Q Let me finish, let me finish. Rahm Emanuel is also having a press conference right now, blasting the President's economic policies. Does it concern you that Democrats say they want to work with you, but then some of them in the same breath seem to be blaming the White House --
MS. PERINO: Sure. And it's so typical of how many people work in Washington, and quite unfortunate. And I think it's really ironic, if that is an accurate quote -- and I have not seen the comments -- that they would have done more on housing or they would have acted more quickly. It was this President who, on August 31st, put forward a package, asking Congress to act on it; they did nothing. And for the past year and a half, we've asked for modernization of the Federal Housing Administration; they've done nothing. And another Senator that was just mentioned, who had been out on the campaign trail, hadn't even been able to hold committee votes. And so I find it really ironic that they would suggest that this President hasn't tried to do enough on housing, because we have.
Not only have we acted through the administration and through our executive branch powers, trying to pick up the slack where Congress hasn't worked on the important work of the American people, but also Treasury Secretary Paulson and Secretary Jackson at HUD both worked together so that they could create a private sector initiative in order to help people who are facing foreclosure. So we have done our part on housing. We're trying to do more, and we want to work with Congress to get it done. The President is committed to working in a bipartisan fashion. And I would hope that those individuals would take a step back and realize that we have an opportunity to get something done on behalf of the American people. But if they want to go down that road and not work with the administration, the label of the "do-nothing Congress" could stick in 2008 as it did in 2007.
seen at 13:49, 23 January
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