Lawrence Ari Fleischer

“ Trade promotion authority is a very important development so that the President can enter into trade agreements throughout the world. It's important for the Senate not to retreat within the United States borders. It's important for the Senate not to send signals that the United States is isolationist and, therefore, it's important that they give him trade promotion authority. Trade promotion authority is good for the economy. Workers involved in America's export industry tend to make more money than workers involved in domestic products. Today there are 130 free trade agreements in the world ”

“ The conference that is scheduled to take place in Africa, designed to fight racism, presents the United States with a historic opportunity, and it presents the rest of the world with a historic opportunity to unite in international efforts to create a new climate to fight racism. The President believes one of the best ways to fight racism around the world is through the development of democracy throughout the world. The democratic nations, while they have problems, are the nations that have brought about the greatest advances in racial harmony and racial healing. ”

“ The President has a series of European allies when it comes to the missile defense initiative. If you take a look at the nations of former Eastern Europe, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, they're all looking at the problem of weapons of mass destruction the same way the President does. The President's meetings with President Putin suggest that President Putin and President Bush are working well together to lead the world into a new vision of how to keep the peace. ”

“ It's interesting, because the President went to Europe and there were protestors on the street who protested how he is working in such a constructive fashion on free trade around the world with all these other nations, which is a perfect illustration of who is on the side of bringing the world together and who is standing outside in an isolationist fashion. ”

“ Not everything moves at lightning speed in the United States Congress. As for the question involving the patients' bill of rights, the President is less interested in the exact timing of the vote, and much more interested in getting the job done and complete. Congressman Charley Norwood, in October of 1995, introduced the first patients' bill of rights legislation. Congress for the last seven years has failed to get the job done. The President believes that this can be the year that Congress gets the job done. ”

“ Because the President thinks it's very important for this conference to be successful that the conference focus on the future, on solving problems of the here and now, and solving problems that are faced around the world on racism, and that it's also important to send a signal to the freedom loving nations of the world that we will not stand by, if the world tries to describe Zionism as racism. ”

“ Because it's a question of, should the United States agree to a protocol on biological weapons that Iran says is in Iran's interest, when the United States it's not in America's interest. The American people will believe that the President protected the interests of our country, and they'll thank him for the leadership he's taking on that issue. ”

“ Ron, the administration firmly opposes all Chinese transfers of missiles and weapons of mass destruction, related technology to other countries. Nonproliferation is a key element in the United States relations with China, and the United States will continue to make this an important topic in our discussions with China, as Secretary Powell did this week. The United States expects China to live up to its nonproliferation commitments, and we will continue to press China to adhere to those policies. ”

“ And that's one of the reasons why the President, who worked so successfully to enact a tax cut into law, which will now go into effect this fall, that will give Americans rebates which will help stimulate the economy. ”

“ Q But in the collective, is there any concern at all in the White House, collectively, with the biological pact, the Kyoto Treaty, and the small arms trading, the international criminal court -- collectively, that there is a perception in the world community that the U.S. wants to go it alone and do its own way. ”

“ There was a new report today out by the Department of Commerce suggesting that the economy remains weak. Growth for the spring of 2001 was only .7 percent, less than one percentage point. The report released this morning also indicated that the decline in growth began in the summer of 2000, when growth dropped from 5.7 percent in the spring of 2000 to 1.3 percent in the summer of 2000. Growth was 1.9 percent in the fall of 2000, and growth was only 1.3 percent in the winter of '01. In other words, the economy has been in a one-year slowdown. ”

“ As you know, the President has said that he will continue to enforce the no-fly zone and beyond that, I'm not going to engage in any speculation about any military operations. Moving on to new people. ”