2001 US press briefings
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
1:15 P.M. EDT
MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon. I have a personnel announcement and then two policy items I want to discuss. One, the President intends to nominate Donald Schregardus to be Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. The President intends to nominate H.T. Johnson to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations and Environment. And the President intends to nominate the following individuals to be commissioners of the United States Parole Commission for a term of six years: Gilbert Gallegos, Henry Hart, Cranston J. Miller, Marie Ragghianti. Those are the individuals for the Parole Commission.
Two other items -- number one, the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow will take action on the President's faith-based initiative. The President is very pleased that action is beginning in the Congress on one of his defining policy objectives to help some 15 million children who are at risk in this country, 2 million children are prisoners, so they have more opportunities and more hope for a brighter future. The faith-based initiative is aimed squarely at bringing help to those who are often left behind in society, and an agreement has been reached with House leaders on the terms of the language. The legislation will start moving tomorrow; it will move in the Ways and Means Committee immediately following the recess. And the President is very pleased with this action. It's a sign of good things to come in the House, in his opinion.
Also, on the patients' bill of rights, earlier today the President issued a statement in support of the Fletcher-Peterson, Thomas-Hastert patients' bill of rights proposal. And if that bill is sent to the President he will sign it. Again, a sign from the President that he would like the Congress to work productively in a fashion that allows a patients' bill of rights to be signed into law this year. The President believes very strongly in putting progress before politics. This bill puts progress before politics, and the President will sign it if it sent to him.
And with that, I'm more than pleased to take any questions you have. Helen.
Q I assume the President thinks this religious office and religious funding is constitutional.
MR. FLEISCHER: There is no question about its constitutionality in the opinion of the lawyers who looked at and the people we have worked with on the Hill.
Q What people have looked at it?
MR. FLEISCHER: The Department of Justice attorneys who are responsible for this area of law. And as the President indicated in a speech he gave just the other day, there are already -- for example, under Medicaid, there are Jewish hospitals, there are Catholic hospitals that receive Medicaid funding. Yet these hospitals were originally started for the purpose -- they are Catholic hospitals, they are Jewish hospitals. They are not non-denominational.
Q But the money goes to the patient, doesn't it?
MR. FLEISCHER: In the case of Medicaid, it often goes directly to the service provider, the hospital or the doctor -- or the hospital. It reimburses hospitals for their costs. So it costs the government -- Habitat for Humanity receives federal funding in some cases. The Salvation Army. There are a host of groups in our society that are faith-based that do good deeds that bring help to people who otherwise would be left out --
Q Why is he so against the government doing these things?
MR. FLEISCHER: He believes that both are necessary. The President believes there must be a continued role for the government in these matters. But even with the government having spent trillions since the War on Poverty began in the early '60s, there have been millions of Americans who have been left behind. The government proposals, no matter how effective and how well-intentioned, have not been able to find everybody in our society who needs help. Very often the answer is --
Q Well, isn't it Congress' fault?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think it's a reflection of how intractable some of the social problems are. And the President does not want to give up on anyone who has been left behind after the government does everything it can do. And often the solution is found in the Salvation Armies of the world, in the faith-based organizations of the world. And the President wants to empower them to do more to bring help to those in need.