Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: Good morning, everyone. I'll try to do a quick briefing today, does that sound good? Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: All right. Very quickly, saw the jobs report this morning, the payroll data. Obviously this is a very disappointing report. We're dealing with a number of shocks to our economy and have been for some time -- still elevated energy prices, the housing correction, and obviously the credit crisis that we're dealing with now. We think that one of the most important things we can do right now -- and of course it's on the floor of the House of Representatives this morning -- is to pass this emergency legislation to deal with the problem in our credit markets. We're watching the debate and look forward to the vote coming up in a little more than an hour.

Just to let you know for your planning, you can expect to hear from the President at some point after the vote. We'll try to give you details on that as we can.

Let me give you a little bit on the schedule and then we can go into some questions.

This afternoon the President will attend a Hulshof for Governor Dinner in St. Louis, Missouri, and then he'll spend the weekend in Crawford. On Saturday, the President and Mrs. Bush will attend a Congressional Trust 2008 fundraiser in Midland, Texas. On Monday, the President and Mrs. Bush attend a Congressional Trust 2008 reception in San Antonio, Texas. And then the President will make remarks on judicial accomplishments and philosophy in Cincinnati, Ohio.

On Tuesday the President will participate in a photo opportunity and make remarks to the members of the 2008 United States Summer Olympic and Paralympic teams here at the White House. And we hear we should have a pretty impressive turnout for that, so we look forward to that.

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

MR. FRATTO: We're hearing that they could get it here fairly quickly, and we hope they will. Obviously, we've had -- talked about the great urgency of getting this legislation passed. I know the House Clerk's Office is working to try to get -- should the bill pass -- to get it here as quickly as possible. We're hopeful that they'll be able to do that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: Let's see what happens with the vote first, and then -- (laughter) -- should they -- but it's in the House's -- it's in the hands of the House of Representatives. And if we get to that point, I know that they will -- that they understand the urgency also, and I know they'll be trying to get it to us as quickly as possible. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: We'd like to sign it as -- if the bill passes, we'd like to sign it as quickly as possible, as soon as they get it to us.

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

MR. FRATTO: Yes. He could sign -- the President can sign -- we've done that before. The President can sign the bill whenever it gets to him. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: Sure. I think in terms of the President, himself, I'd still keep it in the range of about three dozen calls over the last -- about three dozen members over the last couple of days. I know that -- actually I was just with him, and a member had called in to say that he was switching his vote and was going to vote in favor of the legislation. So that was obviously welcome news to hear this morning.

The President's team, obviously led by Dan Meyer, Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, has been -- has organized outreach to House members. And so Dan and his legislative team -- Josh Bolten, Joel Kaplan, Ed Gillespie, the Vice President -- have all been in contact with various members. And I don't think I can change our expectations more than what I said yesterday, that we're optimistic that the bill has a chance of passing.

Yes, Matt. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q In light of the latest economic data, there is some concern that even if the rescue bill does pass

MR. FRATTO: Well, I just want to -- I want to be clear on what our expectations have been, and no one should be over-promising what this legislation will do. This legislation is to fix a problem in our financial markets. It's not sold as giving a boost to the economy, but rather preventing a crisis in our economy. And like I said earlier, we're -- the economy has been hit by a number of very real shocks.

Now, we have had a number of programs in recent months, some which are just now getting underway. We talked about the housing legislation, which is just being implemented and should have an impact. This bill will have an impact in supporting the economy and stabilizing markets. And once -- if it works as we hope it will, credit will be able to begin flowing again. And so the private sector will -- if we're stabilized, the private sector will be able to help to support growth in the economy again, also.

I understand the House is going to take up legislation to extend unemployment insurance again today. The Senate is not here to take up that legislation and we'll see what the Senate's intentions are for that legislation when they return in November.

Yes, Mark. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Tony, listening to the debate on the House floor, many of the opponents were quite alarmed by what

MR. FRATTO: I think you should look for -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: Well, the ranking member, ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee just put out a very long statement addressing some of those things. And as he pointed out, this was the same package that was promoted by Republicans not too long ago. I think Representative Camp had sent it up as -- or put it forth on their motion to recommit, same exact package. There are -- the rum provision, it's not a tax break for rum producers. These are excise taxes that actually go back to the government of Puerto Rico. Some of these things have sort of interesting headline-making characteristics to them, but when you look deeper at them, they make a lot of sense. I mean, I didn't know anything about children's arrows, but I've learned a lot over the last 24 hours, and it turns out that the -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: You hit the bulls-eye with that one, Mark. (Laughter.) It turns out that the excise tax is -- would be 39 cents an arrow, but it only costs about 30 cents an arrow to make, so there are very real reasons why you wouldn't want to have that kind of tax on that kind of product.

So I would point you to what Representative McCrery put out. He has a document that explains each one of these provisions. And the entire package of extenders is something that we are very, very comfortable supporting.

I'll get to you, Adam. I'll get to you now, actually. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: Hank Paulson actually is part of the administration, so, yes, didn't require much sharing. (Laughter.) We're aware of his letter. I haven't seen it myself. I'm aware of it, and I know -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: You know what, I would leave those kinds of predictions to Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke. I mean, they're going to have a better feel for that. We know it's going to take a little bit of time to implement the program, and they're still working out how exactly that will happen. Clearly it will give a boost -- it should give a boost of confidence to a very uncertain market right now. The market has been wondering for a number of weeks now just what the federal policy response would be. Should this legislation pass, they'll have a good sense of that and that can help to anchor their expectations.

And so hopefully that will contribute to stability in the markets, just having had the legislation passed and then we'll learn from Secretary Paulson and his team what the timetable is for implementation. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: You can check with the Treasury Secretary. I don't have a copy of the letter myself.

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

Q On the issue of kitchen table issues, as you know, the unemployment -- even though it's not for

MR. FRATTO: Well, actually, I mean, I think the previous extension did extend it for 13 weeks and extended it for an additional 13 weeks in high unemployment rate states. So you're right, it's not -- that the extensions aren't for everyone, but there is an additional extension for those in states having exceptionally high unemployment.

But it sounds like your question is actually for the Senate, and not for me, because the question -- Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: Right. So I think the bigger question is actually for the Senate. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: No, I said -- what I actually said was that we will see how the Senate decides to go forward with the legislation. So like I said, I think your question is for the Senate as to what their next step will be with the House-passed legislation, should the House pass it. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: Paula, I think with all due respect, your argument seems to be that if there is anyone unemployed that we should perpetually extend unemployment benefits. Now we have already extended -- in some cases doubled the length of the original program, and a 25 percent increase in length for the general program. So, I mean, that is a very substantial increase in the extension of unemployment benefits. And as I said, we'll see what the House does with this current proposal to further extend unemployment benefits, but we can't do anything with it until the Senate acts.

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

MR. FRATTO: Well, we've actually -- the stimulus plan we put in place earlier in the year carried through the second quarter, is still having benefits in this quarter. The business tax deduction part of it is still having an impact. You've also seen the housing legislation that is also -- would also support growth and support the greatest single weakness in our economy, which is in the housing sector. And I'd also point to what the Federal Reserve [has] done, which is a very substantial easing of monetary policy, which, you know, from well over 5 percent down to 2 percent on rates for lending. That is a great deal of monetary stimulus and I wouldn't ignore that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Okay, but getting back to my original point, this has been an administration that has touted, you

MR. FRATTO: Yes, I think that's actually what we're doing, and it's actually what we have been doing throughout this whole year, is to deal with the weaknesses in our economy. I know we've addressed every one of them head on working with Congress, from the very quickly passed stimulus plan at the beginning of the year to all the work that went into housing legislation to energy legislation. This legislation has extensions of tax relief that support growth. We had tax relief in the stimulus plan, as I mentioned, to allow businesses to invest in equipment.

So there has been a lot. I'm sure there will continue to be a lot, and this piece of legislation today will also support the economy and support growth.

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

MR. FRATTO: No. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: I actually did not see it, so I don't have a reaction on that. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: No, I think what I said is that over -- from the day before yesterday until this morning he will have called about three dozen members. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: He has heard from members today, yes. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: Some calls are calls back. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: I'll have to let you know. I'm not sure if he has more calls left between now and then.

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

MR. FRATTO: He did. He saw about -- probably about the first half of it. He thought it was a good debate. He thought Governor Palin did very well. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: He does, absolutely.

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

Q Two questions, Tony. One, yesterday, October 2nd, was the International Non-Violence Day, declared

MR. FRATTO: Well, obviously the President has -- the President spends a lot of time talking about the leaders of freedom. And so I don't know whether he did anything special to recognize the day yesterday, but he has spoken of Gandhi in the past and -- but I can check in and see if he had any particular thoughts, Goyal, and get back to you. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: Go ahead, Goyal. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

Q Okay. As far as global war on terrorism is concerned, bombings are still going in the region of

MR. FRATTO: Well, I know that they're in a review right now regarding troops, and as you know, the President -- it was a couple weeks ago -- announced additional troops for Afghanistan. And our forces there are working with the Afghan forces and NATO forces and Pakistani military to deal with that region and to bring security.

I don't have anything new beyond that, but you know that those discussions have been ongoing, and General McKiernan was here also talking about it just in recent days. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

MR. FRATTO: I didn't get his specific reaction to that particular moment in the debate, April. Read more Comment (0), Email this.

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