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MS. PERINO: Good morning. Good Friday afternoon, I'm sorry. It's been 53 days since the President requested funding for the troops. We sent up the budget on February 5th, and in addition to sending up the budget we sent the supplemental, as well. You may recall in years past we had been somewhat criticized by members of Congress that they wanted more information sooner, that they didn't like the supplementals coming sort of mid-year. And so Rob Portman, having heard that criticism, addressed that concern, and we released them at the same time, on February 5th. And every day that the Congress fails to act on this request causes our military hardship and impacts readiness. And you heard from General Pace on that yesterday.

The President was surprised to learn that Congress went on vacation today, and that the House didn't bother to appoint any conferees in which to help try to reconcile the differences between the Senate and the House bills. And so I don't know how much work is going to be able to get done while they're away.

By the way, yesterday Peter Baker asked a good question about the Senate bill. I did send out an update, but let me just remind you that for those of you who think that the Senate bill is non-binding, but the House bill is binding -- that those are two major differences -- the Senate bill does mandate withdrawal after 120 days, and it would not even allow for reinforcements. And so I think that means that the terrorists know that on day 121 there will be one less American soldier fighting, and that will be something that they have been working for for a long time. They believe that when the going gets tough, the Americans get going.

That's what they've been forecasting for a while, if you look back to the letters between Zarqawi and Zawahiri, that that's the -- that was their belief, that in Beirut and Somalia we left when it got tough. And so, taken all that, the President does hope that the Congress can just go ahead, get this bill up to his desk so that he can veto it, and then we can move forward and get a funding bill that the President can sign.

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Q I want to go back over some ground that I think you were trying to clarify a little bit this morning. You said that you felt like some of your comments yesterday had been misinterpreted or stretched a little bit. I guess what I want to ask is, the comments you made yesterday made it sound like the White House's view towards the Attorney General is, this is a mess and he needs to clean it up; we support him while he does that, but he needs to clean up this mess, which is slightly different than "we have full confidence in him, we want him to stay no matter what." ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Oh, I -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: No, I think that the President has confidence that the Attorney General can overcome these challenges. And I think that you can full confidence in somebody and believe that they have -- still have work to do and believe that they're going to get that work done. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I believe I can rule that out, yes.

Jim. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: To the contrary, I think that the -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: To the contrary, I think the Senate Democrats are the ones who could look out of touch. They have made such a spectacle of this. They have wanted to have the show trials, they have drug this out, they continue to make demands, whether moving the goal posts in terms of what they've asked for for the administration. I don't know how we could have been any more forthcoming, and still been within the bounds of the presidential prerogatives.

The Justice Department has said that they will testify, they've turned over documents, and then for our part, we said that we would turn over documents from -- between the White House and outsiders, and have four close advisors of the President testify. So I think if anyone looks out of touch, it's the Senate Democrats because they spend so much time on this, and not -- nothing else is being worked on. They're not funding the troops, they're not working on immigration, they're not working on education or energy or any of the other things that the American people care about. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to get into -- I'm not going to get into list making. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think that you've heard -- I think that you've heard members of Congress say that they want to hear from the Attorney General, and they're going to have an opportunity to do that on April 17th. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, they said -- they have legitimate questions. And we have said that the Attorney General needs to be able to address their concerns, and that's what he is going to do. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: There hasn't been evidence of any -- of anything improper or wrongdoing in the decision for the Justice Department to recommend the replacement of eight U.S. attorneys who serve at the pleasure of the President. And that's why the President continues to have confidence in the Attorney General that they -- that he runs a great department, they have wonderful employees who work there, they are moving forward on numerous corruption cases and helping prevent child exploitation.

And I just can't see how having show trials up on Capitol Hill would be any more out of touch with what the President is doing, which is getting on with the business of the day for the American people. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: No, I'm talking about overall in terms of the spectacle. I think that this has been drug on for a week -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, look -- no, I didn't say that. I'm talking about -- we've been talking about this for weeks, and we have been working to try to get them the information that they need and get these requests in. The Attorney General, his office, Office of Public Affairs, issued a statement last night talking about how what he had said is that he was not involved in the day-to-day deliberations about evaluations regarding U.S. attorneys, that he had delegated that, and that he was periodically updated on it.

And that is consistent with what he said before, and I think that that's where people should try to take a step back and look at the -- look at the full picture. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: The Attorney General worked to clarify his statements from the March 13th press conference in the interview that he did this week, in which he said that he periodically got updated from time-to-time, and I believe that's what Kyle Sampson said yesterday. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think that's an unfortunate characterization. I think that any of you who have had an opportunity -- and I've been very fortunate to have been able to do a couple of times -- actually, a little bit -- maybe four -- to go with the President to go and see wounded soldiers. And there is no more personal moment that he has, and it's one of the -- one of the memories that I cherish the most of working for the President, because you see his gratitude, and they share hugs, and they share laughter, they share tears. And these are very personal moments.

We worked hard to find time on the President's schedule where he could spend three hours up there, which he's going to do today, visiting not just the patients, but the workers who -- the medical workers and the staff up there that provide the support to the soldiers.

And in addition to that, the President is going to make a speech. I would remind you that when this first came to light, the President said, I want to shine a bright light on this, I want to make sure we leave no stone unturned, I want to make sure that we are doing what we need to immediately at the Defense Department to have accountability, and the Veterans Affairs Department to make sure we're doing what we can immediately.

And in addition to that, he announced that Bob Dole and Donna Shalala would head up a commission to look at the long-term needs of our wounded -- wounded soldiers coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq.

So I think that characterization is unfortunate, given all of that history and given that the President is so committed. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: No, I think that the Secretary of Defense and Secretary Nicholson worked very hard to get immediate action done. The commission that the President is talking about is one that is looking for long-term, because these soldiers who are so bravely fighting today, and many of them who are getting -- who are wounded in battle are going to need our support and care for years to come. And so we want to make sure that we have all of that, including the mental health aspects of it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: What I'm saying, Elaine, is that the President immediately took action. And I don't think that anyone could disagree with that. The fact that the President is going up there and spending three hours today I think is significant. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: You guys are asking me to answer a question that -- I just don't know if it's answerable. What I can tell you is that the President immediately took action. His Cabinet took action. He was very pleased that Secretary Gates took the action he did to hold those accountable that needed to be held accountable. And then Secretary Nicholson moved forward to make sure that they canvassed all across the country to make sure that immediate needs were getting taken care of.

And in addition to that, we're looking at the long-term care needs. And I don't think that any veterans group could disagree with the commitment of this President to make sure that these problems are taken care of in the near term, and for the long term, because we know it's going to be a long haul for these soldiers. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Wait a minute, I didn't say -- no, I -- I think that all members of Congress have legitimate questions. I wasn't -- that wasn't in -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: No, I think that some of their language and some of their rhetoric has been over the top. I think they have legitimate questions, and I think those questions can be legitimately answered. And I would just respectfully submit that we have worked very hard, from the Department of Justice standpoint and the White House, in order to be accommodating. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I'm pretty certain that the lawyers who are also members of Congress, and senators, up on Capitol Hill, who understand the Constitution far better than I do, would understand that everyone has a right under the Constitution to invoke the 5th Amendment. And I'm not here to judge her decision, and I would refer questions about that to her attorney or to herself. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, as you know, we do not encourage -- in fact, we discourage members of Congress to make such visits to Syria. This is a country that is a state sponsor of terror, one that is trying to disrupt the Siniora government in Lebanon, and one that is allowing foreign fighters to flow into Iraq from its borders. And so we don't think it's productive to go to Syria and try to -- well, I don't know what she's trying to accomplish. I don't believe that anyone in the administration has spoken to her about it. But in general we do discourage such trips. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q So specifically on this one -- this will be the highest-ranking U.S. official to go to Syria since the Hariri assassination, even before that, and apparently she's going to meet with President Assad. Would you have a specific message to the Speaker of the House about meeting with President Assad at a time when the administration has even withdrawn our ambassador from Damascus? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Sure. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that that's a judgment that they're going to have to make. We believe that the troops need their funding. They've had 53 days to contemplate it. Department of Defense Secretary Gates and General Pete Pace have told them that there are very real consequences happening today because they don't have this money. And so if the Speaker is traveling on these international -- if the Speaker is going on an international trip, I don't know how many other members of Congress are doing the same. But I would hope that their hearts are in the right place, and that they would want to make sure that at least they're appointing conferees to have discussions during this recess. And apparently the House didn't appoint conferees before they left.

Peter. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't know. I just learned about this trip right before I came out here. We'll check. Our initial check was that nobody was aware of any discussions, but we'll confirm and let you know. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: As far as I know, we just found about it. I just found about it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q And one on the U.S. attorneys, too, please. The past couple of days you've mentioned all these other vehicles that Gonzales could use to communicate with Congress. Are there any plans -- you've listed them, but are there any concrete plans for him to make individual lobbying calls or visits with anyone -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, I would hope that if the decision is -- if the decision has been made by the Democrats that the hearing is going to be held on April 17th, that people would respectfully wait until having a chance to hear that testimony. But, again, the Attorney General may decide to make some more phone calls, or maybe have more media availabilities in order to get this information out. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think some of the rhetoric in terms of claiming that there was wrongdoing or falsehoods, or that -- especially I think one of the things that's been over the top is a suggestion where there is no evidence that there was political interference in terms of preventing public corruption cases from moving forward. I think that's definitely over the top. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Not since this morning, when I was able to tell you that the talks were not going well. Maybe -- we might know something by the end of the day. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Look, Tony Blair has made his comments and we strongly stand behind him. We believe that Iran should make the decision to immediately and unconditionally release the 15 British soldiers that are being held there in Iran. We believe, as Tony Blair has said, that the British soldiers were in Iraqi waters and that they need to be returned immediately -- not only the soldiers be returned, but their -- the British equipment, as well. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, it's certainly a concern, and we share the very serious concerns of the -- that the British have commented on, and the United Nations now has made a statement, as well. And I think that anybody looking at those British soldiers who are asked to make those statements, I can't imagine what their families are going through. It must be very hard for them. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: There's no indication of that, no. I believe that we -- everyone believes that it can be solved diplomatically. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I believe that's how Tony Blair has referred to them, yes. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, remember in the State of the Union, the President said that this was one of the priorities that he has for this year. And so we have been working with Republicans and talking to them about how to get some more cohesion there, in order to then go to the Democrats and start working on a bill. There are discussion points that are underway right now, and I think what the President stands firm on are the principles that were laid out, which is we must have better border enforcement; we have to have better interior enforcement -- that includes work site enforcement -- we have to make sure that a temporary worker program can be put in place so that these people who want to come over and work can do so, and not live in the shadows; and then there has to be some way, without amnesty and without animosity, to allow people to figure out a way to be able to be in America legally.

And so we are working with Capitol Hill, but we're optimistic that we're going to be able to make some headway. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think I'll decline to do that from here, since there are discussion points and nothing concrete, but I think we are making some progress. And there's a range of issues -- it's a very complicated matter, and there's lots of different strings that you can pull on in different areas. And so I can tell you that there are a lot of people in the administration who are working full-time on it, and Scott Stanzel, in our office, is handling those day-to-day questions. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: The President is kept updated on the discussions that are ongoing with the administration and the discussions with the Republicans, and then the work to talk with the Democrats in order to see if we can get some resolution. So he's regularly updated. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q And one quick question on the attorneys. Has there been a schedule in the mind of Mr. Fielding about when he might be able to respond to Mr. Conyers and Mr. Waxman with their outstanding questions related to email policy, a whole host of things, getting documents that aren't related to the interviews -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't, but we can check with Fred.

Victoria. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: What I can tell you is I spoke to the President this morning and he has -- the Attorney General has the President's full confidence. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q And going back to something you said this morning when we were talking about his testimony for the 17th, you mentioned that the committee could ask him to testify earlier than that. But it's also a two-way street; if he wants to testify earlier, he could also approach the committee, or you could suggest -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Two quick questions. One, U.S. always considers Saudi Arabia the greatest supporter and friend for the United States and an ally. And even the United States and the international community tolerated their supporting for terrorism and funding around the world in the name of charity. Today Saudi King is accusing the United States and the international community as far as the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestine is concerned, rather than condemning terrorism that they are supporting -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, the United States and Saudi Arabia do have a close and cooperative relationship. And we've worked very closely with them since 9/11. Sean McCormack yesterday said that through diplomatic channels they were reaching out to the King in order to clarify. And so I'll have to refer you to Sean or to the State Department. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Another international question -- how the President feel that Washington Post and the Washington Times have been reporting for weeks -- also CNN, special reports that there's still madrasas are there in Pakistan and they're being trained militantly and in terrorism? And also, ongoing massive protests against the military government -- how does the President feel about this? Is he worried about it? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Two questions on the Blackberry? Well, Les isn't here, so I guess you can have two. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, I looked out and he wasn't here. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: From WorldNet Daily? (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q I can't imagine they'd have somebody they'd want asking questions less than they'd want me asking questions for the WorldNet Daily.

Apparently, Alberto Gonzales says now, in Boston, he did not recall being involved in talks on dismissing individual federal prosecutors -- which, I suppose -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: But the way I took the testimony yesterday was that the AG periodically got updates about the process, and that's what Kyle said yesterday. And the AG has said that before. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: No, it was surprise that they did not appoint conferees before they left. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think -- I think that would be quite a dramatic step. I think that this is -- if the Congress -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, I'm not -- I'm not going to rule it in or out as we go along the way, but there's been no -- I haven't heard any discussion of that outside of this room. But what we do believe is that if the members are serious, as they say they are, that they want to support the troops, and they want to fully fund the troops, then they have an opportunity to do so. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I've heard -- I've not heard that discussed outside of people asking that question in this room. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: General Pace said that actually, money has started running out, and they -- well, they've started to make some changes and adjustments, as of yesterday. I refer you to that testimony. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think that if -- again, you all are asking me to speculate on something that I haven't heard discussed anywhere else. I think that the members have a responsibility to the troops and to their constituents to do their jobs. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Just a couple of announcements, and then we'll go to questions. You heard the President this morning. He had a meeting with the House Republican Conference, in which they talked about a range of issues, and the President took some questions from the members. Two of the main things the President talked about was the Iraq war supplemental and the 2008 budget resolution that the House is currently debating. The President said he would veto a bill that restricts his commanders on the ground in Iraq, and a bill that doesn't fully fund our troops, and a bill that has got too much spending in it.

There is one new data point on this today that I want to make you aware of. As we've said, there are very real consequences for delaying action on the emergency spending bill. The President spent his urgent request for funds to support the troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan 52 days ago. Our troops are in harm's way and engaged with the enemy, and they need the funds. Just this morning the Department of Defense notified Congress that in order to meet the force protection needs of the Marine Corps and the Army we are borrowing funds from other important Marine and Army procurement programs. That is taking funding intended for medium tactical vehicle replacement, Humvees and Humvee equipment, the tactical communications modernization program, and upgrades to other vehicles.

This reprogramming will then accelerate delivery of nearly 300 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles that were included in the President's supplemental request and are needed by our troops on the ground. This reprogramming of funds is only necessary because Congress has failed to act in a timely manner on the President's emergency funding request. And so this, again, underscores the need to get this show on the road, get the bill to the President, he will veto it, and then we'll take it from there.

In addition today, the President talked to the members about the 2008 budget resolution. So a couple of comments on that. As you've heard the Democrats say that they campaigned on fiscal discipline, that they embrace the goal of a balanced budget, but unfortunately the substance of their bill does not match that rhetoric. Their path is so-called fiscal discipline, but it's paved with tax increases, spending increases, and then it ignores our biggest budgetary challenge, which is entitlement spending. Make no mistake, failing to extend tax relief is a tax increase, period.

And by contrast, the President's budget balances the budget without raising taxes. The Democrats' budget also increases day-to-day government spending by nearly $213 billion over five years. That is not offset. And the President talked with the House Republican members today about that as they continue debate throughout the rest of this week.

Jennifer. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Kyle Sampson testified today, as you know. He said, "I don't think the Attorney General's statement that he was not involved in any discussions of U.S. attorney removals was accurate. I remember discussing with him this process of asking certain U.S. attorneys to resign." What's the White House reaction to that? Do you feel like Attorney General Gonzales needs to get up to the Hill much more quickly to explain himself? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think the key to that is "if," and I know that the Attorney General is going to be testifying in front of Congress, and I think it's best for me to allow the Attorney General to either explain further today, if they choose to, or to wait for his testimony. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I will find out if they're going to talk beforehand. Obviously it's kind of a long way away, a little bit more than three weeks. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Correct, and so I think that we need to -- I'll need to find out if the President is going to talk -- be talking to him beforehand. I'm assuming that they probably would, whether it be specifically about this, or in the context of other meetings. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Not one that I was made aware of or that I could tell you about. I don't know if they've had any other communication, no. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Can you sort of characterize -- because this really, this morning, brought into very sharp focus a dispute -- I mean, essentially, the Attorney General's former chief of staff is calling into direct question the crux of what the Attorney General has said about having never had any conversations. He's counting at least five conversations they've had. So how can the Attorney General, in your opinion, continue to be effective if, apparently, he stood up and said something that was categorically false? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I disagree. I think that the legislative calendar and his request for testimony is not made on the AG's timetable, it's made by -- it's at the request of members of Congress. I believe they set the date. Democrats run the Congress, they run the scheduling, so I think that wasn't the Attorney General's choice. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: No, I think that you can talk to the Hill -- you can talk to the Hill in a variety of ways. That doesn't necessarily mean a hearing. You can go up and have -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't keep track of the Attorney General's schedule. I know that the department has been in contact with Capitol Hill. Obviously the Attorney General has had some travel. And our staff also has been up on Capitol Hill, letting people know that the Attorney General has the confidence of the President, and also reminding them that the President has said that he wants the Justice Department to be fully responsive to the Congress's requests. And that remains true today. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't know if I would put it that way -- it's that the President wants the Justice Department to be fully responsive. And I think that the Attorney General, when he goes up, will have that opportunity to talk to the American people and the -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q The President said that he's got work to do; others in the White House say he's got to go up there and adequately address these concerns. And so that leads to the question of whether or not the President is looking for results out of that testimony. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Yes, the President has confidence in the Attorney General. And if that changes for any of us that serve at the pleasure of the President, if we fail to continue to keep the President's pleasure, then we no longer work here. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Let me switch to Iraq. You say that these bills will be vetoed, and then you want a clean bill out of Congress. The reality is the Democrats who run Congress have registered a very serious challenge to the President's war strategy. So where do -- where does the White House go from here in terms of negotiating with Congress in a way that can actually absorb the statement the Democrats have made about the desire to set a date certain to end the war? Or is there zero room for compromise in this -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think I will decline to negotiate from here. I think that those are important conversations that need to happen between our members -- members of our administration, especially our Legislative Affairs staff, talking with members of Congress and the Hill about where they might be able to reach some sort of common ground.

Now, an arbitrary time line for withdrawal is what the President said that he would not accept. And so I don't believe there's -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I'm just not going to rule it out. I won't rule them out.

Helen. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Not that I'm -- no. The President only spoke to President Roh this morning, of South Korea. There have been no other calls that I know of.

Let me just remind you of something I said this morning, which is the United States and Saudi Arabia cooperate on a wide number of issues. It is not accurate to say that the United States is occupying Iraq. We are there under -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: That's right. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Helen, we are there at the invitation of the sovereign government of Iraq that was democratically elected -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: We were there under the U.N. Security Council resolution, and we are there now at the -- I think one of the things to point out -- and I think somebody brought up the Talabani comments this morning -- is that he was talking about the initial when we -- initially when we went in, of establishing a coalition provisional authority, rather than an Iraqi provisional authority. And we were there -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: We were there under a U.N. mandate, yes. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: It was a horrible and atrocious day. I think that the people -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think the people who committed those atrocities are the ones who are responsible. And I know that the United States forces, the coalition forces that are there, who are working alongside the Iraqi security forces, are working to bring security to the region.

This is exactly what we're talking about -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: The people who commit atrocities are the ones who are responsible for committing atrocities. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I've seen parts of those reports. I don't have a full report in terms of all that happened there. Clearly, it's very disturbing if there are police officers that people are supposed to be able to trust committing such atrocities. I did hear also a report -- and I hesitate to say it because I don't have all of the facts -- but that the Iraqi army went in and tried to help secure the situation. And that's what we need, is that the Iraqi forces there being able to take over their own security. And if there are problems with the police forces, and clearly this would be one of them -- that they need to go in there and purge those individuals from those positions of authority and the positions of trust that the Iraqi citizens should be able to have, and get them out of there, and allow for the peace to take over. And that's what General Petraeus is working on.

It's a serious situation. We've got a lot of work to do. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: As I told you yesterday -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't know if there's any activities at the United Nations. I do know that the President spoke to Tony Blair yesterday; we are fully supportive of Tony Blair and we want Iran to heed the calls of Tony Blair to release those soldiers immediately and unconditionally. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I'm sure that we're in communication with the Saudis. I don't know if we're seeking clarification. In terms of his comments about Iraq, or the other? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't have an update for -- I don't know if we're talking to them.

April. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Again, the President backs Tony Blair, and Tony Blair has said that Iran should unconditionally and immediately release all of the prisoners -- all of the soldiers -- sorry, I didn't mean to call them prisoners. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: You can be the judge of that. I think it's pretty clear. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Had come down to the White House. He had met with the full conference up on Capitol Hill, but this is the first time they've been down to the White House. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: We're counting? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, the fact is that we are. And the President was there to talk about the two major issues that are happening on Capitol Hill right now, which is the debate on the Iraq war supplemental and fully funding our troops, and the debate on the 2008 budget resolution. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: He's not distracted. There's a lot of people here in the administration to work on all of these different issues, and that includes the -- other issues that came up today are immigration, and education, health care, trade. And there's a lot of issues going on, and we're marching forward on all of them. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: This administration, since September 11th, has been no short -- not short of any major issues happening all at one time. And so we're quite used to being able to handle multiple issues at the same time. We have to, it's our responsibility to the American people.

Roger. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't know. Our President. Gordon helps from the side. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't have any specifics on that. They did talk about the free trade agreement, among other things. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: No update. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Part of the House Republican Conference was a chance for members and the President to have a give-and-take and for the members to ask questions. And so there was just additional conversation about immigration. And we've been working hard to make sure that we can get a bill passed by August, which is what the President called for.

Peter. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q You said that the congressional war resolutions are inconsistent with the Iraq Study Group. Do you include the Senate plan, which, as I understand it, asks for a goal, but not a firm deadline, of removing them by March 2008? How is that different from the -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: The goal is to get American troops home as soon as possible, but to do it in a way that is one where they can complete the mission. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, the Iraq Study Group -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that the piece that I would point to in the Senate bill is where they say that troops need to start leaving within 120 days. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that that's just signaling -- I mean, that's like this is the bill for our defeat, this is the bill that mandates our failure. You start walking away in 120 days, and what does that do for the Iraqis that we promised we'll be there and we'll be able to help them secure their country? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Regarding the Senate bill? I'll take a look and get back to you. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Dana, could you reflect on the White House and the President's feelings before he attends, about the Tuskegee Airmen receiving the Congressional Gold Medal today? One hundred sixty black World War II aviators were not given their just deserves back then, and now they're being recognized. Many of them have passed away. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Does this come full circle for many in the service right now, fighting the war on terror? Because many say that those in the infantry that are fighting, it's a disproportionate number of minorities fighting, blacks and browns. What does this say to those that, years ago in World War II, blacks, African Americans were not recognized for their valiance and valor in the war, now that this is happening now during the time that they are fighting valiantly in Iraq? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Dana, right before your briefing, Nick Burns came out and said the United States is looking for clarification on that Saudi comment. You have a disagreement about that, a pretty firm one. I assume you don't agree with the Saudi Foreign Minister saying that Israel basically never wants peace in the region. You have two big breaks -- you said the United States and Saudi Arabia are cooperating on a number of issue. We have two major breaks on two major American priorities. How can you give Saudi-American relations a clean bill of health under those circumstances? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Nick Burns came out. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Nick Burns came out. Oh, I thought you said, Jonathan Burns. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Nick Burns would probably know. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Yes. Go ahead. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Correct. And so it will end up being the largest tax increase in American history. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, fair point. Obviously, our system of -- we would have liked to have seen a budget passed last year. That didn't happen. A continuing resolution had to be passed in February. And so we expect to see tax relief for the American people, because -- especially because it's not just tax relief for tax relief's sake, it's because it has results. We've had a strong and growing economy because of the President's tax cuts early on, and that's one of the things that the President wants to keep going throughout his administration. We've got 22 months left, or so. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: We're going to work on it.

Sarah. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Thank you, Sarah. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Yesterday and today, you said the President will negotiate with the Congress to get a military spending bill that he can sign. There are no indications the Democrat-controlled Congress is going to budge. So where is he going to get the billions he needs to fund the war? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Secretary Gates -- Secretary Gates said last week, April 15th. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Secretary Gates was going to be testifying on Capitol Hill today. I know this was going to be a topic. If I can refer to that for now, and then we'll see if we can get you some more. I'll work with OMB on that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I wonder if Secretary Gates will be able to get a word in. (Laughter.)

John -- let me go to John. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Back on the Attorney General for a second. Is the White House going to encourage the Attorney General to try to bring some further clarity to this situation before the middle of April when it's -- you've got a long stretch of time in front of you where his -- you know his public position on his previous statements is not going to be -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Quickly. Quick questions? (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Okay. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q More than half of page two of yesterday's Washington Post, under the headline, "Defender of the Second Amendment, if Not His Aide," reports how Senator Webb's aide Phillip Thompson was held for 28 hours in jail because he inadvertently walked into the Russell Senate Office Building with Senator Webb's loaded gun and two loaded magazines in his briefcase. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q And my question, you have no doubt in your mind, do you, Dana, that the President would immediately intervene on your behalf, rather than leave you in jail for 28 hours, in the event you inadvertently carried his gun and ammo in a briefcase into the Russell Building? (Laughter.) ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to -- I'm not going to comment. What's your next one? Hurry up. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: The doors are closing. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Vermont's Senator Leahy, in reference to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys said, "Not since the Saturday night massacre when President Nixon forced the firing of the Watergate prosecutor, Archibald Cox, have we witnessed anything of this magnitude." Question, does the President believe that Senator Leahy has somehow forgotten how Bill Clinton and Janet Reno fired 93 U.S. attorneys in one day? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: They're pretty quick. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q First of all, you are really representing our dear friend Tony, and the President well in this briefing room. My Question is, quick, that when the international community, especially the United States, got freedom for the millions of Afghans, they had faith and trust in the United States. Today, they have no faith in NATO and in Karzai government, and what they are saying is really, where their future is going. As far as my question is concerned, is this because of the money problem, or some kind of coordination of -- they're not united in the area as NATO is concerned. What's the problem? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: In the back. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, what I know is that they spoke for a few minutes this morning. They spoke about the ongoing free trade agreement negotiations. We remain hopeful about getting that done, and then they also spoke about the next steps in implementation of the six-party talks, and then the February 13th agreement regarding North Korea.

All right? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Good afternoon. I'll start with an opening statement, and then I'll take your questions. As you heard the President today, he talked about, in his speech to the Cattlemen's Association, the Iraqi war supplemental. Today Senator Reid responded to the President by saying, "We should get real with what's going on with the world." Let me just take a moment to step back and talk about where we are in the world.

On March 8th, the President said -- we said that the President would veto any bill that tied a timetable or restrictions to the supplemental. So the Democrats have known for 20 days, nearly three weeks, that their current bill would never become law. Yet they continued down their current path. A week ago, they heard from the Secretary of Defense that if the emergency funding isn't provided by April 15th, our men and women in uniform will face significant disruptions, and so will their families. Yet they continued down their current path, and they cobbled together votes by adding extraneous spending and domestic spending for such things as the spinach, peanut, and shrimp lobbies.

So they continued down that path. And let me remind you that two months ago, the National Intelligence Estimate, released on February 2nd, predicted that withdrawing coalition forces from Iraq within the next 12 to 18 months would not solve Iraq's problems, but would, in fact, lead to catastrophe.

Democrats in Congress must take responsibility for their votes and their statements, and stop trying to have it both ways. It is completely disingenuous to stand up and highlight the intelligence community's judgment about conditions on the ground in Iraq one month, as Senator Reid did, but then vote for the precise action that the same experts say would make the situation catastrophic the next. It is also disingenuous to praise the Iraq Study Group's report in December, but now support an artificial timetable for withdrawal.

Secretary Baker, himself, says General Petraeus and our new strategy "ought to be given a chance." And the Iraq Study Group said of withdrawal, "the point is not for the United States to set timetables or deadlines for withdrawal, an approach that we oppose." Have Democrats decided to reject the judgment of our intelligence community, the Baker-Hamilton report, and our military experts? If not, then they need to stop undermining the early progress we are seeing in Iraq, so that they can sound tough without having to take responsibility for their actions.

Questions. Jennifer. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, that's -- first, let's step back and talk about that majority, which was a bare majority of 50 votes in the Senate and 218 votes in the House, which were cobbled together in order to twist arms and buy votes using domestic spending from all the different lobbies that I mentioned, plus other ones -- tropical fish -- I forgot to throw that one in there.

So if we start there, and say that is not, in any way, representative of large majorities in either side. Of course, the President understands that there needs to be give-and-take between Congress and the White House when we're talking about any type of legislation. But they've known for three weeks what the President's position is regarding arbitrary timetables for withdrawal, and that is what he said he would veto. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Dana, just to follow up on that, then, perhaps a little clarity -- if a bill were to come back stripped of spinach, peanut, shrimp, tropical fish, anything else, if it came back stripped entirely of pork, but had timetables in there, would they still get a veto? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: The President would like to see troops home as soon as possible -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: -- but the President does not want to tie the generals' hands on the ground. I'll tell you, the framers of our Constitution had it right when they realized that you needed to have one Commander-in-Chief in charge of the war, not 535 generals on Capitol Hill. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q The President emphasized al Qaeda in Iraq, and if they don't -- we'll fight them there. Before the war, he indicated -- he not only indicated, he said that there were no ties with Saddam. Is he responsible for bringing al Qaeda into Iraq? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: You just have to go back to Zarqawi, and how he set up shop there in Iraq, and started fomenting the sectarian violence, and he was successful -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: -- and we're having to fight that now.

Jessica. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q This morning you said that if the funds stop for the troops in Iraq, that will be the fault of the Democrats, not the President. But in point of fact, it would be the President who is denying this funding from going through. So does the President really want to halt funds to our troops? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: The President has said he is going to -- if this bill comes to him in this form and it ties the generals' hands and does not allow them the flexibility that they need, that tells General Petraeus, we really like you, General Petraeus, we really trust in you, we really want you to complete your mission, but we think it's going to fail, then, yes, the President would veto it.

And I think that if -- it's really disingenuous to try to have it both ways. If the Democrats want to end this war and they want to cut off funding, then they should go ahead and do that. But that's not what they've done. They've made -- had this charade going for three weeks, they knew the President was going to veto the bill. We've given them substantial warning and information, and we've been talking to them about all of our reasons. And so this cannot be laid at the President's feet. This will be the fault of the Democrats. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q In his speech today, the President also quoted from a blogger in Iraq as an example of positive developments there, people who see positive developments. Is this really representative of what's going on in Iraq, one blogger? Is this what the White House is relying on? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Well, I think I would go back to the same thing, which is that -- she also said that each of us -- meaning the Congress and the White House -- has a constitutional role, and that is true. And the founders of our country realized that the Commander-in-Chief needed to be the one having the power to conduct the war, not 535 generals on Capitol Hill. And so I think that maybe Washington could take a collective deep breath, but the President has been clearly and calmly explaining that he would veto this bill if it came to him in this format. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: No, I don't. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: We understand that people want the troops to come home. It's absolutely clear. We know that war is not popular, it hasn't been, and this war has not been going well, which is why the President had to have the Iraq review that he did last fall, that culminated in the new way forward that he announced on January 10th.

I don't think that the American people want our troops to not have the funds that they need when they're in harm's way. I don't think the American people want the generals' hands to be tied behind their backs. I don't think that they want to mandate failure and legislate failure, which is what these bills would do.

Elaine. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Dana, back on the issue of the bloggers, the unnamed Iraqi bloggers that the President cited and tried to use to help make his argument for progress in Iraq -- this is an administration that doesn't respond to anonymous quotes in established media outlets here in the United States. The President is citing these anonymous -- two anonymous Iraqi bloggers to help make the argument -- ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: No, I don't think it is. You guys call me with anonymous quotes that you want me to respond to all of the time, and sometimes I do. Sometimes I do. I have before. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I'll look into the -- I think that maybe somebody found it compelling, the President wanted to include it in his speech. And I'll see if I can get more for you on it, but I don't think it's unusual. Blogs are new for all of us, and I know that you all look at them, because then you call me and ask me what we think about the blogs. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think that there's no doubt that they had to go out and get this extra domestic spending in order for them to get the bare majorities that they got. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Second, Senator Levin seems to recognize that the bills will not pass -- or will not be signed into law by the President. But he says, the votes that Congress has conducted serve to put pressure on the Iraqi government to live up to its benchmarks, and that helps the President. Do you dispute that? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think that everyone feels the pressure and is fully incentivized in order to get the situation stabilized in Iraq. I think you would have to ask no one -- all of the Iraqis, especially the ones in the government, understand the tremendous pressure that they're under, how their citizens are living in fear and how they need to get their services back up, in order -- I mean, there's no one more incentivized than the Iraqis. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Dana, the President -- given the current congressional schedule, the soonest that they could get to conference on this, if they stick to their current schedule, would be the 16th of April, which is a day after Secretary Gates and other people have said that the money will start running out. Would the President like to see Congress stay, cut their recess short, in order to resolve this? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Yes, the President has talked about how he would veto the bill. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: The President is going to be here. So it's up to them. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I haven't heard any of that, and that will be up to Congress. But what the President has said is, let's get this over with. You've made your political statements; send the bill up here, the President will veto it, and then we can get about the business of negotiating. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: That's a hypothetical that I have not even -- I didn't even know he could. I think I kind of knew he could, back from civics class. But we'll have to check into it and see. But I haven't heard anybody talking about that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I'm not holding anything out there. You are. But I will check into it. (Laughter.) Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I know that there have probably been bills in which those -- when you work with members of Congress, you have to talk those things through. I don't know about emergency war supplementals, and I would have -- I'll check into it for you. But I think that this one is separate and apart. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Sam Fox nomination? Let me -- I've got a couple notes on that. As you saw, we sent up a withdrawal for Sam Fox's nomination. The President believes that Mr. Fox is qualified to serve as ambassador to Belgium. He has a proven record of leadership and a strong willingness to serve our country. He has a long list of accomplishments, including one of them being named the St. Louis Citizen of the Year.

Unfortunately, we received word that because of politics, some members of the Senate would have voted against his nomination, which would have prevented him from serving in this important position. So we are disappointed that they made their decision based upon partisan politics instead of his leadership abilities, and that's why we withdrew the nomination. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't know what all the reasons were in terms of individual members making that decision. But we do think that he was qualified to serve, but we have withdrawn his nomination. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think that you look at his -- no, I don't think it is, and I think that -- but, of course, members of Congress can make their own decisions. Senators can look at any nominee and weigh that decision. I think that weighed -- if you look at that he was Chairman and CEO of the Harbour Group, Limited, served in key leadership roles in cultural, education and charitable institutions in St. Louis, on and on -- and again, St. Louis Citizen of the Year. And so I think that senators have to make their own decisions, but obviously this is a person who's qualified to serve as ambassador. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: There's no -- I don't believe so. But I know that the President did not when he nominated him. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't know. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't know. I do know that his nomination would not have passed today if the vote had been called up. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: We just decided to withdraw his name. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Can I check? I don't know, I'll have to check. It was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article at some point. I think I let some of you know that this morning. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I'm not sure. I don't know if somebody saw it initially. I don't know. We can try to check into it. We keep records on that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Goyal, can I go to the back real quick and come back to you? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Okay. Victoria. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Yesterday, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Robert Mueller said, again -- he admitted to mistakes, carelessness, confusion, lack of training, lack of guidance, and lack of adequate oversight. Is it time for the President to ask for his resignation and regain the trust of the American people in the FBI? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q There was also talk among the senators and the Director about the possibility of some kind of MI-5 organization that, just basically, the FBI has too much on its plate and that they can't take it on. What does the administration think about that? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I've never talked to him about it. I don't know. I think that he believes that the FBI is doing a great job in protecting this country, and I think the facts bear that out. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to negotiate from this podium. Of course, we're going to have conversations with Congress, and the President has been clear that arbitrary timetables that put handcuffs on our generals and tie funding to conditions on the ground that don't match the conditions on the ground is what he would be against. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q A follow-up on that. If the war effort were to literally start running out of money, doesn't the President have some emergency spending powers akin to what goes on here when there's a government shutdown? Have you been looking into that? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q On that subject, basically both sides are standing toe-to-toe, looking eye-to-eye. No one is blinking. Is the President prepared to allow the troops not to be funded after April 15th? Because he continually talks about the need for flexibility, the need to fund them for what they need on the ground. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Again, I'm not going to negotiate from this podium, or talk about any specific negotiations that would be ongoing. But we're going to be talking to Capitol Hill that we need the money for the troops. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: We'll be talking with members of Congress.

Les. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I do have one update. The President did speak to Tony Blair today by SVTS. This was a secure video teleconference. That was scheduled before this incident had occurred, and they did speak today on a variety of topics, including this one. The President fully backs Tony Blair and our allies in Britain. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Does the President believe that PA President Abbas truly desires to be a partner for peace, when only weeks ago Abbas and his Fatah party joined the Hamas terrorist government after signing the Mecca agreement, which does not call for peace, but for more terrorism, and demands the so-called "right of return"? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I do believe that the President believes that President Abbas has the intention of finding a peaceful solution. And we are encouraged by Secretary Rice's discussions with them, as one of the things that has come out of her trip is that they will be meeting -- Abbas and Olmert will be meeting bi-weekly to have meetings and discussions, and that's encouraging. We need to have them to have a continuing conversation.

Peter, did you have one? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q I wanted to come back for a second on the war bill. You said earlier that you thought the public does not support the kind of conditions that the House and Senate are talking about, even though the Pew poll just the other day showed, in fact, strong majority support exactly the kind of bills -- the majority says they want their representative to vote for these bills. How do you reconcile that? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I think that the consequences are important. I also think that if they realize that the troops weren't going to be able to get the funding that they needed while they're in harm's way, and that their families back home would also be victims of this problem, that they would not support the Democrats' position. I think that what we need to do is have us get the bill up here, let the President do the veto, and then let more discussions begin on a cleaner bill. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I believe General Petraeus has said similar things, and reports on the ground -- again, amid real challenges. We're under no illusions that there are -- that things are rosy in Baghdad. Clearly, it is a very, very tough situation and it remains so. But as General Petraeus has said, they are beginning to see some signs of improvement based on the plan that he's implementing, that the Senate sent him to do unanimously, but now says that they don't want to fund him to do.

Goyal. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Yes, I think we all do. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q The question is, that as far as Iranian issue is concerned, number of countries who were warned not to do business with the Iranian government, that they are still doing business, as far as -- (inaudible) -- they are dealing with Iran. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I'll have to refer you to State Department. I don't know, Goyal. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q And second, as far as the immigration bill is concerned, which was sponsored by the President and Secretary of Homeland Security also supported the bill. And recent raids in Senator Kennedy's home town or home state -- where the Secretary was accused by Senator Kennedy that maybe there were ill treatment of the workers there or something. But Secretary was defending his move, as far as illegal immigration is concerned. My question is that as far as the small business community is concerned, and illegal immigrants, they are in fear that they cannot find any workers now, because of those ongoing raids. ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: We want to get it done before August. That's what the President said. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q You said the Department of Justice continues looking for new documents, if they need to release more. In some of those documents that have been released, there have been non-White House addresses, email addresses, that people have written from. Is there a policy from the White House that tells employees that if they're doing White House business, it should be with their White House email? Or are people always free to use an outside address for business? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't know -- I don't know of any new directive, but it is what we ask people to do.

Paula. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Dana, on the war supplemental, besides the extraneous funding provisions, there's also amendments that would include minimum wage and small business tax breaks. Is that now at a level, pertaining to the small business relief, that the administration would support if it were separated out? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't have an update on Tony Snow. I tried to reach him before I came over here. I wasn't able because he was on the phone with Secretary Rice. (Laughter.) We know he is up and about and at least talking to Secretary Rice.

And I really want to thank each and every one of you, and your colleagues, for all the outpouring of support. He really feels it. And I talked to him last night -- well, yesterday afternoon about 4:30 p.m., and he said he was up, walking around. He was not in any pain, that he was in consultations with his doctors, and that his family was -- he was surrounded by family. And so I think he's in good spirits. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Good afternoon. As I was able to tell you this morning, you know that Tony Snow went into surgery yesterday. He told everyone last Friday that he was going to have this surgery. You remember that he said that the doctors had found a small growth, that they had seen over a series of CAT scans and MRIs, that had been identified on his abdomen. It was in the area where his previous cancer had been located. Tony called us this morning and informed us that despite all of our best hopes and expectations, that his doctors, unfortunately, learned that the growth was cancerous and there has been some metastases, including to the liver.

This news has obviously saddened everyone at the White House; from the President and the First Lady, his team, the entire staff, the outpouring has been quite amazing. You heard from the President in the Rose Garden. Of course, all of Tony's family is in our prayers. The President said, Tony should stay strong, and "know a lot of people love you and care for you and will pray for you." And we'll all look forward to the day when Tony can come back and take the podium again. Believe me, we're looking forward to that.

I spoke to Tony briefly this morning, around 9:30 a.m. He told me he was up, walking around and comfortable. He will remain in the hospital for several days. That was already part of the plan because it was major surgery that he had. He did not have a lot more detail. I will try to answer your questions as best I can, but the ones that I can't answer I will endeavor to get you the answer, or I'll just have to tell you that we're not going to be able to answer those questions. Some of them are privacy concerns and health related.

If you know Tony, then you know that he's a fighter. He plans to take this on with the advice of his doctors. They are in consultation right now, talking about an aggressive treatment to go after the cancer that he said will likely include chemotherapy, but could include other things, as well. And when I have more on that I can provide that to you, as well. All of us -- we gain a lot of strength from his optimism. He told me that he beat this thing before and he intends to beat it again.

The other thing that I would say about Tony Snow is that he doesn't skip a beat; he had obviously been paying attention to the news and he was really fired up about the Iraq war supplemental. And I said that I would make sure that I delivered the President's message today, regardless of this. So if you'll bear with me -- I don't know if you were able to see it, given the news this morning, while we were all focused on Tony -- the President did issue a statement of administration policy on the Senate's Iraq war supplemental. And just a couple of points -- I'm going to read it from -- just a little bit just to make sure I fulfill my promise to Tony and make sure that you heard this before we go to questions.

The administration strongly opposes the Senate bill. The legislation would substitute congressional mandates for the considered judgment of our military commanders. The bill assumes and forces the failure of the new strategy even before American commanders in the field are able to fully implement their plan. Regardless of the success that our troops are achieving in the field, this bill would require their withdrawal. This and other provisions would place freedom and democracy in Iraq at grave risk, embolden our enemies, and undercut the administration's plans to develop the Iraqi economy. If this legislation were presented to the President, he would veto the bill.

The war supplemental should remain focused on the needs of the troops, and should not be used as a vehicle for added non-emergency spending and policy proposals, especially domestic proposals, which should be fully vetted and considered on their own merits. This bill adds billions in unrequested spending that is largely unjustified and non-emergency. And because of the excessive and extraneous non-emergency spending it contains, if this legislation were presented to the President, he would veto the bill.

Congress should reject this legislation and promptly send the President a responsible bill that provides the funding and flexibility our troops need, and without holding funding for the troops hostage to unrelated spending.

And with that, I'll go to questions. Jennifer. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: Absolutely. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Just one quick question, if you're able to answer. During the surgery, do you know if they were able to take the area out of the liver that was cancerous? And you mentioned that it had spread to areas, including the liver. Does that mean it's gone beyond to other areas, as well? ... Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't. I know that he's working with the same doctors, at least a core of the same doctors that he worked with before. And, so, obviously, they were successful in their first attempts to beat it back those couple years ago. I think it was just last month that he had reached the two-year mark of being cancer free.

So he just said that he's in consultations with his doctors, and I think that they'll -- it will take some time, I think, for them to figure out what's the best course of treatment. But as soon as I can tell you, and to the extent that he's comfortable with me being able to share that with you, I will do so. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MS. PERINO: I don't know, he didn't say.

Jonathan. Read more Comment (0), Email this.