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 Unemployment Insurance - White House Press Briefing by Tony Fratto 9/30/08 — Tuesday, September 30, 2008 —  MR. FRATTO: Paula.Q You mentioned repeatedly of frozen assets, assets that have value. But what about human assets? Because there's a lot of argument out there that people around that kitchen table might not be able to wait three or four steps along the way. As you know, unemployment insurance is running out mid-October, about three weeks before the election. The White House said it opposes that. There's supposedly a bargaining chip out there by Democrats for the President to drop his veto threat on the second stimulus bill. Are you rethinking any of these positions? MR. FRATTO: Which -- let me try to break down your question in a few different ways. You talked about unemployment insurance. We extended unemployment insurance. Congress put that forward for a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance, from 26 weeks-six months, for an additional 13 weeks extension. Q It expires in October -- MR. FRATTO: The additional 13 weeks for those people who have been on unemployment insurance already for six months, for them it does expire. But it rolls, depending on when you get on the program, so that if you are on the program today, if you go on this week, you have the original 26 weeks, plus an additional 13 weeks. So that's where it stands today. Congress may have ideas on things that they want to try to do with respect to unemployment insurance. They may try to find legislative vehicles to deal with them. We'll have those conversations with Congress if there are other efforts that they want to do. But with respect to this particular problem, if you want to help those people at their kitchen table, if you want to help the ability of their employers to keep them employed, then you want to fix the problem that we're trying to fix this week. And there will be -- there is nothing we can do that is more important for the U.S. economy, short term and long term, than to fix this problem with this frozen asset class. It is the single best thing we can do for the economy. That's our primary focus, and that's what we're going to be working on. We'll obviously continue to talk about other issues also if Congress has interest in them. Q But you have to acknowledge that one of the key issues here is also to get something that will pass. And if the bargaining chip is to drop the veto threat on a second stimulus package, would you reconsider it? MR. FRATTO: I think we will leave our negotiations for our discussions with members of Congress and not try to have me negotiate from here. Congress | Press Briefing | Tony Fratto | Unemployment | White House Press Corps Labels: Congress, Press Briefing, Tony Fratto, Unemployment, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 7:24 PM  Treasury Department Economic Contingency Plans - White House Press Briefing by Tony Fratto 9/29/08 — Monday, September 29, 2008 —  Q Treasury had been working on a contingency plan for an economic meltdown for over a year. Treasury told me that. Did the White House know this? Did you ever see details of this plan?MR. FRATTO: We work very closely with Treasury. Q So why is it so complex? I mean, why -- MR. FRATTO: It's a complex -- it is an incredibly complex problem. And I think you can see that Treasury was dealing with some very difficult issues: the failure of a major investment bank, the failure of the world's largest insurance company, the failure of two government-sponsored enterprises that needed to go into conservatorship. I think Treasury was ahead of this, but -- I think we said this last week, your first choice isn't a $700-billion-program commitment of taxpayer dollars. That is, I think, a last choice, a major government intervention into the financial sector. That's not what you lead with. You see if there are ways that we can try to contain the problem. That's what Treasury and the Fed tried to do. It had some limited success. But we've seen an incredible transformation in our financial sector right now. But we're in -- we're in a point where because of the tightness in credit, the extreme illiquidity in credit markets, that something major had to be done. And it was the decision of Secretary Paulson. Q But Treasury saw this happening, the possibility -- MR. FRATTO: No. No, the Treasury -- the Treasury was aware of a lot of different potential solutions, and this was one of them. Q They knew a problem was coming, that's why they were looking for solutions a year ago. I mean, why didn't they -- MR. FRATTO: I don't know about a year ago, if that's what they -- if that's what they've told you. But I know that they were looking at different ideas for a long time. But I -- still, I think the point that I made is the right point. You don't -- you don't do this kind of major intervention as a first choice. Q My point is they could have warned the public a year ago that something was coming; they could have talked to Congress. MR. FRATTO: They were warning the public. And they were talking a great deal about the problems in credit markets. And I know it's something Secretary Paulson had been focused on for a great deal of time. And in particular, his focus on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the -- one of the largest players in mortgage backed securities, he had been focused on that for a great deal of time. The administration had been focused on it for six years, even long before the Secretary came to Treasury. Henry Paulson | Press Briefing | Tony Fratto | Treasury Department | Treasury Secretary | Wall Street | White House Press Corps Labels: Henry Paulson, Press Briefing, Tony Fratto, Treasury Department, Treasury Secretary, Wall Street, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 5:23 PM Wall Street Bailout and McCain - White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 9/26/08 — Friday, September 26, 2008 —  Q What do you think -- what progress do you think happened between yesterday and just now for John McCain to say he's going to resume his campaign and go to the debate?MS. PERINO: I don't know. I couldn't tell you what his -- Q He says there's been progress since yesterday's meeting. MS. PERINO: Senator Reid said the same thing; so did Senator Gregg. And I'm going to let the negotiators continue. As I said, we've been -- we feel like we've been close, but we're not quite there yet. There are many members of Congress, especially on the House Republican side, who have a lot of concerns, and I understand those concerns. We get it. This President did not want to have to take this route, either. But it was after being briefed repeatedly by his Secretary of the Treasury and his Fed Chairman that if we did not do something drastic, that we would have -- we would be facing financial calamity, that the President of the United States said we can't sit by and let that happen. If we have a way that could fix it and to stabilize and strengthen the financial markets, we have an obligation to do that. Q Do you think the debate adds to or detracts from the work that will be done on the Hill? MS. PERINO: I just don't know. But I think it'll be fun to watch. (Laughter.) Congress | Dana Perino | John McCain | Legislation | Press Briefing | Wall Street | White House Press Corps Labels: Congress, Dana Perino, John McCain, Legislation, Press Briefing, Wall Street, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 5:53 PM
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