White House Conducts Press Briefing, Feb. 10
Targeted News Service |
Before I take your questions, I wanted to highlight something that's happening in the
THE
Now, what we're seeing in the House is part of an ongoing tired and partisan Republican agenda to unwind the protections that were put in place to protect our economy and consumers from another economic crisis. And of course, if the President were to see this bill come to his desk, he would veto it.
We should be working together to continue the progress that we've made. Right now, we could be working together to help create more good manufacturing jobs. We could be working together to help our economy by passing patent reform, by passing housing finance reform -- not by engaging in the same old tired debates that do nothing to build on that progress. The
With that, I take your questions.
Julie.
Q Thanks, Jay. A couple different topics. U.S. officials have told the AP that the administration is at least considering using a drone strike to take out an American
In that speech, he said that he does not believe it would be constitutional for the government to target and kill any U.S. citizen without due process, nor should any President deploy armed drones over U.S. soil. But he also said that when a U.S. citizen goes abroad to wage war against
But beyond that I'm not going to comment on alleged specific plans or operations.
Q Can you say whether he has been involved in the discussions?
Q On a separate topic,
Q There's been a lot of discussion that this could affect his standing in the
Q Thanks, Jay. The Republicans are meeting to talk about how to proceed on the debt ceiling. Apparently one of the plans is to link raising the debt ceiling to restoration of retired military personnel benefits that were cut. How does the President feel about that? Would he sign such an increase?
So we'll take Republican leaders at their word when they say that they won't let
Q But does that mean that he would not sign a bill --
Q On immigration, Senator Schumer said over the weekend, or suggested that perhaps one way to get the bill done would be to put off the affected implementation date of any immigration reform until after the 2016 election. Would that be acceptable to the President?
There's been significant progress. Amid a lot of other discussion and debate, the fact is House Republicans and House Republican leaders have made progress on this issue. They've put forward standards and principles of their own, and those principles contrast pretty significantly with the de facto position held by Republicans as recently of last year, which was self-deportation.
So we will wait to see what the House produces. The need for comprehensive immigration reform is stronger every day. The benefit that it would provide to our economy, to our middle class, to the security of our borders, and to our capacity to be a magnet for innovative entrepreneurs is as great today -- and greater today -- as it has ever been.
So we believe the consensus here is significant and growing that the House will act and do the right thing, not because the President says it should, but because so many voices out there are joined in unison calling on
Q If I could ask one last question on
Move around -- yes, ma'am.
Q Thank you, Jay. I have a few questions. Does the President have any schedule to visit
Q One more question. Last week at the National Prayer Breakfast,
We, again, call on the DPRK to grant
Q Yesterday, North Korean government announced that they cancelled the Robert King visit to
Ann.
Q Thank you very much. Following on Julie's question on the drones, the President clearly feels very deeply about the drone policy. Is this the kind of decision that would need to rise to the level of his desk?
MR. CARNEY: I appreciate the effort to ask the same question about a specific particular alleged reported action, but I'm not going to be able to discuss that kind of activity. I can point you to what the President said and I think he spoke quite forthrightly about these issues in May of 2013 at NDU.Q At the
Q But at the time that those documents -- the information was not accessible was during the 2008 campaign. And Senator Obama held
Q Have you seen the information that --
Major.
Q Jay, I know you can't and don't want to talk about the AP story on an operational basis or even to confirm it. But is there a protocol established since the President's speech that establishes a due process review within the various agencies involved -- Defense,
And I would remind you that we take extraordinary care to make sure that our counterterrorism actions are in accordance with all applicable domestic and international law, and that they are consistent with U.S. values and policy. Of particular note, before we take any counterterrorism strike outside areas of active hostilities there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured -- the highest standard we can set.
So, again, I can't talk about specific alleged or possible operations. I can point you to what the President said in, I think, fairly deep granularity back in May of 2013 about the approach he takes and the administration takes and the changes that he's made in policy.
Q On immigration, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that is becoming a bit more thematic for Republicans in the House as they approach this issue and as they deal with their own internal divisions about it, this question of trust. The Speaker said on Friday that, if the President uses executive orders that could be a deterrent for House Republicans to press forward in the sense that this administration to the minds of House Republicans enforces law in a bit of an arbitrary fashion. I want you to address that, take that head on, and respond to that in the context not of how this administration views its actions, but whether or not it should be linked in any way to this immigration debate. And does it pressurize the President to change behavior?
This is a tough issue for Republicans, as Republicans themselves acknowledge on the record all the time. It's certainly -- those troubles -- I don't think it stands up to scrutiny to suggest that the troubles Republicans have on this issue are the President's fault, nor could they be attributed to a lack of trust. After all, when comprehensive immigration reform came up as an issue in 2006, when President
So, again, we understand and are even sympathetic to the fact that this is a tough issue for Republicans. But nobody buys that Republican reluctance to deal with and pass comprehensive immigration reform has to do with the issues that you lay out. It wasn't the case in 2006; it's not the case now.
The reason -- we need to get this done legislatively in a bipartisan way because of all the benefits that passing comprehensive immigration reform would provide to our economy, to our border security and to our businesses. And as I said earlier, we're confident this is going to happen. We remain optimistic that 2014 is the year that it will happen, but not because I'm saying it should happen or the President says it should happen, but because there are so many voices in this coalition and in this consensus that are making clear that it's the right thing to do, and including voices that not just Democrats but Republicans tend to listen to.
Q So what does it tell this
Q Does that say that a Democrat who wants this to happen sees this as a problem also?
Brianna.
Q Thanks, Jay. On the debt ceiling, if House Republicans were to wrap the increase in with some other measures that both Democrats and Republicans are amenable to, is there really a problem with that from the
Q Is that an issue, though, if it's kind of squished together with things that the
So I'm not going to speculate about how that process works except to say that we're not going to pay ransom on behalf of the American people to Republicans in
Q If I can ask you about something that some are saying should be discussed by
On the broader question, it sounds like maybe
Q I mean, it's actually a state issue, but now --
Ed.
Q Jay, in the op-ed today the two Presidents start off by talking about
On the second issue, I don't have anything specific on that, but I can tell you that we have been clear that even as we work with the P5-plus-1 to test the hypothesis that
Q But you don't have any -- you're raising doubt about whether they're moving warships closer to the U.S. Do you have any reason to believe --
Q It was reported over the weekend that, as you say, they claim that. They also claimed today -- and it's reported by AFP and many other wires -- that they say they successfully tested missiles. Do you believe them or do you --
Q Can you also comment on -- you spoke earlier about
Q I mean, well, sorry, I don't want to get into every count of it, but it would seem to be this is a pretty important policy pronouncement from the President's administration, beyond just what Justice is technically going to do. I guess I'm trying to get at how important is this to the President.
Chuck.
Q Jay, going back to this AP drone story, I guess the part I'm confused about is the President laid out that he wanted to shift the decision-making process from the
On the issues that you raise I would refer you to the content of the speech. I don't have anything more for you.
Q Well, I know the content of the speech said that, but then there was what
Q Second, Senator Menendez is being investigated about whether he has intervened on behalf of these fugitive brothers from
Q Do you have any specific information on the Isaias brothers?
Q Speaking of Attorney
Q Does the
However, it does appear that whoever targeted the humanitarian aid convoys deliberately did not want the food and other assistance to get into Homs. What does that tell you? Based off of past words and actions, we all know which side in this conflict was in the past opposed to getting aid into Homs.
So, again, we're investigating conflicting reports, so we cannot confirm one way or the other at this time, but there is some past practice here and past rhetoric here that suggests who might be responsible.
Q And there's some discussion of a potential U.N. resolution to make sure the aid does get into Homs. Is that something the U.S. would support?
Q Thanks.
Q Jay, going back to
Andrei.
Q Thank you, Jay. Obviously the Olympics -- what can you tell us about the President following the Olympics or not following the Olympics? Did he watch the opening ceremony? What did he think? Any other highlights you want to share? (Laughter.)
Q Thank you. And on the other issue, the history -- May was before Snowden came out, right? And basically my question is if Snowden is an American citizen free from the threat of physical harm from his government?
Chris.
Q Thanks, Jay. Three topics, one question each. You've said before, the
Q You said before the
So we strongly express our views when it comes to any crackdown on those who are expressing their opinions peacefully. But I don't have anything specific with regards to the games themselves on these matters. But our views on them haven't changed.
Q And on
Q I'm just wondering because
Q Also,
Q As you know, the second round of the
I don't have any more detail about the agenda. We obviously are pressing, together with our partners on this issue, for a negotiated political settlement to the conflict. It's the only way to end this conflict. And it is certainly a good thing that the two sides are sitting down together in
And the second question?
Q First on the first one -- so the success to you is basically both sides are staying in the same room and negotiating?
Q Second question is, there were reports that
We are also working with our international partners, the so-called P5-plus-1, to see whether or not we can resolve this major challenge to the international community and to the safety and security of the people in the region and the world, and that's
Q My question is if there is clear evidence that actually they are supporting
Q Jay.
Q Thanks very much. Two questions. One,
Q My question is that, the President has been briefed on this because since he may be the next Prime Minister of
Q Second, as far as immigration is concerned, millions of people are living -- are underpaid and living under sweatshops and all that, and they are paying taxes. And they're asking if they are eligible for the Obama -- this health care program. And also what message the President has for those people who have been paying taxes and living really under the sweatshops and so forth?
Q Here, yes, in the U.S. -- illegal immigrants. They're paying taxes and also --
Q So what they're asking really that they've been hoping that the President will come out and support this immigration issue, and they're relying on him for the last five plus years.
Q Thanks, Jay.
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