Lawrence Ari Fleischer

“ That's one reason why the President feels so strongly that if Congress were to delay taking action on tax relief after Memorial Day, that the traveling public consumers will suffer. The faster that Congress gets it done, the faster the money is in people's pockets. ”

“ I'm certain that once the President announces his plan and makes the case for it, the American people will respond favorably to what the President is proposing. The American people know that the United States now is suffering an energy crisis. It's been a problem long in the making; it's hit some states harder than others, and it's going to take leadership, it's going to take a well-rounded approach, an approach that focuses on both conservation and on development of energy supplies. ”

“ The energy crisis is causing millions of middle-income and working Americans to pay more than they would like to pay to fill up their tanks with gasoline. One of the fastest ways to get relief to people is by cutting taxes. The tax cut that the President asked the Congress to pass is retroactive, and as soon as Congress is able to get to it, the American people can get tax relief in their pockets faster. ”

“ He's a big believer that if you solve people's problems through good policy, the politics will take care of itself. And that's the direction that he has given to the Vice President's group, and that's the path that he has chosen to follow. ”

“ Q But, Ari, if the immediate tax rebate goes to energy costs solely, and calculations have been made that would give five tanks full of gas to the average American in the course of a year from this rebate, how does it speak to the broader question of the President's desire to use a rebate to stimulate the economy, and not just the energy sector? MR. FLEISCHER: Well, one of the reasons the economy needs to be stimulated is people don't have as much disposable income to invest or to save because they're using it to pay for higher energy bills. Tax relief helps mitigate that. ”

“ Q Ari, you've already indicated the President is not moved to act by polling data. But to what extent is the energy problem increasingly a political one for this White House? MR. FLEISCHER: It's not the President's focus. The President thinks that the best politics comes from the best substance and the best government. And that's where his focus is. He believes the nation has an energy crisis that has been building and brewing, and his only focus is on fixing it. ”

“ The White House is always going to keep in touch with people on both sides of issues, whether they're Democrats or Republicans. And the President is always going to work hard to build consensus behind his ideas. And he was very pleased to see that his education plan was able to, as you said, get 41 votes. That's a very powerful sign of how good the education proposal is. And the President is heartened by that. He'll continue to work with other Democrats and Republicans. ”

“ Q Ari, can you explain to us what relationship cutting income tax rates will have on helping Americans deal with higher energy prices now, when the income tax cut won't come until next year's filings, and even a $100-billion stimulus, if done in the form of a tax rebate, wouldn't arrive at the earliest, according to the Treasury Department, for three months? ”

“ When it comes to transmission of electricity across the power grid, so that when one region is experiencing an electricity shortfall and people may suffer blackouts, another region can pick up the slack -- another region of the nation can pick up the slack and send the energy across the grid. ”

“ It's always a question of listening to people's ideas, and if they have concerns about a substance -- substantive proposal, to give them a good hearing, to listen to them and to explain the President's reasons for acting as he did. Obviously, the President's education plan has large bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, and the President's very pleased by that. ”

“ Depending on exactly what Senator Daschle proposes, the President is encouraged by the fact that the Minority Leader is moving forward in the same vein that the President discussed from this podium last Friday. The President does believe that tax relief can be a helpful way to give people relief from the energy woes that they're suffering, and he's pleased to hear that Senator Daschle agrees. ”

“ Some people have larger costs than other people. But there is a fundamental principle involved here in tax relief, and that is the President's opinion that money belongs to the people who made it, they deserve to keep it, they deserve to spend it as they see fit, not as the government deems proper. Q You don't think the government is the American people? ”

“ What's happened all too often is consumers pay far higher bills than is necessary, and that instead of people being able to get justice through the courts, the courts have been turned into a system where lawyers are able to come in, especially trial lawyers, and drive up health care costs, consumer product costs for everybody in society. ”

“ The plan offered on the Hill by the Democrats talks about conservation. The President has already offered a conversation proposal, where the federal government would cut back on its use of energy. There are a couple other areas of the Democrat plan that do not go in the right direction, and those include price controls, which do not work, which ultimately create greater energy problems, and they are not a short-term solution, let alone a comprehensive solution. ”

“ It's a question of having the market establish that equilibrium, but doing so in a way that recognizes that no new refineries have been built for 25 years, that our nation's infrastructure is old and needs to modernize, also recognizing that there are many ways of producing more energy at a more efficient rate. ”

“ The overall assessment is that the energy plan offered by the Democrats on the Hill today has some areas of overlapping, commonality with the plan that the President is about to propose, and the President looks forward to working with Congress on those areas. The President believes that we can promote conservation, we can increase energy development, and we can do so without complicating matters or hurting matters through price controls. That's the President's position. Q Ari, you were talking, the Vice President was talking to renewable energy people today. ”

“ Q Because it shields consumers from the real price of energy, therefore consumption patterns don't change, and producers lose the incentive to bring product to market, because their prices are controlled and they can't make adequate profits. ”

“ Q In the President's effort to promote intelligent government spending -- that is, only where it's really needed -- does he believe that the Democrats on the San Francisco City Council were wise to vote to provide any city employee who wishes with $37,000 to be changed from male to female, and $77,000 to be changed from female to male? ”

“ Q -- regulatory burdens the President mentioned that he wants the administration to assess as far as energy -- and what regulations does he have in mind that he thinks are getting -- MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the energy report will speak to that directly, so you'll be able to hear in the energy report about a series of regulatory hurdles that have allowed a situation to take place where -- California, for example, hasn't built any power plants in the last 10 years; the nation hasn't built any new refineries in the last 25 years. ”

“ The faster Congress acts, the faster people will get relief into their pocketbooks. Q So what you're saying is that the consumer will have more money to pay the higher prices to line the pockets of the big oil? ”

“ It gives people more command over the decisions they make to invest their money as they see fit. For some people, that will -- Q But if all of that money is going to pay for gas, where is the money to invest? ”