Press Briefing by Dana Perino

Business Wire, Sept 8, 2008

WASHINGTON -- James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

11:05 A.M. EDT

MS. PERINO: Good morning. The President will make remarks at 1:10 p.m. today on the South Lawn, on volunteerism; a word about that. After 9/11, President Bush called on all Americans to serve their communities, their nation, and the world. In his 2002 State of the Union address he announced the creation of USA Freedom Corps, and also called for every American to commit at least two years -- which is 4,000 hours -- to the service of their neighbors and their nation.

Today the President will host an event that highlights USA Freedom Corps and honors America's volunteers who serve at home and abroad. During his remarks to over 1,800 volunteers the President will point out a few facts. One, in 2002, the administration became the first to conduct a regular survey of volunteerism through the U.S. Census Bureau. And because we have begun to measure we now know some facts that we didn't know before, such as nearly 61 million Americans now give their time to help their neighbors. That's an increase of more than 1 million since 2002.

His administration has helped Americans answer the call to service by creating the Citizen Corps, which now has nearly 1 million volunteers, and a new program called Volunteers for Prosperity. The administration has strengthened AmeriCorps, and today more than 74,000 people serve their fellow citizens through that organization.

The administration has also expanded Peace Corps. Since 2002, the administration has provided this great program with its highest level of funding in history, and we have increased the number of Peace Corps volunteers and have opened or reopened programs in 13 programs.

Finally, he will note that since the post-Katrina uptick up in volunteerism, things have started to taper off. Today he will repeat his call for Americans to devote 4,000 hours over their lifetimes in service to their fellow citizens.

Also a word about the housing matter. I'm sure you saw the announcement yesterday that the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, determined that these housing mortgage companies could not continue to operate in a way that was safe and sound and still fulfill their public mission to support housing.

And so FA and Secretary Paulson announced a plan to take over and prevent further deterioration from affecting the broader economy, especially the availability of credit for home mortgages, consumer credit, and business lending.

The plan that Secretary Paulson outlined had three very important goals: first and foremost, promoting market stability; ensuring the availability and affordability of home mortgages; and protecting the taxpayer. The President is confident that these are the appropriate goals, and that the plan outlined will be successful.

Throughout these discussions, the President was continuously briefed by Secretary Paulson, and discussed the policy options. The President gave Secretary Paulson his full support to put the right plan in place to protect the U.S. economy.

This is not a step that the administration was anxious to take. And in fact, it is exactly the kind of event we've warned about and tried to prevent over the years. Remember that we have highlighted the systemic risk posed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because of the very large role they play in housing markets, and because of their business practices.

And for years we have encouraged Congress to put in place a strong, independent regulator to oversee the institutions. We believe the actions will help to improve conditions in the housing market. Our economy will not return to a strong job growth until the housing correction is behind us. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are critical to turning the corner on housing, and so it's important that in a plan the primary mission of Fannie and Freddie be to work to increase the availability and affordability of mortgage finance.

The plan also gives time for Congress and the next administration to determine the appropriate role of the companies in the future. Whatever eventual long-term solution is decided for Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac, it is crucial that they are reformed so that they do not pose similar risks to our economy or the financial system again.

And finally, today we welcome back to Washington D.C., members of Congress who have been on their August recess. There's much work to be done, and not a lot of time to do it in. There are many legislative priorities that we have. And we would like to work with Congress in a bipartisan way to deal with things like appropriations bills; energy bill -- one that would allow for increased safe, environmentally friendly production of oil on the Outer Continental Shelf, improved technologies so that we could access oil shale, refinery expansion, and extending renewable energy tax credits. There's the highway trust fund that needs to be dealt with. There are judges that need to be confirmed. There's FAA authorization. There's the AMT and the tax extender issue, not to mention the free trade agreements, U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement, NATO expansion for Croatia and Albania, and U.S.-UK and U.S.-Australia defense trade cooperation treaties.