Lawrence Ari Fleischer

“ The President thinks that the American people want to have a patients' bill of rights that gets signed into law that doesn't make them lose their health insurance. And that means the President is carrying the American people's message to the Congress. The President thinks that the worst thing you could do would be to pass any type of health care provision that would make people lose their health care. ”

“ Certainly with the important actions that OPEC is considering taking, it's another reminder for why it's important for Congress to act on the President's energy initiative, so that way we don't have to be dependent on decisions made by foreign nations that affect America's energy supplies and America's energy dependence. ”

“ He's very worried about making sure our younger works -- people 50 and younger -- have an opportunity the have a strong retirement system that they can depend on. He thinks it's terribly important to protect Social Security for today's retirees, to have a system in place that is reliable and dependable for younger workers and thinks the bipartisan actions of this interim report very helpful in moving Congress forward and in making progress on saving Social Security. ”

“ The President in six months in office is forging very strong ties with individual leaders. And there are many nations in Europe that are very strongly supportive on a policy basis of the President's initiatives. Other nations have other points that they bring up to the President. But if you look throughout Europe, there's very interesting developments in Eastern Europe and Spain and Italy, other nations, the United Kingdom, that have a very strong shared outlook with the President of the United States. ”

“ As a result of that, the framework is now in place to create an economic recovery on which so much else domestically depends. And that framework is now in place, and the rebate checks are now being received by consumers, which will help create strength for the economy. And the education bill, of course, passed by the House and the Senate -- the President has called on the Congress to get their business done and finish it. The faith-based initiative, of course, passed with a nice vote in the House of Representatives. ”

“ It's indicative of the problem the American people have with the energy infrastructure that is old, with a country that is too reliant on foreign supplies of oil. And that's why, again, it comes down to is this country ready to have an energy policy, or not. ”

“ I think that there is an interesting sense here that there are many people who are committed to a new way of thinking in Washington and those people come from all over the Republican Party, all over the Democratic Party. But there is a liberal wing of the Democratic Party that is not interested in any new thinking on Social Security. ”

“ The President thinks it's important to have stability, and stability can come in the form of lower prices; stability can come in the form of moderate prices. But the President thinks it's important that the nation doesn't go through giant price fluctuations as it has for the last two or three years. ”

“ And the President believes that it's time for leaders to show leadership, that it's time to focus anew and to strengthen the initiatives, to secure peace in Macedonia, to make certain that the cease-fire goes back into effect. The President does not believe there is any military solution to the problem in Macedonia, there is only a peaceful solution. ”

“ And, of course, we have a Republican administration in Washington, so European leaders who come from a different political philosophy are getting used to a new President, and they're getting used to him, I think, in a very productive way. It's a different way of thinking in terms of having left of center governments welcome somebody with the American initiatives. ”

“ I think there is the typical welcoming that some in the media give to every new President, in terms of saying they're going to be tested when they go abroad, leaders will measure this new American leader and form judgments. ”

“ And on that topic, the President noted and thanks the efforts of the Social Security Commission for the interim report which they came out with this week, which highlights the important issues that Social Security is facing if younger Americans are to have a solid retirement system that they can trust and rely upon. ”

“ The President has announced a new framework for how to think about protecting the United States in the post Cold War era. And that involves a missile defense to protect against a launch from a rogue state, not from Russia, because the President -- as he's told President Putin, Russia is not the enemy. But the real cause of concern, which requires a missile defense for the country, in the President's opinion, is the possibility of a launch by a rogue state, which does not share the United States' ideals. Q Right. What I'm trying to get at is what happened today in the meeting. ”

“ It's the gigantic price fluctuations that hurt the American people, because they get used to driving and paying a certain price for gas, and then the following summer, sure as they can count on it, the price spikes up to $2.50. ”

“ Again, if you take a look at the landscape of Washington, there are people who are locked into old thinking and there are people who are willing to think new about problems. There aren't many Democrats who are willing to think new about these problems. They're represented on this commission, and they are found throughout the Congress. ”

“ And, at the core level, the President does believe that you can have safe transportation on our roads, and that's a priority for the President and his budget reflects additional money to hire safety inspectors. ”

“ Trade is also a very important issue to the President, and it's one of the most powerful and positive results of the G7 and G8 summit, is the strong statement by the industrial nations to promote trade around the world, begin the next WTO round of trade discussions in Qatar this fall. Q Ari, OPEC has taken action since the President spoke this morning. ”

“ And he's carefully weighing them and considering them and thinking about them. And as you heard him say last week, he'll make up his mind on his own timetable. And when he does, he will share the reasons on how he arrived at the decision, what it was that he weighed and how he came to the decision he'll ultimately come to. Q Is the White House now thinking and studying, or considering different ways so he can make his case, both in terms of a venue and a mechanism for announcing this decision? ”

“ I'm not an economist, I can't predict, but obviously it's another reason to make certain that the American people conserve at home and that we enhance exploration at home so that the impact of these decisions is mitigated. Q Ari, does the President really believe that the American people would like stable prices rather than lower prices? ”

“ They're talking about the ABM Treaty. Does the President agree with that assessment? MR. FLEISCHER: Well, I'm not sure which senators you're referring to said that -- Q Biden and Warner. MR. FLEISCHER: Okay. ”