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 The True Measure Of Things - Air Force One Press Gaggle by Robert Gibbs 7/8/09 — Thursday, July 09, 2009 —  MR. GIBBS: I came back during the only part of the flight that was bumpy. (Laughter.)Q Yes, that's what we said right before you came back here. One more G8 question, also on numbers. Can you say whether the U.S. is decided or is going to support limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius? MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think the biggest -- the biggest thing that surrounds all of this as it relates to global warming and climate change are the big steps that the House took only a week or so ago to put our country strongly on record as taking bold action against forces that are changing the temperature and the environment of our planet. Obviously the President has talked about a great deal about this during the campaign. There are important -- there's important progress that we can make as a part of this in creating a market for clean energy jobs, incentivizing those jobs, and using that as part of the foundation for long-term economic growth rather than having what the President has talked about, the sort of boom and bust cycles of the economy or have the economy as it has been -- have the growth of the economy largely predicated on personal consumption. So I think we've taken a strong step forward. Q In the G8 perspective -- I understand that that's Obama's position, but what about the negotiating parts here at the G8? What is the administration's position going to be on that two degrees Celsius goal? MR. GIBBS: Let me get a little bit better guidance on that, except, again, I would say that I think our biggest contribution to this is the steps that were taken by the House to put us strongly on record on this. Q Does the President view the European proposal as politically plausible in this country? MR. GIBBS: Well, I think we've all seen that in -- that this is not the easiest thing to do. I think part of that is because you've seen opponents of taking strong action on global warming take a lot of license with the impacts of any proposal. I think the legislation that came out of -- it's always -- I'm always amused to find that the CBO is the credible agency, if you will, of record -- until they're not. And in the case of the climate change legislation, remember the CBO came out and said that the cost for a family in 2020 would be approximately $170. Now, only a few days before, when the CBO was talking about health care, it seemed like many people thought the CBO was written on a stone tablet -- until they got this report and many questioned the CBO. So I think in many ways, some of the difficulty in this is getting around what you hear from opponents that think we don't need to take any action, that we don't need to change anything that we're doing, or that we don't need to lay that long-term foundation for clean energy jobs. But I think -- the President has talked about this for several years, and we've made I think some bold steps in Congress to get something to the President's desk this year. Q Robert, let me go at that a little bit differently. On climate change, how would the President define success at this G8? I understand your position about what the House has done and trying to have momentum. But how do you define success? MR. GIBBS: Well, look, I think in many ways success for us is going to be getting something through Congress and to his desk that puts in place a system, a market-based system that lessens the amount of greenhouses gases in the air. Look, that's going to be the true measure of things. Air Force One | Congressional Budget Office | G8 | Global Warming | Press Gaggle | Robert Gibbs | White House Press Corps Labels: Air Force One, Congressional Budget Office, G8, Global Warming, Press Gaggle, Robert Gibbs, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 11:56:00 PM  Wow, could've had a G8 - White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 10/7/08 — Tuesday, October 07, 2008 —  MS. PERINO: Wendell. Q As we've dealt with this crisis over the past month and a half or so, the talks -- the international talks have involved the G7, not the G8. Is Moscow, in this regard, paying the price for its overreaction to the Georgia incursion? MS. PERINO: I've not heard that come up, because -- and I don't know all the details; I'd refer you to Treasury about the G7 and the makeup. But usually when they're talking the finance ministers meeting, those have been held at the G7 level, though I think there is some observance or participation at the Russian level, and that will be true this weekend, as well. Q That will be true this weekend as -- because Russia's stock market has lost about half its value this year. They are also suffering in this thing. Do we feel we need them, given they're a huge energy provider for Europe? MS. PERINO: Well, I think that you should go back and -- well, you have to ask Europe that. And I think that obviously energy is an issue. They've been working to try to diversify and develop more supply and different types of supply there in their own hemisphere. But the Russian stock market -- and I'm not an expert in this -- but you could go back -- they didn't just lose value over the past two weeks. They've been losing value since about -- since May -- Q All year. MS. PERINO: -- or maybe all year, but I know that a precipitous drop since May. Again, I don't comment on the daily market movements here, and I can't do it in terms of the Russian ones. But clearly, if you look back in August, if you want to try to make a parallel, when we were dealing with the situation when Russia invaded Georgia, yes, I think that they did -- the world did react negatively to that. Q But I just want to make sure that the -- in the current financial situation, I want to -- the question remains whether Russia is being punished, in effect. MS. PERINO: As I said, I'll have you check with Treasury for the exact list of who all will be here. But it's usually -- when the G7 meets, it's usually just the finance ministers. And that's been the way it's been -- I think we inherited that policy for a while. But I think that the Russian -- I can't remember -- Q So the G8 meets on political matters, the G7 on financial matters? MS. PERINO: I believe so. I don't want to say for sure. But the G7 -- I'm sorry, Treasury will have the list today. But I do think that they send an observer. Dana Perino | Economy | G7 | G8 | Press Briefing | Treasury Department | Wendell Goler | White House Press Corps Labels: Dana Perino, Economy, G7, G8, Press Briefing, Russia, Treasury Department, Wendell Goler, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 3:48:00 PM
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