Full text of Bush news conference

You see, it’s possible if nothing gets done that the payroll taxes will go up to some 18 percent. Imagine that for your children and grandchildren, living in a society where payroll taxes are up at 18 percent. Or there will be dramatic benefit cuts as time goes on. Now is the time to get it done. And my pledge to the American people is that I’m going to stay on this issue because I know it’s important for you.

Fletcher.

Q Yes, Mr. President. You had talked about North Korea and you mentioned that the six-party talks allow you to bring extra leverage to the table. But do you think they’re working, given North Korea’s continued threats and the continuing growth of their nuclear stockpile?

Q And how long do you let it go before you go to the U.N.?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I appreciate that question. I do think it’s making a difference to have China and Japan and South Korea and Russia and the United States working together with North Korea. In my judgment, that’s the only way to get this issue solved diplomatically, is to bring more than one party to the table to convince Kim Jong-il to give up his nuclear ambitions. And how far we let it go on is dependent upon our consensus amongst ourselves. Condi, the other day, laid out a potential option of going to the United Nations Security Council. Obviously, that’s going to require the parties agreeing. After all, some of the parties in the process have got the capacity to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution.

So this is an issue we need to continue to work with our friends and allies. And the more Kim Jong-il threatens and brags, the more isolated he becomes. And we’ll continue to work with China on this issue. I spend a lot of time dealing with Chinese leaders on North Korea, as do people in my administration. And I’ll continue to work with our friends in Japan and South Korea. And Vladimir Putin understands the stakes, as well.

Mark.

Q Mr. President, under the law, how would you justify the practice of renditioning, where U.S. agents who brought terror suspects abroad, taking them to a third country for interrogation? And would you stand for it if foreign agents did that to an American here?

THE PRESIDENT: That’s a hypothetical, Mark. We operate within the law and we send people to countries where they say they’re not going to torture the people.

But let me say something: the United States government has an obligation to protect the American people. It’s in our country’s interests to find those who would do harm to us and get them out of harm’s way. And we will do so within the law, and we will do so in honoring our commitment not to torture people. And we expect the countries where we send somebody to, not to torture, as well. But you bet, when we find somebody who might do harm to the American people, we will detain them and ask others from their country of origin to detain them. It makes sense. The American people expect us to do that. We—we still at war.

One of my—I’ve said this before to you, I’m going to say it again, one of my concerns after September the 11^th is the farther away we got from September the 11^th, the more relaxed we would all become and assume that there wasn’t an enemy out there ready to hit us. And I just can’t let the American people—I’m not going to let them down by assuming that the enemy is not going to hit us again. We’re going to do everything we can to protect us. And we’ve got guidelines. We’ve got law. But you bet, Mark, we’re going to find people before they harm us.

John McKinnon.

Q Yes, sir. I’d just like to ask, simply, what’s your view of the economy right now? First-quarter growth came in weaker than expected, there have been worries about inflation and lower spending by consumers. Are these basically just bumps in the road, in your opinion, or are they reasons for some real concern and could they affect your agenda on Social Security?

THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate that, John. I am concerned about the economy because our small business owners and families are paying higher prices at the gas pump. And that affects the lives of a lot of people. If you’re a small business owner and you have to pay higher gas prices and you’re—likely you may not hire a new worker. In other words, higher gas prices, as I have said, is like a tax on the—on the small business job creators. And it’s a tax on families. And I do think this has affected consumer sentiment; I do think it’s affected the economy.

On the other hand, the experts tell me that the forecast of economic growth in the coming months looks good. There’s more to do to make sure that we don’t slip back into slow growth or negative growth. One is to make sure taxes stay low; secondly, is to continue to pursue legal reform. I hope we can get an asbestos reform bill out of both the House and the Senate. There’s some positive noises on Capitol Hill as to whether or not we can get an asbestos reform bill. That will be an important reform in order to make sure that our economy continues to grow.

We need to continue to open up markets for U.S. products. As you know, there will be a vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement here, hopefully soon. I’m a strong believer that that’s in the interest of American job creators and workers, that we open up those markets. I know it’s important geopolitically to say to those Central American countries, you’ve got a friend in America. We said we’d have an agreement with you, and it’s important to ratify it. It’ll help strengthen the neighborhood.

We’ve also got to make sure that we continue to reduce regulation. I think an important—I know an important initiative that we’re going to be coming forth with here probably in the fall is tax reform. I was amazed by the report the other day that there is some $330 billion a year that goes unpaid by American taxpayers. It’s a phenomenal amount of money. To me, it screams for making the tax system easier to understand, more fair and to make sure that people pay their taxes—“more fair” means pay what you owe.

And so there are a lot of things we can do, John, to make sure economic growth continues. But I’m an optimistic fellow—based not upon my own economic forecast—I’m not an economist—but based upon the experts that I listen to.

Let’s see here. Richard. (Laughter.) There is somebody with a bad throat back there. (Laughter.)

Q Mr. President, you’ve made No Child Left Behind a big part of your education agenda. The nation’s largest teachers union has filed suit against it, saying it’s woefully inadequately funded. What’s your response to that? And do you think that No Child Left Behind is working?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I think it’s working. And the reason why I think it’s working is because we’re measuring, and the measurement is showing progress toward teaching people how to read and write and add and subtract. Listen, the whole theory behind No Child Left Behind is this: if we’re going to spend federal money, we expect the states to show us whether or not we’re achieving simple objectives—like literacy, literacy in math, the ability to read and write. And, yes, we’re making progress. And I can say that with certainty because we’re measuring, Richard.

Look, I’m a former governor, I believe states ought to control their own destiny when it comes to schools. They are by far the biggest funder of education, and it should remain that way. But we spend a lot of money here at the federal level and have increased the money we spend here quite dramatically at the federal level. And we changed the policy: instead of just spending money and hope for the best, we’re now spending money and saying, measure.

And some people don’t like to measure. But if you don’t measure, how do you know whether or not you’ve got a problem in a classroom? I believe it’s best to measure early and correct problems early, before it’s too late. That’s why as a part of the No Child Left Behind Act we had money available for remedial education. In other words, we said we’re going to measure, and when we detect someone who needs extra help, that person will get extra help.

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