expressed our concerns about this matter. We will adhere to our Camp David commitments. But at this point we don't contemplate additional --

Q: Claire, is the President concerned about the state of the airline industry, given the bankruptcy on Sunday of USAirways, and some other collapses, possibly imminent bankruptcies?

MS. BUCHAN: The President is concerned that we need to be doing everything possible to promote economic growth. That's why he held the forum on Monday, that's why he's calling on Congress to enact terrorism insurance, to make the tax cuts permanent, to enact an energy proposal.

So the President very much believes that we need to be doing everything possible to spur economic growth, because he is concerned about people being able to get jobs who want jobs, and certainly that -- well that extends to any industry where people are fearful that they might lose their jobs. The President believes we need to be doing everything possible to get the economy growing to its full potential, so that we can be creating as many jobs as possible, and that businesses can grow and create jobs.

Q: Bill signings today, world leader calls, anything you know of?

MS. BUCHAN: I will keep you posted if we hear.

Q: Was the President or is the White House encouraged by the Palestinian finance minister saying that they're going to create this holding company to increase transparency on Palestinian Authority assets?

MS. BUCHAN: On June 24th, the President called for increased transparency and accountability. We regard the finance minister's actions as being consistent with the President's call for increased transparency, as they add to it. The President views it as important to building institutions necessary in a Palestinian state.

Q: Are you happy? I mean, could you say --

MS. BUCHAN: Yes, we believe it's positive, yes.

Q: Will there be any events for Mr. Thune while the President is here? Obviously, there's not --

MS. BUCHAN: There's not a fundraiser, no.

Q: Will he do anything else for him while he's here?

MS. BUCHAN: The events that he's doing are the roundtable and the remarks at Mount Rushmore.

Q: East Timor? Any comment on the --

MS. BUCHAN: It's a matter that's being pursued by the Indonesian authorities and the Indonesian courts. Without commenting on the specifics of that case, we generally applaud the Indonesian government for pursuing -- for holding accountable the officials and -- the government officials and the military officials for activities in East Timor.

Q: And are you disappointed at all with the way the verdicts have turned out?

MS. BUCHAN: I'm not sure I understand --

Q: Are you disappointed at all with the way some of the verdicts have turned out? For example, six people I think just yesterday were acquitted entirely.

MS. BUCHAN: If there's anything to add to what I said, I'll get back to you.

Thank you.

THE PRESS: Thank you.

END 8:58 A.M. CDT

(end transcript)

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