Lawrence Ari Fleischer

“ And the President hopes that in the wake of witnessing such an act of terrifying violence that it will send a wakeup to the Palestinian authority and to Israel and to all in the Middle East, don't let this path of violence be the path that guides you. Choose another path, and that is the past that you committed yourselves to, to engage in dialogue, to engage in confidence-building steps, to engage in security talks, so that you can have a lasting cease-fire, which allows you to address the broader political problems in the Middle East. ”

“ But to say that the tax cut is, and then they add an interest expense, $1.9 trillion, for example, is as wrong as wrong can be. The tax cut is the amount of money of taxes cut for the American people. And I would just suggest that as people wrestle with this issue, and figure out how to address it, it's a slippery slope, unless people are prepared to ascribe an interest cost to each and every proposal made by Congress, to either spend money or cut taxes. ”

“ But from President Bush's point of view, whether the unemployment rate is 4.5 percent or 4.9 percent, any one American who loses a job has 100 percent unemployment. And that's why his focus will remain, like a laser beam, on growth, on improving the economy. And that way the government and the country can enjoy surpluses bigger than the second largest, which we currently enjoy, and as well as giving a stimulative effect to the economy. ”

“ You cannot have a one-party approach to reform in Medicare. The Medicare program is much too important and much to central to the lives of our seniors. And so any proposal that anybody makes on Medicare, whether it's giving prescription drugs to seniors or whether it's structural reforms that involve Part A, Part B, all need to be explored in a fashion that brings Democrats and Republicans together. ”

“ I think there's no question that if the Senate were to abandon any approach to conservation, any approach to increased exploration, to fixing America's aged infrastructure, the Senate, in the middle of the summer, would be turning its back on people who are paying sky-high prices for energy and who are still lurching from crisis to crisis. ”

“ I think what is most important is to protect the economy. There are certain tax cuts that we need to do because they are simply the right thing in terms of values. There is no reason that people should pay a tax upon death; the death tax should be abolished. There is no reason that married people should pay higher taxes simply because they say "I do." We should reduce the marriage penalty. But the most effective tax cut you can make to protect the economy, in President Bush's opinion, is a marginal, across-the-board income tax rate cut. ”

“ Without the tax cut, the economy would be far worse. The fact of the matter is, from the estimates of economists -- Democrat, Republican, private-sector, it doesn't matter -- you seldom see such wide-spread agreement against economists that the tax cut is going to provide a boost to the economy, without which there is a strong possibility the nation could go into recession. It's the economy -- it's the tax cut that's holding up and strengthening the economy that's going to enable it to turn around and bring in more revenues. Revenues result from growth, not just from the tax rate structure. ”

“ Any time somebody wants to visit a skilled nursing facility or home health care, all of those are funded out of the non-trust fund portion of the Medicare budget. And when you combine all of Medicare, which is the way a senior citizen will look at Medicare, is how do I get my health -- they don't worry about A or B, which is the artificial government convention between hospitals and everything else -- they say, how do I get my Medicare? Medicare when it is taken in its totality does not have a trust fund surplus, it has a deficit. ”

“ The budget that the President sent up to the Congress today funds America's vital priorities, such as Social Security, Medicare, child care, fighting crime, health care, while paying off a historic amount of debt, and providing tax relief. What opponents of this budget want to do is spend more government money. The only reason they want to reduce the size of the tax cut is not to pay down more debt, but to spend more money. ”

“ And the President, looking out the window, said out loud and to nobody in particular, he said, "The mightiest building in the world is on fire. What you're just witnessing is the war of the 21st century." ”

“ And I dare say, many people in this room. You all work for corporations. The reason you are able to have this insurance, whether you are stationed here in Washington or whether you worked out of a bureau somewhere else, you would still have the same insurance policy. And that's because of the federal nature of insurance regulations. If you, for the first time in this legislation, say it's better to have suits heard in the state court than the federal court, you begin to undermine the uniformity that has allowed the package of benefits to be delivered to so many millions of workers. ”

“ It's hard to be committed to the cause of human rights when you've put Sudan and Libya on a panel that's dedicated to fighting for the cause of human rights. The real losers in this equation are people around the world who are struggling to be free. ”

“ Well, I think as with any issue, with any decision that the President makes, he's going to take into account recent events -- whether it's a domestic decision, an international decision; whether it's China, in this case or anywhere around the world. The President will, of course, take into account any recent developments that need to be factored into any decision he makes. But his approach to this decision is one based on his belief that trade helps create freedom, that trade helps create opportunity, that trade helps liberalize a society and leads to more democracy and openness. ”

“ It's now more important than ever to get energy legislation passed to help protect and promote American energy independence. It remains important, in the President's opinion, for the faith-based initiative to pass and move forward, because there still are millions of Americans who are in need who can find solutions to their problems through some of these more community- and faith-based solutions. So the domestic agenda continues, and part and parcel of that, too, is always in the need, both in war and peace, to keep a careful eye on taxpayer dollars. ”

“ There's no doubt about it that people are suffering, and the President wants to make certain that a plan is in place, both on the energy front and on the tax front, so people have more money in their pockets so they can deal with the rising cost, not only of energy, gas at the pump, but home heating oil and for their other needs that are complicated by energy. Air conditioning bills will be higher, gas bills will be higher, and this is a long-term problem that the American people face. Tax relief is a solution that works not only now, but it will work permanently down the road. ”

“ And by any measure, if Democrats start talking about delaying tax cuts or rescinding tax cuts or not letting them go into effect, or taking back people's rebate checks, a tax hike is a tax hike is a tax hike, and all of those are tax hikes. That's why the Democrats are pursuing them. They allegedly raise revenue, but they will hurt the economy. The President is confident that his budget protects America's priorities, that it increases funding for education for defense, for example, but it gets the economy going and growing again. ”

“ Because, again, the federal system that has gotten health insurance to tens of millions of workers is a good system that's working. Why would anybody want to undue it? And by taking court cases out of the hands of the federal government and putting them in the state hands, it could start to unwind the very successful system that has encouraged employers to provide insurance to their employees. ”

“ Well, we are looking at a budget that will increase government spending by a more moderate amount then has been done in the past. Spending will go up, but it will just not go up anywhere near as much as it had been going up previously. And no matter how you define it, that is an increase. What's important is the best way to preserve the surplus, pay down the debt and allow the American people to get their taxes cut is to start a new way of spending, which is to have much more reasonable and moderate rates of spending. ”

“ And an amazing thing is happening right now, if you take a look at consumer confidence, if you take a look at people who think the country is on the right track. There has been in many circles a patriotic rally where the American people have expressed their confidence and their belief that the United States is on the right track, that the United States economy will be strong. And it's that American spirit that has always kept us free, and has enabled us to deal with any adversaries that have ever crossed our paths before. ”

“ It also still has to emerge from the Senate floor. But the President does feel very strongly that tax relief is the answer to many people's problems, because it puts money in people's pockets for them to use to solve the problem they identify as the biggest in their lives. For some families, that's going to be the high price of gasoline. For other families, it's more money that they can save and invest. For other families, it's money to pay off their credit card bills. That's the beauty of letting people keep the money that they, themselves, earn. ”

“ And if you go back to a period of time beginning, or just before the Great Depression, and you note that there was a world war, there were, I believe 11 recessions, one Great Depression -- investments in the stock market still out-perform the rate of return that people get on their Social Security money that's invested in the government. So even with a long history in this country of bulls and bears, of ups and downs in the markets, over time, over long periods of time, investments in markets out-perform investments in government bonds, therefore, giving people more money to retire. ”

“ I think if you go back to September of 1999 and examine the President's statements at the time he gave a series of defense and foreign policy speeches, it is very clear that President Bush believes very deeply that the best way to preserve the peace is through the development of a national missile defense to protect against an accidental launch or a rogue missile launch -- rogue nation launch of a missile. And he intends to pursue that matter in consultation with our allies, and he will indeed pursue it. He believes it's a very effective way to protect America and our allies. ”

“ Today's vote is a victory for all Americans who want to see environmentally-responsible energy production to help protect consumers from wild fluctuations in energy prices, and increase America's energy independence on foreign supplies of oil and gas. ”

“ And it's a sign of the importance the United States places on its relations with Japan and the sorrow that we feel for the people in Japan who lost their lives, and for people who have lost their loved ones. ”

“ And as we know, the surplus can be used for multiple priorities. And all you have to do is ask the question, of the following priorities, how would you divide the surplus? And what you'll see is, frankly, the American people will divide the surplus very much like the President has, with the biggest share of it going to debt reduction, with $2.6 trillion saved for Social Security, with only about a quarter of it used for tax relief. So all you have to do is ask the question in a more accurate way, and you'll find that the American people are very supportive of what President Bush has proposed. ”

“ One of the most interesting things about tax legislation, it's so numerical that you can still have the core principles of what you believe in -- in this case, across-the-board marginal income tax rate cuts, marriage penalty relief, death tax relief, and there are all kinds of ways to look at phase-ins and the periods of time at which things become effective, to implement the same policies over a slower period of time. Which means that the tax cut can be accomplished for less money over a longer period of time. ”

“ If there's any touching, it's as a result of too much spending by the Congress. So this is a wake-up call to the Congress not to spend tax dollars, because if they spend, and go back onto a spending spree, the Congress risks tapping Social Security's money. And Congress should take no step that will put Social Security within reach. As for Medicare, it has long been the position of the Bush administration that there is no surplus in Medicare. And the reason for that is, there's a shell game in Medicare. Medicare is divided into two parts that only people in Washington understand. ”

“ The budget that's released today is important to average, everyday Americans because it shows, even with the slowing economy, the budget is strong. The tax dollars are being used wisely and that the surplus has been protected. American people work hard, and when they send their money to Washington, they don't want it wasted and they don't want to return to the days of deficits. The only way we are going to return to the days of deficits is if Congress busts the budget and increases spending once again. ”

“ And like any parent raising a child, they expect the right to talk privately with their children, no matter what position they hold in life, whether they're the President of the United States, whether they are the head of an organization, whether they're an ordinary citizen who gets to enjoy their privacy. I think it should always be the right of any President of the United States to have private conversations with their children. ”

“ Well, I think the way the President is going about creating a faith-based initiative that's supported on the left and the right is exactly what you've seen him do -- he's meeting with the left and he's meeting with the right, and he's building bridges between the two. And that bridge, in the President's mind, arrives at a faith-based initiative that, for the first time, can get the government involved in helping people who have some intractable problems in our society, where government programs can be helpful but don't go far enough. ”

“ Historically, slowdowns last a year, a year and a quarter. It's unusual for them to go beyond a year and a half. Combined with the six rate cuts that the Federal Reserve has put in place, combined with the tax cut that is now in place, that's delivering rebates, which will help stimulate spending, stimulate savings -- all of that is likely to give a spur to the economy. Exactly what month, what quarter, that's something for economists to speculate about. But the evidence -- in fact you said, economists don't think it will take place for three or four months. ”

“ Well, I can't help but notice this funny new standard that is trying to emerge from those who have historically been resistant to tax cuts, and that is for the first time they're attaching the cost of interest expenses to the proposal without analyzing it as part of interest costs as opposed to tax cuts. For years people made spending proposals and never attached interest costs to it. Many of the same people today who said you have to attach interest costs to tax cuts have never attached interest costs to spending increases, for which they were generally known. ”

“ April, differences of opinion are nothing to new Washington. What we hope will be new to Washington is the manner in which those differences are settled and aired. And that is with civility, with respect for each other, with listening. I can't remember a President of either party inviting people over to the White House who have such a different view, for the simple reason he wanted to hear their point of view. ”