White House Conducts Press Briefing, Feb. 9
"Under Attorney General Sessions, the
"After the Attorney General's swearing-in, the President signed three executive orders dedicated to standing behind the police officers who risk their lives every day to protect us and our communities, reducing crime, and stopping cartel violence.
"The first executive order directs the newly installed Attorney General to develop a strategy for more effectively prosecuting people who commit violence against members of law enforcement. We must better protect those who protect us. Our men and women in blue need to know that we're with them 100 percent as they patrol our streets.
"Unfortunately, this has not always been the case. Law enforcement officials have been vocal about the lack of support they received under the past administration. This lack of support demoralized many officers and, in some cases, led to their discouraging their engagement with local communities, only causing further harm and deterioration.
"It's imperative that federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies better coordinate and share information across jurisdictions to better serve and protect our communities. This order will start the important work of doing just that, instituting a holistic approach that involves the whole of government. It also directs the
"The second order establishes a task force, led by the new Attorney General, to reduce crime and restore public safety in communities across America. Together, the members of this task force are going to come up with specific recommendations -- how we can change existing federal law to better prevent crime and improve public safety, and develop stronger working relationships with our state and local partners. The President is confident that this task force will develop a systematic strategy to help further protect the American people.
"Communities across our nation have been devastated by a surge in violent-crime rates, particularly in our major cities. Over the last eight years, we've experienced declining focus on law and order. Crime reduction will clearly be a priority for this
"The last executive order re-focuses the energy and resources of the federal government to dismantle transnational criminal organizations, such as drug cartels. It's important to emphasize that we cannot reduce crime in
"These cartels represent a clear and present danger to our nation. They bring dangerous criminals, drugs, and violence to once-peaceful neighborhoods both here at home and in other parts of the world. They have fueled addiction and overdose deaths, and they can no longer be allowed to operate with impunity in our country or our hemisphere.
"This order pulls together the experience and resources of federal agencies to work towards emphasizing specific goals in this regard. Number one, to upgrade our information-gathering about these transnational organizations and cartels. Without accurate information about these threats, and the ability and willingness to share this information, we're not going to be able to tackle this problem.
"It's important to note that, prior to this administration, if you had called the
"Number two, improving the speed and efficiency of removing criminal aliens, cartel members, and people who help cartels from our nation. Unlike during the last eight years, these criminals are finally going to go home.
"Three, shift whatever resources we can to tackling these organizations and prevent them from disrupting our society any further.
"Now, on to the President's schedule. This morning, the President held a breakfast and listening session with key stakeholders in the airline industry. We've got a participant list if you're interested. The President thanked the attendees for the 10 million jobs and
"The President asked the aviation leaders what the government can do to help their industry grow and create more well-paying jobs for Americans. The leaders commented that they had never been given the opportunity to truly work alongside the President in such an open and constructive way. And they were unanimous in asking for the President to offer relief from the duplicative and burdensome regulations that are stifling job creation, which he assured them he'd do.
"The President also reaffirmed his commitment to foregoing -- to forging, rather, public-private partnerships that will rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure. He pledged to work closely with the airline industry to modernize the technology systems that keep our nation's airports running, and to expedite the approval process for future airline infrastructure projects. It's the President's goal to make sure
"After the executive order signing, the President spoke with the President of
"Just concluding, a few moments ago the President held a
"The President expressed his hope that these senators and their colleagues will give
"Later today, the President will speak with the Emir of
"We also anticipate that the
"The President was glad to see that the
"Now, looking to the upcoming schedule. Tomorrow, the President will welcome Prime Minister Abe of
"As we recently announced just earlier today, Prime Minister Trudeau of
"One last thing before I take your questions, amid surging levels of CEO confidence and in the wake of the incredible jobs announcement made at the
"The President knows better than anyone what businesses need to create jobs, and the market is responding to his policy improvements. This administration will continue to roll back burdensome regulations and lower the overall tax burden on Americans so they can hire even more people and create even more innovative projects.
"With that, I'll take your questions.
Q "Thank you. Hundreds of bureaucrats at the
"With respect to the first part of that question, I think one of the things that you're going to continue to see from this President is a respects for taxpayers' dollars, the money they spend, and how they're spent. We are going to continue to review all aspects of government. I think you'll see further announcements as far as how he's going to look at -- how he's going to approach and innovate and update government.
"The bottom line is that we should be paying people a fair wage for their service to this country, but that we should doing it in the most effective and efficient manner. And I think that's what the President has already shown towards his commitment towards helping reduce the cost of several programs through the government and bringing back jobs. But there's going to be a respect for taxpayers in this administration, so that whether it's salaries or actual positions or programs, he's going to have a very, very tough look at how we're operating government, how many positions they're in, what people are getting paid.
"But the President understands that most Americans are out there working night and day trying to get by, and that
"John.
Q "Sean, questions have been raised after
Q "And could I ask a question. Reuters has a story out that includes a partial transcript of the President's call with
"
Q "Thank you, Sean. One question today.
Q (Laughter.) "On
Blake.
Q "Sean, the President said today in the airlines representative meeting that he hopes to have an announcement within the next two to three weeks about lowering the burden of taxes for businesses. At the
"But I think when you look at the segueing of that, we've got two opportunities for reconciliation this year. One is using the FY17 budget, which you can easily get Obamacare repeal and replace done, and then you can use the FY18 budget to utilize the second opportunity at reconciliation to do comprehensive reform. But we recognize the need. I mean, it's been since 1986 that something like this, of this scale and magnitude, had happened.
"The President recognizes that middle-class Americans need tax relief, and that's going to be part of that. But we also recognize -- and you saw that in all of these businesses meetings, whether it's inversions or other means in which people are shipping jobs overseas or reestablishing themselves or the profits that are kept over there -- we need fundamental, comprehensive tax reform that addresses both sides of that income stream.
Q "Can you say if this is going to be a mix between what he had put out there on the campaign and what
"But more importantly, I think part of the issue that we continue to see over and over again with businesses is that we're facing competition from abroad because of our tax code. It favors companies from not wanting to stay, and the President recognizes that. And what he wants to do is create a tax climate that not only keeps jobs here but makes it -- incentivizes companies to want to come here, to grow here, to create jobs here, to bring their profits back here.
"So I think -- I don't want to get any further ahead of it, but I will tell you that it is going to be the first time that this nation has seen a full comprehensive tax reform in a long, long time.
Yes.
Q "Yes, the President this morning tweeted that our country is "bogged down in conflict all over the place." Where are we bogged down?
Q "What does he mean by that?
"There's no question that the spread of it has gone -- in the last eight years has proliferated. And I think that the resources that we have to spend -- this isn't a traditional war where you're just looking at the other enemy with a uniform and saying, here's the country we're fighting. The proliferation of
Q "But "bogged down" suggests it's something we can't get out of?
Q "Thank you, Sean. And happy Lantern Festival to you.
Q "Thank you. Regarding the very nice letter that
"Sarah.
Q "Sean, the top
Hallie.
Q vSean, two questions for you. I want to get to one on immigration. But first on the comments from
Q "Given where Gorsuch stands --
Q "No, the second part of a two-part.
Q "Given where --
Q "Given
Q "Now about the selection, but about the comments that he said, for example, about Judge --
Q "On immigration,
Q "Why are you calling me out? I didn't do anything. (Laughter.)
Q "I know the
Q "The President has no comment?
"Margaret.
Q "She's in
Q "Sean, in that lunch meeting, the President said that -- he basically said
Q "
Q "Is the President aware of that? Because she was in that meeting.
"So there is a big difference between commenting on the specific comments that had been made in the tweet and his general philosophy about the judiciary and his respect for his fellow judges. And I think the senator's comments were very clear about how those are two distinct issues.
Q "Right. And the judge's comments as relayed through others were also in that context of the President's attacks on the judiciary, which is what the senator you just read out was also talking about there.
Q "Was the President aware of that? Because
"
"But as a whole, he doesn't like attacks in general on the judiciary. It was a very distinct argument that he was making. And I think that that's where I think we've got to be clear, and that's what
"Cecilia.
Q "Is he to take that on board? I mean --
Q "Is he taking that on board? I mean, you just said he doesn't regret his past attacks on the judiciary.
Q "But now you have these confirmed remarks, which you were saying were exactly what the judge was talking about.
Q "And that's not changing the President's own --
Q "In other words, the President will continue to speak like this.
"So I don't know why -- and I find it interesting when
Q "Well, I guess the "so-called judge" portion of it, the personal attack.
"So I just -- with all due respect, I think the President has made very clear that he was concerned about how that executive order in particular, which is what we're talking about, was applied. And I think we've addressed it from this briefing room over and over and over again that the
"Cecilia.
Q "I want to make sure I understand what you're saying. Are you saying that "demoralizing" and "disheartening" was not specifically about the President's comments and what he said? And if so, how does the President know that? Has he spoken to the Judge?
Q "But three senators have come out and said that they corroborate that statement, and said that --
Q "But three other senators have said, and the spokesman and for the Judge, on the record.
"Yes.
Q "Sean, your answer about the context doesn't make sense when you think about what Senator
Q "No, but this is a different context, Sean.
Q "This is directly about the President's tweet.
Q "But her comment was only about Blumenthal.
Q "Sean, I'm going to continue on this line, despite what was just happening there. Why isn't the
Q "I'm not asking about the Obama administration or any previous administration, I'm talking about this President and this
"He was doing it to make sure Americans were safe. The order -- the
"So I'm not sure how many more times I can read the code to you. But 8 U.S. Code, 1182 --
Q "Yes, but you and me talking about it is not how the judicial process works.
Q "One more I'd like to ask you. One more about a different set of comments.
"Thank you, go ahead.
Q "About a different set of comments that have been made, Sean, also from
Q "Let him go. Let him go.
Q "Earlier this week. You say the -- this is in context of Nordstrom and not about what she was counseled about, but about something she said to
Q "I was here.
Q "The President's statement --
Q " Kellyanne's comments were about that the President doesn't have time to tweet about everything.
Q "He's tweeting about this.
Q "He's not tweeting about something else.
Q "I'm talking about the President's time.
Q "I'm talking about an attack on Nordstrom on --
Q -- "and an attack on people, and you're equating --
Q "Does that not diminish the language that you're using?
MR. "SPICER: Thank you. Go ahead.
Q "Thank you, Sean. One of the criticisms leveled at
"I think the difference with what
Q "One of the criticisms in addition to that was that
Q -- "
"He has shown a commitment to work across the aisle to bring folks in, to listen, to hear their thoughts, to get ideas on a legislative agenda that they can move together with. So I think there is a big difference between the last administration that sort of shunned
"Alexis.
Q "Can I follow up on the tax question?
Q "Because there are revenue elements of the Affordable Care Act, if it is repealed and replaced -- there has been discussion on the Hill about what would be the appropriate track to get that into tax legislation or how to treat the tax legislation. If the President is interested in unveiling a tax package that is as comprehensive as you just described, would the revenue elements of the Affordable Care Act be on a separate track? Or is he talking about folding them into one reconciliation package?
"But I also want to say -- just so we're clear, these aren't prescriptive. I think we continue to work towards
"I think both Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell are going to weigh in on what best vehicles can be utilized to make this thing happen. So I don't want to be prescriptive.
"Ben.
Q "You talked about the President's tax reform plan in coming weeks. Is that something he's talked about with leaders in both houses of
"Jonathan.
Q "Does the President believe that it's possible to balance the budget without major entitlement reform? Any sort of House --
"And I think before I get -- he's going to -- we'll have a budget out in a few weeks. I think that will answer a lot. But again, when it comes to deficit reduction, which is something that he is very interested in, that is not a one-side-of-the-ledger option; that a lot of what he is trying to talk about in these meetings and with business executives is how we can expand the economy. And that expanded economy, that job creation, those explorations of natural resources and additional new jobs also bring additional tax revenue in.
"So there's a way to do this. If we start bringing businesses back, creating more things, creating more jobs, that creates a revenue stream that has a significant impact on the deficit -- on being able to drive down the deficit and balancing the budget.
"So I think it's not something I want to get in too much detail now, but I will tell you that I think the President has been very, very keen on trying to make sure that we look at the revenue side as much as we're looking at the spending side.
"When it comes to the spending side, again, you're looking at a whole-of-government approach at how we look at every department, every agency, every job, the spending -- or the hiring freeze being one of them. How do we make sure that we're looking at are these positions necessary? Are they duplicative? Are we using taxpayer money in the best possible way?
"Those are the whole -- it isn't a single -- like, look at those particular programs and try to figure out what we can do. He's looking at everything and figuring out if we can make it more effective and efficient.
"Yes, Scott.
Q "Yes, Sean, Monday, the
"So thank you, guys, very much. We'll see you tomorrow with the Prime Minister. Take care.
Q "On Mar-a-Lago --
Q "One question.
Q "Come back.
"
"Thank you, guys."
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