Press Briefing by Dana Perino

Business Wire, Sept 18, 2008

WASHINGTON -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

11:14 A.M. EDT

MS. PERINO: Hello. You just heard from the President on the financial markets. Obviously that's priority number one here. But let me give you one other announcement for next week, a scheduling update, that President Bush looks forward to meeting with the new democratically elected President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, on Tuesday, September 23rd, in New York. The two leaders will discuss efforts to strengthen the bilateral relationship and build a long-term partnership based on common values. President Zardari, who carries on the legacy of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and President Bush are expected to focus on cooperation in combating terrorism, strengthening the economy, and fostering democracy in Pakistan.

And with that, I'll go to questions.

Q Thanks, Dana. The President ended his remarks this morning by saying that the government will continue to act to strengthen and stabilize our financial markets and improve investor confidence. Can you talk about what that means and talk about it in terms that might be understandable to somebody like me who's not a financial expert or somebody sitting at their kitchen table looking at their 401(k) balance? What does this mean for people?

MS. PERINO: I think what -- I'm not able to talk about any specific future actions that may or may not be rumored or not rumored to be under consideration by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. But what I can tell you, what the President meant by that is that clearly there is a market correction going on. Clearly these are challenging times. And the federal government, at his direction, is focused on making sure that we look at the system as a whole, that we work to prevent any broader economic damage from the few firms that we've seen in the past recent -- in the last few days that have either been liquidated or sold, like Lehman Brothers, most of it being sold to Barclays. There's a lot of information and news that the market is trying to digest right now and that we are going to stay on top of it, and we will take any necessary steps to make sure that the broader economy is not harmed by any of these failures.

Q So when you use language like "market correction" or language the President used, like "the markets are adjusting to what we've done," that makes it sound like this is a painful but possibly temporary process that's happening right now in the markets and in the broader economy and that there may not be need for future action. But isn't there sort of a need for --

MS. PERINO: No. I think by him saying that we will take any -- that we are continuing to work on it. He talked about all the steps that have been taken over the past several days from the different agencies -- the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, SEC -- and that we will take any necessary steps if more are needed. And I can't tell you where this ends -- I wish that I could -- but we will take any necessary steps to deal with it in the days that follow.

So I can't say one way or the other -- I don't know if I can answer your question specifically. What I can say is that the President wants to make sure that his government is doing all that it can to prevent broader damage to the economy.

Q What kinds of actions are under consideration?

MS. PERINO: That's something I'm not at liberty to talk about.

Q Dana, when you say they're looking at actions, is that exactly what they're doing this afternoon? They're looking at what possible actions they could take? Are they trying to figure out what they're -- specifically, are they looking at actions to take or are they just looking at possible actions?

MS. PERINO: I think what I have to do is -- I can answer that broadly in that they are doing what the President has asked them to do, which is to continue to assess the situation and take any necessary steps, if there are necessary steps that need to be taken. There are a lot of rumors out there for what the agencies may or may not be thinking about doing, and I'm just not at liberty to confirm any rumors or denounce any rumors. I just am not able to comment.

Q So you can't say specifically they're trying to come up -- today or in the coming days with --

MS. PERINO: I cannot. No, I cannot. I'd refer you to them and see if they can give anything additional.

Q I know you probably want to put politics aside in the middle of all of this, but I need to give you a chance to --

MS. PERINO: But you don't. (Laughter.)

Q Well, I want to give you a chance to respond to what Speaker Pelosi is saying, because it really seems like the -- at least the sort of finger-pointing is ratcheting up, accusing Republicans, and it sounded like the White House, of mismanagement of financial-market regulation. It really seems as though there's a accusation that the White House is to blame in some way, or the Bush administration policy is to blame in some way. Your response?

MS. PERINO: Well, unfortunately -- unfortunately, I don't think that the reaction of finger-pointing from Democrats to the White House is anything new.