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 The President Made A Commitment - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 8/3/09 — Monday, August 03, 2009 —  Q Thanks, Robert. The President has been pretty clear he wants to cut the deficit in half within a decade; he wants a health care overhaul that's deficit-neutral; and during the campaign he promised no tax increase on the middle class. Is there a point where you just say two out of three of these ain't bad? And can you get everything done, all three of these done?MR. GIBBS: The President is committed to doing those things. The President was clear in the campaign about that. I think in some ways those goals overlap. We're not going to make progress on the deficit without dealing with health care. So some of those goals actually work in tandem. I don't think we're going to get the deficit under -- begin to get the deficit under better control until we get the economy moving again. In order to get -- lay that new foundation, the President strongly believes that health care reform is important. The President was clear during the campaign about his commitment on not raising taxes on middle-class families. And I don't think any economist would believe that in the environment that we're in raising taxes on middle-class families would make any sense, and the President agrees. Q Then why didn't Secretary Geithner and Dr. Summers say that they would not raise taxes on those families? MR. GIBBS: Well, having -- I did not watch the shows; I read some of the transcripts -- I think they allowed themselves to get into a little bit of a hypothetical back and forth. I will say this, and I think this is important for all of us to understand, and we've talked about this issue throughout the team that we've been here: We do have big, structural deficits that are going to have to be dealt with in order to meet the President's commitment of cutting this deficit in half and getting us back on a path toward fiscal responsibility. That there's no question about. And I think what they both talked about was, one, we're not going to have -- we're not going to be able to sustain any sort of economic recovery unless or until we do have a path toward fiscal responsibility. But they also said that that shouldn't be done in a -- as a way of burdening middle-class families. So I think the President's commitment on this is clear. We have a lot of big challenges. We're already looking at ways to cut wasteful spending. As part of health care reform, the President has identified half a trillion dollars in spending that he thinks can be cut. We've worked just in the past two weeks on a bipartisan basis to look at a program like the F-22 and cut some of that wasteful spending out of the budget as well. [...] Q Robert, in terms of what Geithner and Summers had to say yesterday, it really wasn't too much of a hypothetical back and forth. It was about the -- do they think it's possible to do deficit reduction. But that's not a -- that's -- MR. GIBBS: Well, we can quibble about whether the word "possible" -- Q No, that's not what the word "hypothetical" -- is it possible to do everything the President wants to do without increasing revenues from the middle class? MR. GIBBS: Right, and I want to just state again clearly here that the President has made a very clear commitment to not raise taxes on middle-class families, period. Q But if economists, including the President's own economists, don't necessarily think that it's possible to do so without raising taxes on the middle class, how is that dealing candidly with the American people? MR. GIBBS: Well, again, Jake, there are a series of things that have to be done. I think you'll actually hear an announcement from Treasury later this afternoon about how much money has to be borrowed versus what they thought was going to have to be borrowed and what will have to be borrowed as a result of financial stabilization. In terms of cutting the amount of money that's needed, again, I think the President has been clear on this. The first thing that we can do -- the most important thing that we can do right now is get our economy growing again. We know that the deficit -- part of the reason that the deficit is up right now is that the economy has slowed down so much that tax revenues -- because it's what happens in an economic slowdown -- have regressed a lot. I think the President -- obviously we're going to have to make some decisions down the road on some of the President's legislative priorities and some of the things that Congress wants to do to evaluate how we move back towards -- on a path toward fiscal sustainability. Q So did Geithner and Summers go off script or were they sort of testing the temperature out there of what something like this would -- MR. GIBBS: I don't know. I know the President has been clear about his commitment on it. Q So there is no -- there's no real scenario there, as the administration sees it, where middle-class taxpayers might be hit with a hike? There's no scenario right now -- MR. GIBBS: The President has been clear, very clear. Q Could I make that even a little more precise? The President, as you well know, is -- not just middle class, but he's been very precise about it: no family -- MR. GIBBS: Let me be precise. Q Go ahead. MR. GIBBS: Let me be precise: The President's clear commitment is not to raise taxes on those making less than $250,000 a year. Q So any implication anybody drew from Geithner and Summers yesterday to the contrary is flatly wrong? MR. GIBBS: I think the President has been clear. I think you heard him reiterate it not that long ago right outside this room in the Rose Garden. Q But you can understand why people took what they said yesterday as Geithner and Summers trying to open the door a little bit? MR. GIBBS: Well, I hope you'll take my reiteration of his clear commitment as an update. Q So they were not -- the door is closed? They did not open the door at all? MR. GIBBS: I am reiterating the President's clear commitment in the clearest terms possible, that he's not raising taxes on those who make less than $250,000 a year. Q Did he speak to them about the fact that they did raise this little bit of a -- MR. GIBBS: We talked about a number of economic issues this morning in the Oval Office as part of the daily briefing. Q So is everybody going to be on message now, that absolutely no tax cuts [sic] for families -- MR. GIBBS: Promising that everybody is going to be on message may be a bar that's too high for me to leap over. Q But that's the goal -- everybody is on -- MR. GIBBS: The goal is to get the economy moving again. The goal is to get our government back on -- Q Without any tax cut [sic] for any family making less than $250,000 -- MR. GIBBS: Our goal is to get our government back on a path toward fiscal sustainability; to lay the long-term foundation for economic growth. And let's also -- one point that I forget that I think is important in this: Within the very first month of the President taking office, 95 percent of Americans received a tax cut. That's everybody in the middle class. The President ran because for eight long years the middle class had borne the brunt of bad economic policies. Even when jobs were being created, even when you saw positive economic growth, for the very first time in our history you actually saw wages for the middle class decline. That's one of the reasons that led the President of the United States to want to run for President of the United States: to protect the middle class, to cut their taxes -- which he did -- and to make sure that their voices were heard in the economic policymaking of this country. Q The door is not open even a millimeter on raising taxes? MR. GIBBS: I hope you'll take seriously what I said. [...] Q Just to clarify, is this confusion on the tax thing -- this is something that Summers and Geithner maybe got caught up in hypothetical questions? Or is this a media interpretation? I mean, who is -- MR. GIBBS: I think a confluence of some of that stuff, sure. [...] Q Were you in the morning meeting on the economic topics you talked about a moment ago? MR. GIBBS: Yes. Q Who else was there? Was Mr. Geithner and Mr. Summers there, I guess? MR. GIBBS: They were there; Peter Orszag, Rahm Emanuel, Anita Dunn. Q Did the President bring up what was discussed in the Sunday talk shows, or did Mr. Summers and Mr. Geithner volunteer -- MR. GIBBS: I don't believe -- Q -- did either one of them volunteer the hypothetical back-and-forth characterization -- MR. GIBBS: I'm sorry, what? Q Did either one of them explain -- MR. GIBBS: No, I made that up all by myself. Q That's how you interpreted it, as a hypothetical back and forth? MR. GIBBS: Well, I read the transcript a few times. And I do think that -- yes, I think there was some -- Q Did the President seek an explanation from either Mr. Summers or Mr. Geithner about what they were trying to do? MR. GIBBS: We talked about it as an issue, but we didn't -- it wasn't sort of -- this wasn't a, you know, like "school is in" type of thing. Q Or a woodshed type of thing? MR. GIBBS: Right. No. [...] Q Robert, not to belabor the tax thing, but when the President was talking to the team this morning, did he say to Geithner and Summers: You guys should not have left this open, it should have been clearer? MR. GIBBS: No. We talked about this going forward. And there were -- Dr. Romer talked about the recent numbers on international manufacturing. Q But did the President reiterate his position on middle-class taxes? MR. GIBBS: Yes. Q In that -- Q In that meeting -- to them? MR. GIBBS: To all of them. Q To make sure there was no confusion? MR. GIBBS: Yes. [...] Q Just to close a loop on taxes, is there any time -- MR. GIBBS: I was pretty sure I did that by at least the end of the second row, but -- (laughter.) Q I want to take one last crack at you. MR. GIBBS: Okay. Q Is there any time limit to -- because one of the things you said to the front row -- MR. GIBBS: This is the hypothetical game I'm not -- again the President -- Q No, but you said in this -- in this environment -- MR. GIBBS: I'm going to say this. I'm going to deal with this and I'll do this one more time. The President was clear; he made a commitment in the campaign; that commitment stands. Q And he will never raise taxes on -- MR. GIBBS: That commitment stands. Q But commitment doesn't mean he'll do it, Robert. I mean, I can be committed to losing -- MR. GIBBS: What else are you going ask then? You asked if the President is going to make his commitment. I'm saying he's made a commitment. Q But that's not completely shutting the door. You can say I'm committed to doing something, but you may not do it. MR. GIBBS: Fine. Ignore everything I've said in the last 45 minutes. Bill. Q Robert, back on health care, yesterday -- MR. GIBBS: If you don't trust what I'm going to tell you, then I don't know why we do this. Q Well, you keep using that "commitment" word -- if someone says yes or no -- is he closing -- MR. GIBBS: The President made a commitment in the campaign. The President made a commitment in the campaign, he's clear about that commitment, and he's going to keep it. I don't know much more clear about the commitment I can be. Q Then why didn't Geithner and Summers say it? MR. GIBBS: They left it to me. (Laughter.) Bill. Elections | Health Care | President Obama | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | Taxes | Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner | White House Press Corps Labels: Elections, Health Care, President Obama, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, Taxes, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 11:53:00 PM  More This Than That - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 3/23/09 — Tuesday, March 24, 2009 —  Q Robert, in rolling out the details today, Timothy Geithner used a more, sort of, quiet approach -- pen-and-pad with reporters, not getting out there on television in a very public way. Why?MR. GIBBS: You guys always -- every time we do one of these things, we do a background briefing, and somebody asks if it can be on the record -- Q But this was a major -- MR. GIBBS: -- and, you know, we don't want just a speech, we'd like to do some Q&A, and so we put the Secretary of Treasury out on the record to -- Q This was a major event. Everyone was waiting for the details, and it almost seemed like it came out in a less than, sort of, bombastic way. MR. GIBBS: I guess he's worried a little bit less about what the packaging is on the present, and more importantly, what’s inside of the box. I suppose we could have rigged out some flags and printed up some placards and cued up some old campaign music, but I think what's important -- maybe not for Washington reporters, but what’s more important for the American people is to get the details of a plan that works to get their bank lending money again. I think that's, in all honesty, what the Americans people care most about. I think if you objectively look at what this administration has done, or what the economic team has done in the course of about nine weeks of service, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find nine weeks where more solutions were outlined of problems and challenges that have been facing this country probably since the 1930s. Q Just to follow another question –- Christina Romer, in an interview with CNN earlier today, talked about how if this doesn’t work that we’ll review it – we’ll tweak it, I think was the exact language that she used. Is there a backup plan if this doesn’t work? And to say "tweak" it, does that sort of instill sort of a lack of confidence that this will actually work? MR. GIBBS: Do we have a backup plan if it doesn’t work, and if we do have a backup plan, does that denote that we're preparing for it not to work? I want to sift through the circular -- Q I asked a backup plan because she said if it doesn’t work we'll "tweak" it. But I'm just wondering, does that give a sense of -- MR. GIBBS: Again, I think it is safe to assume that any policy that this administration or -- I'll speak broadly for any politician in the country -- if they roll out a plan, it's constantly evaluated to ensure that the objectives by which the plan was introduced are met by the implementation of the plan. And if the plan doesn’t meet through its implementation the objectives of what it was outlined to do, that that plan might be augmented to meet those objectives. Q That was deep. That was deep. MR. GIBBS: That was more this than that. (Laughter.) Banking | Economy | Obama Administration | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | TARP | Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner | White House Press Corps Labels: Banking, Economy, Obama Administration, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, TARP, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 2:54:00 PM Framing This Thing - Press Briefing by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner 3/23/09 — Monday, March 23, 2009 —  Q Looking at the example you give in the fact sheet -- the first program -- you start with talking about $100 in bank loans, but the private investor only has to kick in $6 for -- seems to be on the hook for $6 at the end of the day, and the FDIC guarantees between there and whatever was paid for the bad loan.Do you think a person outside this room, outside the Beltway, looking at that would feel like that's a -- you know, you've gotten a good deal by getting someone to kick in $6 for a loan that is valued at a $100, that's being purchased for $84. SECRETARY GEITHNER: I'm very confident you and your colleagues will do a good job of framing this thing -- (laughter) -- but let me just come back to the basic point. Okay? The point is, relative to what? What our job is, is to try to fix this problem in our financial system at least cost to the taxpayer and ways to get the incentives right so we can have private capital come in and not have the government do all of it. And the alternative strategies would have the government either taking on all that risk ourselves, having all those losses on our balance sheet -- or, sitting back and letting this process of deleveraging continue to weigh on the American economy, pushing viable businesses closer to the edge, where they have to shrink their businesses to get through this. And that's not an alternative we're prepared to support. The key thing is, again, that you -- people have to compete for the right to get access to financing in this context and they have to put money at risk for it to work. Yes. Q Can you clarify under both plans who is actually holding the assets at the end of the day, and explain to taxpayers what the upside is to all of that? How are they going to share in the upside of this program? SECRETARY GEITHNER: These funds -- purchase assets -- they're managed by professionals who know how to do this for a living. If there is a return to these over time, which we expect there will be, taxpayers will share in that return. So taxpayers are getting to take the benefits of providing this financing to the market. Now, of course investors will share, too, in that return, as you would expect. That's the simplest way to describe it I think. Banking | Economy | Press Briefing | TARP | Treasury Department | Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Labels: Banking, Economy, Press Briefing, TARP, Treasury Department, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 4:08:00 PM Geithner Time Loop Theory - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 3/20/09 — Saturday, March 21, 2009 —  Q On Geithner, is the administration sticking to -- are you sticking to this March 10th date for when he found out about this? Because I -- he was asked about it in Congress a week before - Q It was March 9th. Q March 9th. He was asked a week before, specifically. MR. GIBBS: And I think the Treasury Department addressed that in the newspaper this morning. Look, I think there's -- there has been -- obviously, the Treasury has talked about taking responsibility for knowing more about the timeline. Q When Secretary Geithner talked about that yesterday, he really parsed words. He said, on Tuesday, March 10th, I was informed about the full scale and scope of these specific bonuses. He's not saying that was the first time he learned about it -- MR. GIBBS: Well -- Q A very careful parsing of words here, suggesting he did know about it before then. MR. GIBBS: No, I -- I think if you read carefully the report you're discussing, the Treasury Secretary takes responsibility, as the President does -- Q But he's sticking by that October 10th date -- excuse me, March 10th date -- MR. GIBBS: Right, I -- Q -- even though he clearly knew about it before then. He was asked about it in Congress -- MR. GIBBS: But, again -- but again, Chip -- Q -- and he was overseeing the AIG bailout. I mean, is it -- MR. GIBBS: What committee -- Q It just doesn't seem credible. MR. GIBBS: That was Ways and Means? Q Yes. But he was specifically asked the question. MR. GIBBS: No, I understand. I understand. And I think he's addressed that and I think that's addressed in both the reports today and what he said yesterday. Chip, we're -- we understand and the President shares the outrage and the frustration that everybody has. The administration is taking steps to recoup money that's gone out, as well as to put in place a financial stability plan and to seek progress on getting our economy moving again. Q Let me just ask you specifically. When he says, on March 10th he was informed about the full scale and scope, is he saying that's the first he learned about it at all? MR. GIBBS: Chip, the question is predicated on the report in the paper and I think the report in the paper answers your question. Q So he did know about it before then? 20:54 MR. GIBBS: Chip, I will -- can somebody go get a dollar and buy Chip a newspaper so that he can read the report? Again, I think it's pretty clear -- Q Been read. MR. GIBBS: Excellent. Then I believe it's been answered. Q Robert, can I follow on that real quick? Why did you tell us that it was March 10th, then, that you found out? The statement from the White House was very specific, he found out March 10th. MR. GIBBS: Again, I would point you to the report that the Secretary of the Treasury takes responsibility, as does the administration, with knowledge about the structure and the scope of those bonuses. Q But we were accidentally or however misinformed about the day that he found out. MR. GIBBS: Well, let's -- let's not -- I'm just going to leave it at that. I think the report is pretty clear and so are the answers. Chuck. Q Did he misinform the White House about when he found out? MR. GIBBS: Chuck. Video (note the difference between the uhhh-redacted transcript and the video of uhhhs): AIG | Obama Administration | Open Government | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | TARP | Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner | White House Press Corps Labels: AIG, Obama Administration, Open Government, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, TARP, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 3:32:00 PM Geithner's Bank Plan - Air Force One Press Gaggle by Bill Burton 03/19/09 — Friday, March 20, 2009 —  MR. BURTON: Good afternoon. The President made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics. He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world.All right. Do you guys need anything? You've got the guidance, you've got -- Q Do you when we're going to get Geithner's bank plan out -- any plan on the banks? MR. BURTON: Soon, but I don't have a date for you? Q Soon? Like a week soon, or next week soon? MR. BURTON: Soon, but I don't have a date. I'll keep you posted, though. You'll be the first person I tell. Air Force One | Bill Burton | President Obama | Press Gaggle | Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner | White House Press Corps Labels: Air Force One, Bill Burton, President Obama, Press Gaggle, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 3:00:00 PM Taking Responsibility - Air Force One Press Gaggle by Bill Burton 03/18/09  Q So why did it take two days for the Treasury Secretary to tell the White House and, subsequently the President, to be informed about the -- what were then the impending bonuses?MR. BURTON: Well, I'm going to refer you to what the President had to say before Marine One took off from the White House. But he, of course, is taking responsibility for what we do here, and what he's making sure is that we get the tools that we need to make sure that this does not happen again. As for, you know, timelines and different things like that, we've been through this for the past couple of days, and Gibbs and others and folks at the Treasury have answered these questions. And for any more specifics on that, I'd refer you to some of the information that they shared with folks yesterday. Q Well, I mean, up until now, Robert -- until the timeline was released last night, we didn't exactly know what the sequence was. So, I mean, is there any concern that it took two days for the Treasury Secretary to tell the White House about it? MR. BURTON: As the President said, he's very confident in how Secretary Geithner is doing. And, you know, one of the things that we're going to talk about today in California -- because I imagine people are going to have questions about AIG, these bonuses, things that are happening in the economy. The President, as he has said, shares the profound anger of the American people about these bonuses, about the folks who are getting them. And we're doing everything we can to make sure that this doesn't happen again and to make sure that taxpayers are made whole on the money that's been paid out. Q Do you anticipate any change in the internal communication system, though, so that it will flow more smoothly, more quickly? MR. BURTON: As I said, the President feels good about how Secretary Geithner is doing, and we're looking forward at what we can do to make sure that we don't see these sort of egregious problems ever again. Q The bonuses that have already been paid at AIG, there's really nothing that can be done about that, at least from the executive branch -- is that the thinking? MR. BURTON: Well, the good news is some progress has actually been made on this, in the sense that -- and Liddy talked about this in his testimony today -- some folks at AIG have already paid back their bonuses. Other people are being encouraged to do the exact same thing. So some progress is getting made on that. Secretary Geithner outlined how taxpayers would be made whole in his letter to Congress last night, and I can get that to you if you don't, by chance, have it. And, you know, so we're going to be working with AIG to see what we can do here to make sure that taxpayers are getting exactly what they deserve from the investments that we're making in order to stabilize that company. AIG | Air Force One | Bill Burton | Legislation | President Obama | Press Gaggle | Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner | White House Press Corps Labels: AIG, Air Force One, Bill Burton, Legislation, President Obama, Press Gaggle, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 2:17:00 PM Going Backwards - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 3/16/09 — Tuesday, March 17, 2009 —  MR. GIBBS: Jake.Q Did you guys first find out about these bonuses last week? MR. GIBBS: I think that's true, based on what I read in the newspaper. Q But you gave money to AIG two or three weeks ago. How could you not know that they have these millions, hundreds of millions of dollars -- MR. GIBBS: Well, again, Jake, there's -- according to news reports, there's existing contracts, some of which the President -- of which the President has asked the Secretary to examine, going forward. I think you also heard the President speak today about having a resolution authority that gives the government and taxpayers far more flexibility in dealing with the disposition of AIG in a way that gives taxpayers protection and flexibility; a disposition that we don't currently have, but steps that we would like to see taken in order to deal with AIG as a whole. Q But why didn't you attach it to the $30 billion you gave a couple weeks ago? MR. GIBBS: Again, Jake, the -- Q You're looking to retroactively attach it to this new $30 billion. MR. GIBBS: Well, they're looking through contracts to see what can be done to wrest these bonuses from their recipients. Q No, I'm sorry, I don't think -- I don't understand, so maybe I'm just not understanding. But President Obama said in early February when he gave the speech on executive compensation, "These kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis isn't just bad taste, it's bad strategy, and I will not tolerate it as President. We're going to be demanding some restraint in exchange for federal aid." Since that time, he gave tens of billions of dollars in federal aid to AIG without demanding restraint. MR. GIBBS: Well, again, Jake, we've got existing relationships, contracts, as I just mentioned, that were negotiated a year ago, assistance that was granted outside of the legal authority prior to the creation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The President has asked the administration to go back and look at what remedies are possible to block those bonuses. Q Well, why didn't he do that before? MR. GIBBS: Well, again, the excessive compensation rules that you noted -- and I think somebody asked this at the background briefing that we had -- obviously are prospective based on some limitations that we have in looking backwards. The President has asked Secretary Geithner and members of the administration to exhaust all legal remedies in looking backwards to see what steps could be taken to block these bonuses. Q I know, but since -- and I'm sorry to belabor this point -- but since President Obama gave his speech, you guys gave more money to AIG. Why wasn't it attached to the new money? MR. GIBBS: Because it's -- again, it's part of the -- Q Part of the old contract. MR. GIBBS: Right. It's part of -- Q But you're looking now retroactively to see if you can attach something to that old money? MR. GIBBS: That's what we're looking at. Q Well, why didn't you do it at the time, if you're looking to retroactively do it? MR. GIBBS: The administration is taking the steps today to go back and see what can be done, as Jeff said, to call those bonuses back. Q But, Robert, to follow up on Jake's point, did Secretary Geithner make a mistake by not reviewing these contracts -- they're a year old -- before he cut a new check to AIG? Why didn't he do that? MR. GIBBS: I would certainly ask the Treasury -- I'll ask the Treasury that. But again, to some degree, there are legal instruments and contracts that predate this administration, that predate the legal founding of the TARP program. The President has asked this administration to exhaust all legal avenues to see what can and should be done going backwards. Economy | Obama Administration | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | TARP | Treasury Department | Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner | Wall Street | White House Press Corps Labels: Economy, Obama Administration, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, TARP, Treasury Department, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Wall Street, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
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