Press Briefing by Dana Perino

Business Wire, April 9, 2008

WASHINGTON -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

12:42 P.M. EDT

MS. PERINO: Hello, everybody. I said earlier today I would try to get you details on the logistics for tomorrow, and I have. It's quite simple -- the President will make remarks at 11:30 a.m. at the -- in the Cross Hall. We'll do expanded press pool.

Q Do you want to expand on those remarks? You said earlier today that he is pretty far down the road on his decision.

MS. PERINO: No, I don't have much to add. Obviously the President has already spoken to General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker and heard their views, and gotten the views from the State Department and also from the Joint Chiefs. He also talks to the -- to Prime Minister Maliki and others within the Iraqi government over a period of time, and I think he feels pretty comfortable with the direction he's headed in. But he's going to have a meeting this afternoon with members of Congress, as well, to hear their take on the testimony and where we are, and to give them a little preview of where he's going.

Q Will he address the issue of tour lengths in his decision?

MS. PERINO: It's going to be a range of issues that are discussed in the President's remarks tomorrow. So I'm going to decline to comment until he's had a chance to give them.

Q Do you want to talk about Speaker Pelosi's decision to put off a vote on the Colombia trade bill?

MS. PERINO: Sure, I'm happy to have a chance to respond to that. Speaker Pelosi today did something unprecedented in the history of negotiating trade deals in announcing the Democrats would change the rules in the middle of the game. Trade Promotion Authority is a tool -- many of you who have followed this matter for a -- followed trade deals for a long time know that it is something that we use to negotiate trade deals in good faith. Today's announcement shows that any sense of good faith in our process of negotiating trade has evaporated.

We think this is an awful precedent. We think it's a terrible thing for this administration, but it's also terrible for all future administrations, both Republicans and Democrats, because countries will not be able to have faith in our word when we're negotiating trade deals.

We worked tirelessly to work with members of Congress on this trade bill, and we did it according to the rules. We achieved a bipartisan agreement with Speaker Pelosi last May -- May 10, 2007 -- to reopen trade agreements to address labor and environmental standards that she was concerned about. Those concerns were addressed by us. We held over 400 consultations with members of Congress. We provided draft implementing legislation in advance. We even shuttled members of Congress to see for themselves the progress in Colombia. We went over and beyond the requirements of Trade Promotion Authority to try to get this done.

Trade Promotion Authority also has requirements for Congress, and that is that at the end of a 90-day period, 90-day -- legislative days -- that there be a vote. It is clear that there are many in the Democratic Party who would like to kill this deal, and they want to do so without having to have their fingerprints on it, and they want to do it in a way where they don't have to take a vote. And we think that it is extremely unfortunate, and you can bet that President Bush is going to bring this up at 3:00 p.m. when he sees the leaders.

Q Dana, picking back up on the speech again tomorrow, will the President be addressing sort of the bigger-picture questions that were talked a little bit about in the hearings yesterday? Senator Warner raised a question: Are we safer? Is America safer because of this? And Senator Hagel raised some questions about where is the diplomatic surge. Will the President address the nation and those kinds of questions tomorrow?

MS. PERINO: Sure, those are issues, when the President talks about Iraq, that he addresses every time he has a chance to talk about it. And so the speech is broad and it covers a range of issues. I don't anticipate it will be any longer than about 12 minutes, 12 to 15 minutes. And he will touch on those things. But he touches on those in the speeches that he gives anytime he has a chance to talk about Iraq.

Q But those two Republican Senators really seem to be at a loss for understanding progress in Iraq.

MS. PERINO: With all the testimony -- I didn't see the questioning in between those two Senators, but I do think that Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus have done a very good job of providing their very candid and frank assessment about the progress that has been made because of the surge, and the challenges that lie ahead. And one of the things that General Petraeus said is that the gains we've made are fragile and they're reversible. And that's why he has made the recommendation that he has made, that everyone got to hear yesterday. And then you'll hear from the President tomorrow.

Helen.

Q You said earlier today that it was not possible for the President to pull out of Iraq before he leaves office. And it was so easy for him to go in five years ago; why can't he pull out now?