MR. MCCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everyone. The President had a good discussion earlier today with the bicameral Republican leadership in Congress. They talked about a number of important priorities that we're continuing to focus on. They discussed the war on terrorism and the importance of continuing to move forward on our plan for victory in Iraq. They discussed the implementation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit and other changes that we put in place for America's seniors, and the importance of continuing to educate America's seniors about the important benefits that are available and the substantial savings that they can realize under the Medicare program on their prescription drug costs. As you heard the President say, a typical senior is realizing 50 percent or more savings on their prescription drug costs under this program. They also touched on some other important issues, like energy and continuing to move forward on reducing our dependence on foreign sources of energy, and addressing the root causes of high energy prices. We took an important step last year with the passage of the comprehensive energy plan and the President has put forward a number of other initiatives to encourage the use of new technology to expand alternative and renewable sources of energy. And then they talked about -- they touched on the budget, as well, and the importance of moving forward on a responsible budget that funds our priorities and exercises spending restraint elsewhere, so that we can rein in spending elsewhere in the budget. One update to the President's schedule; I mentioned earlier today that the President was going to be meeting with a bipartisan group of senators on his competitiveness initiative. That meeting has been postponed because of budget votes that are going on in the Senate today. So we'll update you when that meeting is rescheduled. And with that, I'm glad to go to your questions. Go ahead, Caren. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think people understand the importance of having that deadline in place, to encourage as many seniors as possible to enroll in the Medicare program, if they so choose. The changes we have put in place have improved and modernized Medicare. Seniors now have access to more choices and better benefits. The results are speaking very loudly; the results are showing that costs are coming down substantially for seniors, even from where they were projected to be reduced to. And now the typical senior, as I mentioned, is realizing savings of 50 percent or even more on their prescription drug cost, so they're saving half of what they -- they're paying half of what they did previously. And seniors' monthly premiums, on average, are now projected to be $25 per month, versus $37 per month, for the prescription drug benefit. The taxpayers are also realizing savings, because of the competition that we have put in place. The projection for 2006 is now -- it will be 20 percent less than it was previously projected to be for America's taxpayers. And so we believe it's important that the program as it was put in place, that we continue to move forward on that and make it successful for America's seniors. For the vast majority of seniors it is working very well. And the reason you have a deadline in there is to help encourage people to sign up during that enrollment period. And so we're moving forward in that direction. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not tired, Jim. You might be -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Well, after this question you may be. The calls from the current senators, and even former senators, from what we understand, to change the staffing, expand it, if not swap out, is there anything to it? Are any staff changes at the White House imminent? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Jim, I just told you that I never publicly speculate about personnel matters. People in this room who have covered this White House know that very well. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, that means you're jumping into speculation. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: One CBS reporter at a time. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Has CBS got any more changes to announce? (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Not yet. Okay. (Laughter.) Nothing imminent, though? Okay, fair enough. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: No. It was focused on the priorities that I outlined at the beginning. And there is -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- there is a very unified effort to continue moving forward on important priorities, like winning in Iraq and implementing the Medicare prescription drug benefit and making sure it's successful, and continuing to move forward on a budget that builds upon the progress we've made to fund priorities and rein in wasteful spending. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry, Terry. Let me back up and speak again. The meeting -- you asked specifically about this meeting. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: And I said, no. No, of course, not. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: But in terms of advice, we seek advice from a lot of people, from a diverse group of people. We also get advice from a variety of people. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q How do you respond to the perception then -- there is kind of a combination of things going on; recent polls have shown the President's approval below 40 percent in a number of surveys. There are friends of the White House who say that there might be a need for some new blood or some additions, not necessarily removing people who are serving here now. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: I think there's a perception out there on the part of the American people that Washington tends to get caught up in a lot of this parlor game and they tend to get caught up in all this babble, process-oriented stuff. I think the American people want us to stay focused on their priorities. Just last week we renewed the Patriot Act, an important and vital tool in our efforts to save lives and prevent attacks from happening. And we are moving forward on efforts to pass a line-item veto act, which will give the President the ability to line-item out wasteful spending or earmarks, as they're called. We're moving forward on the initiatives that the President outlined in his State of the Union, like the American Competitiveness Initiative, to keep our economy the most innovative and competitive in the world. We're moving forward on an advanced energy initiative that will encourage the use of new technologies to diversify ourselves away from dependence on oil. We are moving forward on health care initiatives like the Medicare Modernization Act. This is one of the most dramatic improvements in health care in some time, and our seniors are seeing substantial benefits -- those that have already signed up. And we're encouraging more to get enrolled because this will provide them with the kind of health care that best fits their individual needs, and they'll realize substantial savings on their prescription drugs. We're moving forward on a budget to build upon what we have accomplished over the last few years, to rein in spending, non-security spending, and to address the rapid growth in entitlement programs. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we keep talking about friends or lawmakers, but I don't hear a lot of names being mentioned. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: There's one. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: That's not a lot. Go ahead. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Without giving you a huge list of those lawmakers who have been quoted in the public press in the last several months suggesting that there's been communication problems and perhaps the White House could use a little bit of staffing help, are you accusing lawmakers on Capitol Hill of "babble" and "parlor games" when they're voicing these concerns? Or are they -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Now, if we wanted to go over a list of those folks -- you mentioned changes. Perhaps wrongly, perhaps rightly, a lot of the changes appeared to many to have been departures from the White House in the past few months. Can you comment at all about whether or not you're experiencing any staff shortages? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Scott, as evidenced by some of the fallout from the ports deal, there are some members of Congress, though, who are looking at the way the White House has treated them and wishing things had been different. And you, yourself, have said that, in fact, things could have been handled differently. What is -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, let me point out a couple of things. The President has surrounded himself with a very capable and experienced team that is fully committed to helping him advance his agenda and get things done. This is a team that focuses on advancing his agenda and achieving results for the American people. We also learn from our experience. But it's a very experienced team and it's important to always learn from experience, and we do that, and we have done that over the course of our time in office. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: But in terms of the ports issue, and let's talk about each -- if you want to talk about each issue individually, I'm glad to do that, because what we're doing is working with Congress to improve and update the process when it comes to the Committee on Foreign Investment. The number one priority and sole responsibility of that committee is to look at national security issues and any impact foreign investments might have on our nation's security. And yesterday, our Secretary of Treasury outlined some very clear principles for moving forward with Congress. We're engaged in ongoing discussions about how we move forward on those reform efforts. And we're moving forward to continue to build upon the many steps we've taken to strengthen port security. Now, we've taken a number of steps to push out the screening of containers to where those containers are screened overseas, and where cargo manifests are coming into us well before that ship reaches our shores. We've put in place a Container Security Initiative. So there are a number of steps we've taken. We've provided billions of dollars in resources to improve the security around our ports. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think we've been through that issue, and talked about the issues. Now, that was a congressionally mandated process that was put in place. So what we're talking about doing is looking at ways that we can update it in a post-September 11th world, because this was put in place years ago. And we were following that congressionally mandated process, and all the relevant agencies that are involved in national security and law enforcement and homeland security are involved in that process. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: That's not what we said. In fact, we said very up front that Congress should have been notified earlier in the process about this particular transaction. That became clear to everyone. And so that's one of the areas that we want to look at when we're talking about improving and updating the process. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Scott, black federal lawmakers, along with black civil rights leaders, are concerned that there is no plan to protect the right to vote in Louisiana as it relates to the April 22nd elections there. They're saying that as the President is talking about renewing voting rights, this is a test case for voting rights because many of the displaced Katrina victims from New Orleans will not have satellite polling stations outside of Louisiana, and they have to contact the state to gain absentee ballots at they are in transit themselves, not knowing where to live. Could you respond to that? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, some of the individuals you bring up are people the President has talked about with the Voting Rights Act and expressed his strong commitment to reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act and his strong support for protecting and enforcing the act. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Scott, the administration has removed some language from the rules allowing gays and lesbians to get national security clearances. The language is that sexual orientation may not be used as a basis for, or a disqualifying factor in determining a person's eligibility for a security clearance. Why did they remove that language? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't think they took out language. I think that they updated the language to reflect exactly what was spelled out in the executive order. There's no change in the policy. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know what language you're specifically referring to, because I think the language is very similar to what it says in the executive order and the policy remains the same. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I did see the announcement. I think that company, last week, provided a way forward and really put this matter to rest. Now it's important for the company to continue moving forward on what they committed to doing, and we appreciate the step that they took. Like I said, our focus now is on continuing to work with Congress to look at ways to reform the process when it comes to reviewing these investments in the United States. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think most lawmakers have -- many congressional leaders have spoken out and said that this issue is now behind us. The company has made a decision. We respect the decision that the company came to. We think that it reflects the United Arab Emirates' strong commitment to continuing a good relationship with the United States. And we want to continue to build upon that relationship. Go ahead, Sarah. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: You can have two. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry -- you mentioned -- repeat the first part of your question. I didn't catch it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we are continuing to stay in contact with the parties in the region. We continue to urge calm and restraint. That's what we'll continue to do in the aftermath of yesterday. I think we expressed our views yesterday about that particular situation and the repeated concerns that we had expressed that the United States and the United Kingdom had expressed to the Palestinian Authority about the safety and security of our monitors there. So that issue was addressed yesterday. But the President is strongly committed to the two-state vision that he outlined, of Palestine and Israel living side-by-side in peace and security. And we want to continue working with all those who are partners in peace to get there. Now, Hamas has a decision that they need to make. They have a choice that they face. They have an opportunity to try to be a partner in peace. And to do that they have to answer the call of the Quartet, and the Quartet spelled out what they need to do. They need to renounce violence and terrorism, they need to recognize Israel's right to exist, and they need to disarm. And it spelled out some other things that -- other steps that Hamas needs to take. The President is looking for partners in peace that want to work toward the two-state vision. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q I have one more, please. Indications are that the recommendations of the task force on Puerto Rico are going nowhere in the Congress this year. There seems to be no strong support there for the two plebiscites to determine Puerto Rico's status. Does the President plan to personally lobby the Congress to conduct -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Today? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, it did come up. They did talk about -- I think Senator Frist was talking about some of the legislative time line in terms of pushing forward on important priorities. And the President remains firmly committed to comprehensive immigration reform. We've had a number of discussions with congressional leaders. We believe that in order to fix what is a broken system, you need to address all aspects. That means continuing to build upon the steps we've taken to strengthen our borders. It means improving our interior enforcement, and it means moving forward on meeting an important economic and humanitarian need through a temporary worker program. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: I think there are a lot of ideas being expressed, and we want to continue to work with all leaders at the Capitol who are committed to moving forward on immigration reform. This is an important priority. We have a broken system; it needs to be fixed and it needs to be addressed in a comprehensive way. We have taken a number of steps when it comes to beefing up the number of Border Patrol agents to using -- or deploying new technologies along the border to prevent people from coming into this country illegally, particularly those who are coming here for the wrong reason. And we need to continue to move forward on those efforts. We need to continue to move forward on a comprehensive approach that will address all these issues. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, what we outlined were some very clear principles that we believe ought to be part of a temporary worker program. And so I think the President has spelled out what his views are and now we're in the process of working with Congress to try to advance this important priority for the American people. Read more Comment (0), Email this.