2001 US press briefings
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
1:02 P.M. EDT
MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon. I want to give you an update on the President's day. Earlier this morning the President called Thai Prime Minister Thaksin to discuss ways the United States and Thailand can cooperate in the war against terrorism.
He signed an executive order last night, for which he held a ceremony in the Rose Garden today, with Secretary O'Neill and Secretary Powell, in which he froze the financial assets of terrorist organizations linked to the al Qaeda organization, or part of the al Qaeda organization in the United States.
The President also held a meeting of his National Security Council this morning. And, as we speak, he is just concluding a luncheon meeting following his Oval Office meeting with America's good friend, the Canadian Prime Minister.
Immediately following that, the President will have a meeting with the families of passengers and the flight crew of Flight 93, which, as you know, went down in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Later this afternoon, the President will have a meeting of the Domestic Consequences Committee to discuss domestic planning for how to help America recover from this attack.
Two foreign leader visits I want to bring to your attention. The President will welcome Belgium Prime Minister, who also is the President of the European Council, Verhofstadt, on Thursday this week, the 27th. And he will welcome King Abdullah of Jordan to the White House for a working visit on Friday, September 28th.
Finally, let me give you an update on several actions across the Cabinet, designed to help America. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today directed lenders and colleges and universities to provide members of the National Guard relief from their student loan obligations -- these are members of the National Guard who have been called up to active duty service. Lenders will automatically postpone the student loan payments of borrowers during the period of the borrowers' service.
Secretary Paige also announced that the Department of Education is providing $500,000 to Connecticut's Department of Education and providing $250,000 to the District of Columbia's Department of Education, in immediate assistance to help students and faculty and teachers directly impacted by the terrorist attacks.
There will be an announcement made shortly this afternoon by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Martinez, along with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, concerning mortgage payment relief for reservists who are going on active duty status.
The Department of Justice, General Ashcroft and several officials from the Department of Justice will be testifying before the House Judiciary Committee today regarding the legislative proposal to give the government additional tools to combat terrorism. That testimony is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
And, finally, at the Department of Labor, Secretary Chao has announced today that the Department of Labor will begin an education campaign for employers, as well as National Guard and Reserve units to ensure that civilians called up for active duty are re-employed in their previous jobs after completion of their military service.
And with that, I'm happy to take your questions.
Q Ari, what have we got in terms of the list of organizations and individuals who are being targeted to have their financial assets squeezed? What about the issue of domestic fundraising? How much of a part does the White House believe that may have played in this terrorist network?
MR. FLEISCHER: It's unclear. And I think it's one of the most insidious signs of what these organizations and front groups represent, because there may very well be elements to these groups that help people, that help children, that do work. And they can very well have received money from Americans or from others abroad who thought they were doing good for people who need relief.
But then there's another side to these organizations, and that's why they're listed today as terrorist organizations. They took that money, they diverted portions of that money and used it to finance the war on -- their terrorist actions. That's one of the items that we're up against.
Q Are you aware of any specific incidence of domestic fundraising for the al Qaeda group?
MR. FLEISCHER: You'd have to talk to Treasury for anything involving specific examples. But in terms of these groups -- and that's why they call them fronts, they do raise money from innocent people who give for good reasons, but then unknown to many of those people, they take that money and they use it for insidious purposes, including terrorism.