Lawrence Ari Fleischer

“ The President believes that any attempt to clone a human being would present a grave risk to both -- to the mother and the child. He opposes it on moral grounds. And there is a presidential directive already in place that prohibits federal funding for cloning of humans, and the President supports that. ”

“ The President believes that the moral and ethical issues posed by human cloning are profound and cannot be ignored, even in the quest for scientific discovery. And, frankly, there is a general consensus around the scientific community and many other places that supports what the President has said. ”

“ He does not support the Kyoto treaty. It exempts the developing nations around the world, and it is not in the United States' economic best interest. The President has directed his Cabinet Secretaries to begin a review so we can, as a nation, address a serious problem, which is global warming. That Cabinet-level review is underway, and the President looks forward to receiving the results. ”

“ And I think until you see the results of the Cabinet-level review, it's premature to speculate about exactly what steps the administration will make. But, obviously, any time a treaty has to be submitted by 55 of the signatory nations in order for it to go in effect and only one nation has submitted it, it's an indication that other nations agree with the United States. Q Well, let's be clear. I mean, is this treaty from the United States' viewpoint, dead, or -- because he opposes it doesn't mean that you have abandoned it, necessarily -- has this treaty been abandoned by the United States? ”

“ The estimate by the Joint Committee on Taxation on repeal of the death tax assumes an immediate, full repeal of death taxes, which, of course, is not the President's proposal. The President has proposed a phased-in repeal of the death tax over an extended period of years. ”

“ And he wants to be able to sign campaign finance reform. In the past, people had free votes, they knew that they could posture on campaign finance reform because it didn't matter. Those days are over. The President is looking for action. Q Real bullets, but a lot of people say non-severability is the time bomb that will eventually kill this, if not now, down the road, and if the courts kill it, everybody gets a bye because the voted for campaign finance reform and said those bad guys in the courts, they killed the bill, not us. ”

“ He always reserves the right to come down here on short notice. And he very well may. Q Will he actually plan to have a formal news conference? MR. FLEISCHER: Again, the President considers every day he takes the questions from the press, which he does on a virtually daily basis, a way to take your questions. Q Not today. MR. FLEISCHER: Notice emphasis on "virtually." Q So the answer to that would be no, he doesn't plan to have one anytime soon? MR. FLEISCHER: The President considers when he comes down here and takes questions a formal news conference. ”

“ As you know, the Senate voted 95-0 against ratifying it. It also is dependent on actions taken by the international community. When only one out of 55 nations required to put the treaty into effect has acted, it's a signal worldwide that others agree with the President's position on the treaty. Q Ari, in the closing days of the Clinton administration there was an effort to negotiate an understanding with European nations about some of the Kyoto protocols dealing with emissions, and those failed. ”