Robert Gibbs

“ Because if we do nothing with Medicare and Medicaid, by 2050 spending on Medicare and Medicaid alone will account for 20 percent not of our budget -- 20 percent of our gross domestic product.
These are problems that are going to have to be dealt with. We can either decide, as Washington typically has, to kick the can down the road and hope that either the problem goes away or that somebody else will come and solve it, or we can address the challenges that face and -- that face our country and undermine our long-term economic growth -- energy independence ”

“ Well, I think obviously the President would always say there's room for improvement; that the President believes that we have to continue to give people a realistic sense of where this economy is, but also talk about, as he did at the speech to Congress, that we've got to make sure people understand that brighter days are ahead. But I think there's a sense from certain people that -- of either chagrin or surprise -- that in one day less than seven weeks all of the problems that took many years to take hold haven't necessarily been solved. ”

“ Talking about tomorrow on education, the administration's critics say that, you know, there's a house on fire; that the economy, you know, needs, for example, a functioning credit market and there's still not a fully functioning plan for getting toxic assets off the books. Why should the President be talking something -- about something that admittedly would be, you know, important for future generations to improve education in America, when there's a house on fire right now? ”

“ The focus right now in this White House is to ensure that the money that taxpayers -- that taxpayer money is -- has gotten out quickly, that jobs are created. You've seen the President make many announcements, and you'll see more, in order to ensure that money is spent wisely and quickly to get the economy moving again. ”

“ Well, I think obviously we've all seen stories in the past few years where the political process overrode the scientific process on any number of issues. And I think the President was quite clear today in saying that politics should not drive science, that science and our values can exist hand in hand and not compete with each other, as has been posited in the past; that today marks a step forward in what could be promising research to find cures to some of our -- to many tragic diseases. ”

“ In terms of cap and trade, the President and the administration look forward to working with Congress to put a solution together -- a market-based solution that will drive us to energy independence and create a market for -- an even more robust market for alternative fuels and, as I said, the steps that we need to become energy independent. ”

“ Obviously signing statements have been in existence for two centuries in order for Presidents to make known constitutional problems with ideas that are in legislation without necessarily dealing a veto to the entire piece of legislation. ”

“ But, obviously, stem cell research has shown great promise in the capability of potentially solving many life-saving -- in dealing with life-saving cures for deadly and tragic diseases. I don't think that -- I don't think people that suffer from these diseases or have watched loved ones suffer from these diseases would believe that we should delay what the President did today. ”

“ Obviously health care, given the amount of spending that goes into our budget each year for Medicare and Medicaid, and what we've watched families and businesses struggle with the skyrocketing costs over the past few years, means we can't walk away from these -- from addressing these problems right now. ”

“ The recovery will take quite some time, as it's taken quite some time to get into these problems. But the President remains focused each and every day in ensuring that we take the steps to make those decisions and get the economy moving again.
Chip.
[REPORTER] : In his statement today he said, "We will ensure that our government never opens the door to the use of human cloning for human reproduction." How will he ensure that?
GIBBS: I think the executive order -- I don't have it in front of me -- simply bans human cloning, I think as many people have suggested should be done. ”

“ Well, I think that -- are there people in high school today that are going to have to take jobs in the next either few weeks, few months or few years that we better have a trained work force in order to meet the jobs of the future? ”

“ Well, I think that -- let's not confuse rendering somebody that's picked up and delivered to the country that they're wanted in with something like extraordinary rendition that moves -- that could potentially move somebody not necessarily wanted in another country, but is dealt with in a way that's inconsistent with our laws and our values. ”

“ Instead of asking the fire department to pick different rooms in which to extinguish, the President has decided to alert the fire department and everyone involved; that we have a responsibility to move this country forward, address the long-term problems and the short-term problems in order to create jobs for the future. ”

“ I think that, you know, there's a reason why the Recovery and Reinvestment Plan doesn't just take into account the remaining parts of this fiscal year, but also goes into 2010 and even parts of 2011, because many of the deficiencies that we face and the challenges that we have require us to address many years' worth of problems. But I don't think it denotes in any way one set of options or another; just that they're important.
Yes.
[REPORTER] : Planning a second stimulus? ”

“ I think that there -- undoubtedly, there's a rigorous process involved. We hope that we're working with Capitol Hill to ensure that at the same time there's appropriate rigor and vetting; that there's not in any way any undue delay in ensuring that good people who want to serve their country can get into the jobs that they've been nominated for, in order to, like I said, further America's agenda. ”

“ And there's no doubt that you would love to walk in on the first day with the lights on and everybody at their desk, but I think the statistics denote quite clearly the progress that's been made and the fact that we're ahead of the curve in ensuring that people are at their jobs and working. ”