MR. STANZEL: Good afternoon, everyone; let's go right to questions. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: We haven't seen details of their supposed compromise. We understand that they're coming to some sort of agreement on framework. But those conversations are ongoing on the Hill, so we haven't seen the details of their proposal yet, and that's something that we would look forward to. But as the President talked about today, we want to make sure that the legislation includes good reform of the he GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and also want to note that FHA modernization is certainly a high priority as well. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q And the bill that's before the Senate know, before the committee would remove one of the objections

MR. STANZEL: Well, certainly the administration has said numerous times that we want to help responsible homeowners and we don't want to bail out lenders and speculators with tax dollars from hardworking Americans who pay their bills on time. So that is certainly something that we watch. But obviously the bill, as you noted, is in committee and it has a long ways to go. So we'll keep an eye on it, and obviously it's an important issue to the President. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: We have -- I said this morning I thought that we had received the bill late last week, but actually we expect to receive it this afternoon. So there's been no action by the President yet on that.

I would note that as we have said numerous times, we don't believe that halting the fill of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will have much of an impact on oil prices, and therefore an impact on gas prices. What you see in this chart is basically the daily fill of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is about 70,000 barrels. What you saw on the President's visit to the Middle East, there was talk of Saudi Arabia increasing their daily production by about 300,000 barrels. Both of those were noted to be somewhat small amounts that would not probably have much of an impact on world oil prices.

I think it's worth noting that if ANWR had come on line 10 years ago, or 13 years ago when it was rejected, we might be seeing a million barrels of daily production out of that here domestically. So we think that it's important for Congress to not get sidetracked with a discussion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. We hope that they will move on to those issues that we think will have -- make a difference in the future, like domestic production in an environmentally sensitive way. But the President is not going to stand in their way on this bill. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: Right, that's correct. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: Well, but 1 million out of 20 million is, what, 5 percent, Bill? Five percent difference is a difference. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: No, we can't, because Congress keeps putting off the fact with -- going from band-aid to band-aid that they think will have an impact, but really won't. So for many, many years, for decades, we have had an energy policy in this country that hasn't served our needs. The President since the beginning of his administration has talked about increasing domestic production.

At the same time, we do more to increase CAFE standards, do more to increase the use of alternative fuels, and invest money into higher technology -- things like hydrogen fuel cells or battery technology that will take us beyond that in the future. But we can't keep being short-sighted when it comes to our energy needs in this country.

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

Q Shift to foreign affairs for a second. The Venezuelan Foreign Minister says today that Venezuela

MR. STANZEL: I do not. I'm aware of that report; however, I would refer you to Defense Department for anything on that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: I am aware of the report, but I don't have any information on it. So I'd refer you to the Defense Department.

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

MR. STANZEL: We have not yet received the farm bill. That was passed last week, obviously. The President's views on this have been clear throughout. In January 2007, the administration put forward a farm bill that we thought was very reform-minded, made wise use of taxpayers' monies, invested in things like conservation and research. Obviously the farm bill includes things like food aid, as well.

But the President has been disappointed with what came forward -- what came through Congress. We see a bill that is bloated; that asks taxpayers, at a time of record-high farm income, to pay -- and at a time when they're paying more for groceries, to pay even more to wealthy farmers. And we don't think that's the right approach. And the President and the administration will continue to make that case. Like I said, we haven't received the bill yet. We expect that we'll receive it sometime this week, and the President will veto it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: Well, I think that there are -- certainly members respond to different interests, maybe from their districts. But in the grand scheme of things, the President wanted a bill that would reform our farm laws for the future, that would make wise use of the taxpayers' money, that wouldn't increase subsidies at a time of record-high incomes. There are some things in this bill that are just unconscionable.

There are many earmarks that have been dropped in here. There's programs that would allow government subsidies to go to farmers even when they're receiving record-high incomes, just because the price of a commodity might drop by 10 percent in the third year over the previous two years. Things like that we don't think are really good policy, and not in the best interest of the American taxpayers. So the President will continue to make that case, and obviously members will have to defend their votes to their constituents. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Scott, the President, though, reportedly told some of the legislators on the Republican side that

MR. STANZEL: That is actually a bit of a rumor that came out of the meeting that the President had with the House GOP conference. He did not absolve anybody of their votes. He did indicate that obviously different factors come into weighing on people's votes. But he did not say, go ahead and vote your district. He certainly put forward the reasons why he thought that that bill was bad for the taxpayers, and one that he would veto.

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

Q The National Association of Business Economics did a report, and they found 56 percent of the experts

MR. STANZEL: Well, first thing, I understand that that's an opinion poll that was released today. One, the sort of the short-handed view of what is a recession -- two quarters of negative growth has not occurred, obviously. Last -- fourth quarter of last year, we had growth. The first quarter of this year, we had 0.6 percent growth. We don't think that's enough growth.

Also, the National Bureau of Economic Research is actually the more robust look at whether or not there is a recession. We are not there with them, either. So our economy is continuing to grow, but not at a rate that's fast enough for the President's liking. We're not creating enough jobs at this point. So the President believes what is important is what we do about it.

And at the beginning of the year, we passed a bipartisan stimulus package that provided incentives for businesses and rebate checks for individuals throughout the country. We believe that will have an impact. Our forecast is that growth will return in stronger numbers in the second half of the year. As they indicated this morning, the Treasury Department was able to get out those rebate checks a little bit earlier than originally planned, so we hope that there's potential that that could have an impact in this quarter, the second quarter. But I don't know that we'll know for some time about the full impact of the stimulus package. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: I'm not sure that I'm aware of the specific truce deal that you're talking about. But obviously the President just returned from a good round of meetings in the Middle East, talked to leaders from throughout the greater Middle East -- talked with the Saudis, the Egyptians, Afghan officials, Pakistanis and the Jordanians. All of these parties are very interested in seeing peace in the Middle East and specifically a resolution to the difficulties in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Unfortunately, what we have seen from Hamas has been counterproductive. It has been not, in our view, in the best interests of the Palestinian people. We think that at some point in the future if President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert can come to a point where they have an agreement on the definition of a contiguous Palestinian state, that that vision can be offered to the Palestinian people -- and that could be a time when there would be a real moment of clarity.

But as to the specifics of your question -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: I understand that the French have indicated that that's not a government official. And I also understand that Israel has indicated that they've received reassurances from France that that is not a change in their policy. So that's what I have at this point.

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

MR. STANZEL: I'll have to get back to you on that; I don't know. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: As you frequently find out about these things from other entities -- we don't have any details on the President's visit in June, but suffice it to say the President will be traveling in June, but we don't have any of those details yet.

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

Q Thank you, Scott. Two quick questions. One, during President's trip to the Middle East, he spoke

MR. STANZEL: Well, the President's message has remained consistent -- that we have to work with our allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan to confront the dangers that we all face mutually. Obviously terrorism has struck significant blows in both of those countries, and it's up to us to remain vigilant in confronting terror.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas that you mentioned -- obviously that's an area of concern, and a NIE last year talked at length about our concerns with terrorism taking root there. And Pakistani troops, Pakistani military have suffered a lot of casualties in their confrontation of people, of terrorists in that area.

So that is the message the President received. And I think what he heard back from the leaders was that we will continue to work together because these are challenges that we face, all three of these nations. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q And second, as far as earthquake in China and Burma is concerned, one, can you confirm there are

MR. STANZEL: On your first question about China, I can't confirm that. I'd refer you to Chinese officials on that. I'm not aware of what they're indicating on that at this point. And in terms of Burma, obviously the humanitarian crisis is overwhelming there. As I mentioned this morning, we've had about 31 flights of aid that have gone into the country. We want to continue to provide more of that aid. And I think the State Department has talked about the difficulty of having a referendum, given the current situation. So obviously, we remain concerned about the situation in Burma and will continue to follow it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Well, 82 percent of Americans think the country is headed on the wrong track. The President has

MR. STANZEL: Well, I think that, first of all, it would be interesting to note the approval rating of Congress, as well, which is lower than all of those numbers that you cite. The President, when he gets out and talks on the campaign trail, regardless of what candidate he is supporting, will talk about the fact that he believes that Republicans going into this fall have the message that can be supported by voters, and that is one that keeps us strong, keeps us safe as a nation, one that uses -- makes wise use of the taxpayers' money and keeps taxes low, to make sure that the economy continues to grow.

So the President believes very strongly that if we get out and take our message to voters, that we can be successful. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: I think you'll see the President out on the campaign quite -- campaign trail quite a bit. We'll keep you posted on their events that they may have together.

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

Q Thank you, Scott. Two questions. The President in Israel said, "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland

MR. STANZEL: Well, I think that as the President -- you've all seen what the President said, and I would just refer you to his remarks in that speech and the fact that we do carry a solemn responsibility in this country to take the words of radicals and terrorist leaders seriously, because we cannot let the mistake of the past century be repeated in the 21st century. So the President made very clear that he doesn't believe that we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, and that view of appeasement has been repeatedly discredited in history. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: Thank you. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q There have been -- there has been yet another almost nationally uniform raising of gasoline prices

MR. STANZEL: I don't think the President is focused on blame, Lester. He's focused on solutions that will have a difference for the future. Certainly rising demand in oil around the world is having an impact on gasoline prices. You mentioned $4.00 -- the average price is not yet there -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: I certainly did notice that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: Well, oil is sold on a world market, Lester, so that is a case in point of what we see. But the President believes that we should focus on ways that we can reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil, that we can expand use of alternative fuels, that we can reduce our consumption through raising CAFE standards, and make sure that we take those measures that will help us in the future, like expanding exploration in ANWR, the Outer Continental Shelf, as an example.

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

MR. STANZEL: Yes, that is a meeting that is taking place today, actually starting here in about five minutes. The Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Director Jay Hein and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff are hosting a roundtable to explore the increasing role of faith-based organizations across America in disaster preparedness and response and recovery efforts. Obviously, we think that these organizations have a wonderful role to play in important issues like that. So that is a roundtable discussion that they're having, actually over in the EEOB right now. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: I'll have Emily Lawrimore get back in touch with you. She's got all the information about that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q On the Merida Initiative, the Senate approved some conditions for the Merida Initiative to Mexico

MR. STANZEL: Obviously that is an important initiative for the administration in terms of increasing security and confronting threats. But I'm not aware of the specific back-and-forth that you're talking about. So let me -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: Yes, I can take that question and get back to you.

Go ahead. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: We've been through this before. Do you have a question? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Yes. There's something new. Last week emails surfaced that showed that Pentagon officials, including

MR. STANZEL: Your question is? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: Well, the idea that people in the administration would brief people who are talking to reporters about our programs and our policies doesn't seem like to be that far-fetched of an idea to me. So in terms of the emails, I haven't been monitoring the staff emails here, so I can't tell you what their conversations were like. But it's not unusual for administration officials to brief people who are talking about our plans and our policies. Much like I'm standing here today, briefing all of you -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: -- and much like I'm standing here answering your question, and you go out on your liberal blog and talk about the way that you see things; we brief people who talk about the President's policies. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. STANZEL: You can talk to the Defense Department. It was their program -- which they've discontinued. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Just to follow-up on my colleague's question, are you discouraging any contact between the French

MR. STANZEL: Well, we have -- the President was talking about, in his speech, not talking with terrorists and radicals. We have -- as the President has made clear, we have contacts through the P5-plus-1 procedures; we have contact with Iran. We have a standing offer to sit down with leaders in Iran if they would renounce their nuclear ambitions and stop their uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.

So the President in his speech was talking about needing to take the words of these people seriously. We cannot disregard what they say. And unfortunately we have seen a growing influence of Iran, who is supporting Hamas in Gaza, supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon, is supporting Jaish al-Mahdi in Iraq, and has indicated that they -- their leaders have said that they would like to see the end of the state of Israel.

So those are things that we have to take seriously, and that's what the President was talking about. Read more Comment (0), Email this.