Press briefings

May 19, 2009 -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room -- MR. GIBBS: No Supreme Court announcements to make, so we'll just take it away.

Q Mr. Gibbs.

MR. GIBBS: Yes, sir.

Q Senator Durbin, explaining the Democrats having pulled the $80 million out of the funding bill for the closure of Guantanamo, said that the money might be forthcoming once there's a plan. Is there a plan coming right away?

MR. GIBBS: Well, we agree with Congress that before resources that they should receive a more detailed plan. I think the President, as you know, has plans to outline issues relating to detainees and detention policy at a speech in Washington on Thursday.

Q And one would expect that plan to be detailed on Thursday?

MR. GIBBS: A hefty part of that, yes.

Yes, sir.    » read more »

May 15, 2009 -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room -- MR. GIBBS: Before we get started let me do a quick week ahead, so we can get into that. The President has no scheduled public events on Saturday. On Sunday, as you know, the President will deliver the commencement address at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Following the speech he will travel to Indianapolis to attend a fundraiser for Democratic members of Congress from Indiana. He will return to Washington, D.C. and the White House that night.

On Monday the President will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu here at the White House. On Tuesday the President will attend an event honoring the SBA’s National Small Business Winners of the Year at the White House.    » read more »

May 13, 2009 -- MR. GIBBS: I want to do two things before we formally get started -- first of all, a statement on the confirmation of the newest Administrator of FEMA.

The President appreciates the good work of Acting FEMA Administrator Nancy Ward, but is pleased his nominee, Craig Fugate, was confirmed last night by unanimous consent. From his experience as a first responder to his strong leadership as Florida's Emergency Manager, Administrator Fugate has what it takes to ensure America is ready to respond to an emergency. He will be a tremendous asset to FEMA, its employees, and the American people.

Secondly, I just want to give you guys a quick readout from the President on his meeting today with Senate leadership and members of the Judiciary Committee.    » read more »

May 12, 2009 -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room -- MR. GIBBS: I have no preset announcements, so hopefully a voice that's been restored --

Q It's getting better.

MR. GIBBS: One step at a time, right?

Q That's very kind of you to bring it up again. (Laughter.)

MR. GIBBS: Helpful. It's a big topic this week.

Q Senator Baucus is talking about remedying the tax-free status of job-based health insurance. I know that was something that the President as a candidate was critical of, may be more open to now. Can you talk about his position on whether that benefit should remain completely tax-free or not?    » read more »

May 11, 2009 -- SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Great, thank you, everyone. So mainly I'm going to be here to take your call -- your questions, but let me just give you a very brief overview of what this report is.

It serves several purposes. One was to sort of summarize or to reinforce what we had done originally to estimate the number of jobs that we expected the Recovery Act to save or create. It discusses how once we got into office how we've met with all of the economists and the agencies to get a sense of how they would measure or estimate job creation and worked up a system for doing that so that we get consistency across the agencies.    » read more »

May 11, 2009 -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room -- MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. Before we get started, I had a chance this morning to discuss two important stories with the President and I want to give you some reaction to that.

First, he's obviously saddened to hear the news this morning from Camp Victory. The President's heart goes out to the families and friends of all the service members involved in this horrible tragedy. He was shocked by the news of this incident and will press to ensure that we fully understand what happened at the clinic, and that we are doing everything we can to ensure that our men and women in uniform are protected. He plans on seeing Secretary Gates this afternoon and will raise this matter then.    » read more »

May 8, 2009 -- MR. GIBBS: Good Friday afternoon, everyone. Let me start with a couple of -- well, I have one trip announcement, I have the upcoming week ahead, and a readout of the President's call to President-elect Zuma of South Africa.

But I want to start by talking about the President's June trip overseas. On June 4 the President will give a speech in Egypt. The speech will be about America's relations with the Muslim world. He will then travel on June 5 to Dresden, Germany and visit Buchenwald Concentration Camp. And on June 6, as has been reported, the President will take part in activities commemorating the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

The week ahead for you --

Q Where in Egypt is the speech?

MR. GIBBS: We have not locked in the final location yet.    » read more »

May 6, 2009 -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room -- MR. GIBBS: All right, guys, let's come to order here. In an effort to keep you on your toes and to prevent the normal boredom of having to listen to me each and every day, we have a special guest, the Secretary of State, to give us a readout on her meetings this morning with President Karzai and President Zardari.

Madam Secretary.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, Robert. You know, I successfully avoided this room for eight years. (Laughter.) But I'm very pleased to be here to discuss the series of meetings that we had this morning as part of our second trilateral with delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and this time led by their respective Presidents.    » read more »

May 6, 2009 -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room -- MR. GIBBS: Here for the p.m. edition of the White House briefing.

Q Make this a habit.

MR. GIBBS: Yes -- keep you guys busy.

The President has obviously concluded the meetings with President Karzai and President Zardari. And as promised, we'll give a -- get a readout from General Jones, the President's National Security Advisor.

General.

GENERAL JONES: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm pleased to be here to talk a little bit about the meetings that were held this afternoon that you've already heard quite a bit about. I'd just like to add a couple of points to those that have been already been made.    » read more »

May 6, 2009 -- SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hi, everybody. Thanks for joining us. As Ken said, we are about to roll out the budget document, and we just wanted to give you some sense of some highlights that we think are important going into it. As you know, the President has talked in some detail about the new foundation that he wants to lay for broad and sustained economic growth, and a budget that will make the investments we need, overdue investments in reforms; in education so every child can compete in the global economy; in health care reform so that we can control costs and offer affordable coverage to Americans; and investing in renewable sources of energy so that we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and become the world leader in this new clean-energy economy.    » read more »

April 28, 2009 -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room -- MR. GIBBS: Before we get started, let me read a letter that is being sent from the White House today to leaders in Congress and to the appropriations chairs on Capitol Hill. It's from the President:

"This week as reports of the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak around the world were made public, my administration has been carefully monitoring the situation, coordinating state and local responses, assessing the risks here in the United States, and cooperating with international organizations and health officials around the globe.    » read more »

April 26, 2009 -- Secretary Napolitano, Department of Homeland Security
John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
Dr. Richard Besser, Acting Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Robert Gibbs, Press Secretary

Mr. Gibbs: Good afternoon, guys. Thank you for taking some time out of your Sunday afternoon. We wanted to bring together many of the people that have the primary governmental responsibility in dealing with the situation and to discuss the government's capacity and capability to discuss the steps the government is taking to address this.    » read more »

April 20, 2009 -- MR. GIBBS: We did not do a week ahead last week. I have an exceedingly abbreviated one that I will -- I'll narrow it down to the next few days ahead, so as not to fail to meet expectations.

Tomorrow the President will sign national service legislation passed by Congress a few weeks ago. Scheduled to attend that event are former President Bill Clinton and Senator Ted Kennedy, for whom the bill is named.

Q Is that here?

MR. GIBBS: Yes. The President will present the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the Naval Academy football team at the White House. And the President will also meet with King Abdullah of Jordan tomorrow.    » read more »

March 26, 2009 -- MR. GIBBS: How is everyone? Good afternoon. No announcements, so we'll just start with Mr. Feller.

Q Thanks, Robert. On Afghanistan, two topics, please. General Eikenberry said that allies need to do more towards the war effort, and of course you've been hearing this for some time. But I'm wondering what specifically the President wants from NATO allies. Is he going to have a specific ask for more troops? Can you talk about that?

MR. GIBBS: Well, let me give you a little bit broader answer on Afghanistan and our Afghanistan-Pakistan review.

The President is making calls and briefing members of Congress based on the conclusion of that review, which the President will announce tomorrow at the White House. So I'm not going to, predictably, get in front of that.    » read more »

March 25, 2009 -- MR. GIBBS: Good afternoon. I'll make a couple of brief announcements before we get started.

The President just had a good meeting on the Hill with Senators Dorgan and Conrad, Representative Pomeroy of North Dakota, Senator Klobuchar and Representative Peterson of Minnesota. The President is following the situation in Minnesota and North Dakota closely. He approved the disaster declaration last night and assured members of Congress that he will act on any request for assistance quickly.    » read more »