2001 US press briefings
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
1:35 P.M. EST
MR. MCCLELLAN: Good afternoon. Let me start with a few announcements. The President today announced his intention to nominate three individuals to serve in the administration. The President intends to nominate Samuel W. Bodman to be Deputy Secretary of Commerce. The President intends to nominate Ann Laine Combs to be Assistant Secretary of Labor. And the President intends to nominate Kathleen B. Cooper to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs.
I've a few other announcements. The President will be traveling to Quebec City April 20 through 22 for the third Summit of the Americas. The summit will provide an opportunity for the democratically elected leaders of the hemisphere to meet together to discuss our shared interest in strengthening democracy and promoting prosperity through free trade.
The President's trip to Canada will also afford him the opportunity to discuss bilateral and regional priorities with hemispheric partners.
President Bush will also travel to Asia in October. The President will visit Japan and the Republic of Korea, before continuing on to China for the APEC summit in Shanghai and subsequent travel to Beijing. Itinerary details are not finalized at this time.
And the President will meet with His Majesty King Juan Carlos, I of Spain on March 22. Spain is a close NATO ally, making important contributions to stability, security and prosperous in the Euro-Atlantic area, and the visit will reaffirm the strong bonds of friendship and cooperation between Spain and the United States.
I have three calls to announce. The President made three additional introductory telephone calls. He spoke with the Amir of Bahrain yesterday. This morning he spoke with the Syrian President Assad and with the Swedish Prime Minister Persson. In all three, the calls were the first time the President has had occasion to speak with the leaders, and they were get-acquainted calls.
And I have one more announcement before I open it up to questions. Cynthia Johnson, as many of you know, with Time Magazine, has covered the White House for the better part of the past couple of decades, will be -- this will be her last day here. And where is Cynthia? Is she in here? Well, sorry that she missed this. But we wish her all the best and we will definitely miss her.
With that, I will be happy to take questions. (Applause.)
Q Scott, on tax cuts, is the White House amenable to what appears to be growing momentum in the Senate at least to front-load the tax cut perhaps in the first year, even if that were to increase the overall size of the package to provide more of a stimulus?
MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, again, it won't necessarily make it bigger, because you can make adjustments along the way. The President submitted, as part of his budget, submitted a $1.6 trillion tax plan over a 10-year period. And he is committed to passing that tax cut. The President, at the same time, believes that we need to get more money in people's pockets quicker. And that's why he supports making the tax cut retroactive, to give the economy a needed boost.
And as you will probably notice, in that same article today, I saw where even a number of the Democrats agree. Specifically, Senator Conrad mentioned that he believes we need to get more money into people's pockets quicker.
Q Okay, let me just follow on that, because you're right, there is some bipartisan agreement on that. But what's been talked about in terms of retroactivity so far has been at least fairly limited. I mean, this would be a kind of consolidation of the first five years. Rather than phasing in in 2006 all the income rate cuts, you could actually do that effective to 2001, which would cost a little bit more than $100 billion. So is that on the table?
MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, let me tell you what is on the table, and that is that we are going to continue to work with Congress to make the tax cut retroactive. So these are ongoing discussions as we work through the legislative process. And we are committed to making that happen.
Now, as I pointed out, the adjustments could happen in the phase-in. You can adjust the phase-in to make it fit within that $1.6 trillion. But again, President Bush is going to continue pushing for a $1.6 trillion tax plan over a 10-year period.
Q But it also could ultimately make it more expensive?
MR. MCCLELLAN: Well again, not necessarily, because of the adjustments that are possible. So we'll continue to work with Congress on this issue.
Q Scott, was there anything inaccurate about that article that you're referring to?