White House

June 25, 2008 -- MR. HEIN: Good afternoon. This is Jay Hein. Thank you for joining this call and for your interest in the conference. Tomorrow, Thursday, the 26th, and Friday, the 27th, the White House is convening over 1,000 policymakers and faith-based and community leaders, researchers and others who are interested in the initiative.

The purpose of this national conference is to survey the landscape of the changes that have been made and the progress that's been achieved since the President launched the Faith-Based and Community Initiative during the second week of his first administration.    » read more »

June 25, 2008 -- MS. PERINO: Hello. One announcement for you. Tomorrow President Bush will deliver remarks at the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives National Conference. During his speech he will highlight the Initiative's record of helping millions in need across the country and around the world. We are working on getting you excerpts that will be released later this afternoon. I have two, though, that I can give you now.

One, he will specifically say on the philosophy behind the Faith-Based and Community Initiative the following: We followed a principle rooted both in our Constitution and the best traditions of our nation. Government should never fund the teaching of faith, but it should support the good works of the faithful.    » read more »

June 24, 2008 -- MS. PERINO: One announcement. President Bush continues to call on the Senate to swiftly clear the pipeline of all pending nominations. Currently there are 394 nominations pending in the Senate. These nominations cumulatively represent more than 50,000 days of missed opportunity in roles that are critical to our nation's security and prosperity.    » read more »

June 25, 2008 -- PRESIDENT BUSH: It's been my honor to welcome a friend, President Talabani, back to the Oval Office. He is the President of a free Iraq. He is a man who's been on the front lines of helping to unify Iraq and to help Iraq recover from a brutal regime -- that of Saddam Hussein.

George W. Bush shakes hands with Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq: White House photo by Eric Draper.

I complimented the President on the progress that the government has made. I complimented the President on the fact that as security has improved, he and his fellow officials are reaching out to all aspects of society to help people realize the blessings of a free life.    » read more »

June 23, 2008 -- MS. PERINO: Hello, everybody. I don't have anything to start off with, so --

Q The stock market is down, the oil prices are up. I take it that this wasn't the outcome you would have wanted from the energy summit.

Q Yes, things are going to hell in a hand basket.

MS. PERINO: Will attribute that to Bill Plante. (Laughter.) Look, look back to what we said going into the conference, which is that this is going to take a long time for us to deal with. There's no magic wand, it's not going to be a problem that we solve overnight. And I don't think anybody anticipated that this conference was going to have an immediate impact on price or on the stock market, which, of course, we don't run predictions on anyway.    » read more »

June 22, 2008 -- MR. CONNAUGHTON: Hello, this is Jim Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. And I just want to give you an update, after two intensive and constructive days of discussions among leaders' reps to the 16 major economies.

Just to refresh you all, this is the fourth meeting of leaders' representatives. These are people like me who directly report to their Presidents or Prime Ministers. And our goal is to pull together the agenda for a meeting of the leaders of the world's major economies on -- to discuss energy security and climate change. That leaders meeting will take place in conjunction with the G8 in Toyako, Japan. And the meeting will immediately follow the G8 meeting.    » read more »

June 20, 2008 -- MR. FRATTO: Good morning. As Dana would say, we're on our way to Naples, Florida. The President taped the radio address this morning. In the President's radio address, he'll reiterate his call for Congress to lift its ban on oil drilling in ANWR -- that's the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- and in the Outer Continental Shelf -- call on them to remove its block on oil shale leasing, and expand and enhance our refining capacity so we can meet the energy challenges we face.

Here's a quote from the radio address: "If congressional leaders leave for the 4th of July recess without taking action they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act."    » read more »

White House Press Gaggle by Scott Stanzel, Jim Nussle, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and David Paulison, FEMA Administrator - June 19, 2008

MR. STANZEL: Good morning, everyone. As you know, we're on our way to Iowa where the President will view the flood damage that has been occurring over recent days. I'll quickly go through the President's schedule and then turn it over to the two guests that we have here today.

First, this morning the President had his normal briefings at 8:00 a.m. At 9:30 a.m. the President and Mrs. Bush participated in a ceremony for the 2008 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Obviously you were all there for that coverage.    » read more »

June 18, 2008 -- MR. FRATTO: Good afternoon. I just have just one quick announcement for you on a -- FEMA will be hosting a conference call this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. to talk about the federal response to flooding. This will be at 2:00 p.m, and if you just check in with FEMA and they'll get you the information for call-in and they'll tell you about the whole federal response to the region affected by the flooding.

Yes, Terry.

Q On the President's offshore oil statement today, it didn't seem like he really wanted to cooperate much with Congress. He's calling them obstructionists, and blaming them for the high price of oil. Where do you come up with the idea earlier that he wanted to work closely with Congress on this?    » read more »

June 23, 2008 -- THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. Please be seated. Welcome to the White House. And it is fitting that we use the East Garden because, one, this is rarely used; and two, it is an opportunity for me to welcome a lot of people to the -- that are here to see the WNBA champs, Phoenix Mercury. And we're glad you came.

George W. Bush greets WNBA champions: George W. Bush is presented a Phoenix Mercury Championship banner and a personalized team jersey June 23, 2008, during the 2007 WNBA Champions, the Phoenix Mercury, visit to the White House. White House photo by Eric Draper    » read more »

June 17, 2008 -- MR. FRATTO: Good afternoon, everyone. A quick schedule update, announcement, and then we'll go to questions.

President Bush will welcome Prime Minister Dung of Vietnam to the White House on June 24th. The President welcomes the opportunity to talk to Prime Minister Dung about ways to advance our close bilateral cooperation on a broad range of issues, including ASEAN, the United Nations Security Council, food security and regional economic integration -- you might remember that the President visited Vietnam in November of 2006 -- and we'll have a statement going on shortly for you on that.

Questions.

Q Hamas leaders say they've reached a cease-fire agreement with Israel. What's the U.S. reaction to that?    » read more »

June 17, 2008 -- THE PRESIDENT: I've just assembled my -- many people on my domestic policy team to discuss the current flooding in the Midwest. Of course, our hearts and thoughts go to those who lost life. And of course, we're concerned about those whose -- who lost their homes or lost their businesses.

George W. Bush offers media a photo opportunity on Midwest flood relief: White House photo

I've been briefed by Secretary Chertoff and Secretary Schafer and Director Paulison about the response. First task at hand is to deal with the flood waters, to anticipate where the flooding may next occur, and to work with the state and local authorities to deal with the response.    » read more »

17 June 2008 -- Iraqi officials say a car bomb has killed 51 people and wounded 75 others at a market in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad. Tuesday's bombing in the Hurriyah district of western Baghdad was the deadliest in the Iraqi capital in more than three months.

The car bomb triggered a fire that engulfed a multi-story building containing shops and apartments. Many of the victims were trapped in that building.

Baghdad had been relatively calm since May 11, when U.S. and Iraqi forces began observing a truce with Shi'ite militants that ended weeks of fighting.

In another attack Tuesday, an Iraqi television news reporter, Muhieddin Abdul-Hamid was shot dead near his home in the northern city of Mosul.    » read more »

June 16, 2008 -- MS. PERINO: I'll just let Steve start.

MR. HADLEY: We are on our way to our last stop. This has been an extremely successful trip. It's been an interesting blend of looking back and being able to celebrate what the United States and Europe have done over the past now almost -- over 60 years, to develop a Europe whole, free and at peace. It's a great accomplishment.    » read more »

June 16, 2008 -- London -- PRIME MINISTER BROWN: I'm delighted to welcome President Bush and the First Lady back to London. And his visit today is an opportunity to celebrate the historic partnership of shared purpose that unites the United Kingdom and the United States of America. We both share a great love of history and about how we have forged the ideas of democracy and liberty over centuries.

George W. Bush with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown: White House photo by Eric Draper    » read more »