Stakeout With Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell And House Minority Leader John Boehner: Meeting With President Bush Regarding FISA and ....
Statement
Stakeout With Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner: Meeting With President Bush Regarding FISA and Appropriations Legislation
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SEN. MCCONNELL: Good morning, everyone.
As you know, we -- the five of us had a meeting with the president this morning at breakfast, had an opportunity to discuss two issues. One is the question of the FISA modifications, which I think on a broad, bipartisan basis everybody agrees need to be accomplished. It is a time-sensitive issue. We know, having experienced what we did on 9/11, that the homeland is the subject of potential additional attacks here in the United States. We need to get that -- those FISA modifications that Admiral McConnell has requested accomplished, and we need to do it this week.
The second issue we focused on was the overall budget process, how much money are we going to spend through the appropriations process. The president feels strongly that his cumulative number was well thought-out and is the best way to continue to narrow the deficit in the coming years, and indicated a willingness to support that through the process. There was a good deal of back and forth about how much ought to be spent on the appropriations process, but everybody did agree that the best way to go forward is one appropriation bill at a time. And in the Senate, we've only passed one, and the fiscal year expires September 30th, so we need to get going if we're going to have any chance at all of putting individual appropriation bills on the president's desk.
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Q Do you feel you made any progress on --
Q I'm not clear on whether or not -- I mean, did the president agree to negotiate some of these bills bill by bill or not?
SEN. MCCONNELL: Well, I think the one thing we all agreed on is we ought to do them one bill at a time.
Q Right.
Q Right.
SEN. MCCONNELL: And what the president --
Q (Off mike.)
SEN. MCCONNELL: Well, the president's concerned, as John indicated, by the overall number -- as John put it, I think aptly, the size of the pie, subject -- you know, we can negotiate on various bills, but the overall amount is what I think the president believes is the significant thing in terms of government spending.
Q So he won't budge from 933 -- (off mike)?
REP. BOEHNER: That's correct.
Q Did anyone show any flexibility or was there any path towards bridging the $23 billion gap between Democrats and the president?
REP. BOEHNER: No.
Q So do you expect a train wreck in the fall? I mean, the president's going to --
REP. BOEHNER: You know, the president -- I think the president's job is to lead, and I think he's made clear that he wants to balance the budget over the next five years without raising taxes. It's also clear our friends on the other side of the aisle want to increase taxes and increase spending, something that I didn't come here to do and I don't think the president came here to do .
Q Do you think you made progress on the FISA issue during this meeting?
SEN. MCCONNELL: Well, I think there's a bipartisan agreement that it needs to be done and that it needs to be done this week in order to protect us here at home. So this job better get done. We cannot and, hopefully, will not leave town without this FISA modification that Admiral McConnell has requested. I hope our Democratic friends understand that. I think they do. The proof will be in what happens for the balance of this week in getting this job done.
Q Were you satisfied with the pledges they made during the meeting? Speaker Pelosi said she does expect to get it done before the recess.
SEN. MCCONNELL: We're satisfied that there is an express willingness to do it. When Admiral McConnell is satisfied, from my point of view we will have done the job correctly.
REP. BOEHNER: The only issue that remains are the details.
Q Senator, what are you going to do about the Nussle nomination? Senator Reid says there may not be a vote this week. (Off mike) -- at the end of the week?
SEN. MCCONNELL: Well, obviously the nation would be better off if we had a director of OMB. Mr. Nussle made a favorable impression before the committees he appeared before. I would hope we'd get that job done this week. His colleague over in the House, Congressman Spratt, who was the ranking member of the Budget Committee, testified on his behalf, made a very gracious statement of support. I would hope our Democratic friends in the Senate would find that enough to go forward. But it will be up to Senator Reid and his colleagues to determine whether or not it gets done this week.
REP. BOEHNER: While I don't have a vote on the Nussle nomination, Jim Nussle and I came here together 17 years ago. We worked together closely during those 17 years. We're good friends. He's a decent, honest public servant who, in my opinion, deserves to be approved -- his nomination deserves to be approved by the Senate. I think he could ably work for the president and work with members on both sides of the aisle, as he has done throughout his career. And to hold up his nomination in the Senate, I think, is nothing more than politics as usual here in Washington.
Q Senator, is Conrad holding Nussle's nomination hostage? What's your interpretation?
SEN. MCCONNELL: You'd have to ask Senator Conrad. I --
Q What do you think?
SEN. MCCONNELL: I don't know. I don't know. I just hope it will be done this week. I think it's in everybody's best interest. We spent a lot of time in there talking about the budget. We need a budget director, and we need him now. And I think the best time to do it, obviously, is this week.
Thanks a lot.
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