Press Briefing by Mike McCurry

The Briefing Room

1:22 P.M. EST

MR. MCCURRY: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is the daily briefing. We can begin now.

Q: What are the President's plans to improve food safety?

MR. MCCURRY: They're significant, and he is taping a radio address about them at this very moment.

Q: What are the plans? Can you tell us any details?

MR. MCCURRY: How much of this do you want to put out right now, Mary Ellen? Come on, give them as much as you want to give them right now. You've got the paper on it.

MS. GLYNN: You've got the paper. (Laughter.)

Q: Who's the boss here? (Laughter.)

MR. MCCURRY: Did you have to really ask, when it's Ms. Glynn?

Ms. Glynn, it's all yours.

MS. GLYNN: There's not too much to say about it. (Laughter.) The President will be announcing a system which will help catch and respond to outbreaks of food-borne illness earlier, and to help give us the data we need to prevent future outbreaks.

Is that enough?

Q: No.

MS. GLYNN: No? All right, all right --

Q: I heard that there's a $50-million plan.

MS. GLYNN: It is not. That's wrong. It's a $43 million increase in the FY 1998 budget for food safety to fund the early warning system which is about $11.5 million, and the $10 million for the CDC, and about $1 million for the FDA.

Q: So that's $54 million?

MS. GLYNN: No, that's $43 million altogether.

Q: How do you break it down?

MS. GLYNN: You have $11.5 million for the early warning system; $10 million for the CDC to track data and to try and track food-borne illness; and $1 million for the FDA.

Q: That's $22.5 million.

MS. GLYNN: Plus $23 million for the FDA for seafood safety inspections, research, risk assessment and education.

Q: That comes to $45.5 million.

Q: Very good, Wolf. (Laughter.)

MR. MCCURRY: Look, we'll have a factsheet and other materials before the --

Q: What's the genesis of this volunteer, and how --

Q: What about the initiative to get your money back from the --

Q: Can we stay on the food -- is this in any way related to news stories about the unsafe handling of food that American consumers buy?

MR. MCCURRY: I'm not aware that this is -- this is being done because of the President's commitment to clean air, clean water, and safe food for the American people, and it's not related to any recent litigation involving food safety issues.

Helen, on the question about the genesis of the summit that the President is about to announce with President Bush shortly, for some time, President Clinton has been in discussion with Harris Wofford, who is over at the Corporation for National Service and has been so valuable in promoting this administration's efforts on national service, about how we can really reinvigorate the concept of volunteerism and community service. And for months -- I'd say going back at least since the middle of last year, Harris has thought about ways in which we could really get people working together and get people working together in a bipartisan way.

The President believes firmly that serving our community, giving something back to our country is not about being a Democrat or a Republican, it's really about being an American. It's about what we owe our country.

And President Bush, as many here know, was very keen on that same commitment during his term as President and began the Points of Light program, which he asked President Clinton to continue on Inauguration Day four years ago, I think. And the Points of Light Foundation has continued to exist. This administration has worked on other aspects of promoting national service, as you know, but this is a real opportunity, in President Clinton's view, to marry together a lot of the different efforts on volunteerism and bring this country together around the concept of giving something back to the community. And he'll have more to say about it shortly, so I think I'll leave it at that.

Q: Mike, why does community service need invigorating?

MR. MCCURRY: Well, because one of the things the presidency can do, and in this case two Presidents, is really encourage Americans to get back involved in their community. There is anecdotal evidence that volunteerism is on the rise, especially, encouragingly, among the youngest people in America, the youngest adults. A number of philanthropic and volunteer organizations around the country report that there is more interest. But this is something that all Americans can do. And, remember, the President, as he told the nation in his inaugural address, says that government is not going to be the solution to every problem. And in many cases, we, the American people, working together are going to have to solve problems in our communities, especially in an era when the concept of big government programs is no longer available. So this is a way in which the President believes he can use the tools of the presidency to encourage the American people to come together, solve problems, and address community needs.

Q: But it's not a response to a drop of some sort?

MR. MCCURRY: Not that I'm aware of. In fact, as I say, anecdotally -- I don't have access to data on this, but anecdotally, many organizations report especially among young people increasing levels of participation. But you can always do more and you can always encourage more.

Q: Mike, this is described as a three-day summit. Is the President committing that much time to this effort? Is he going to spend -- is he going to go there -- could tell us a little bit about how the thing will work?

MR. MCCURRY: Normally -- as we get closer to the date in April that the President will announce, we'll tell you more about the schedule. The President wants to participate in a significant part of the program, certainly not at the expense of any dinner that might occur just prior to this summit that you might be concerned about, Terry. (Laughter.) But we will be putting out more details on the schedule much later.

Q: Mike, you said this morning at the gaggle that you would amplify reports about American planes to combat drugs in Latin America.

MR. MCCURRY: I don't have much more on that that I can tell you, other than that there's been an ongoing effort using aircraft for counterdrug purposes in the Latin America region. That effort includes most recently a drawdown of some helicopters and C-26 aircraft that the Defense Department had, I guess, as excess items. They were transferred to a number of countries in the region for counternarcotics purposes, including Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and Barbados.

There had been, I think, an A-37 that had gone down earlier that had been used jointly by some of the countries involved in the counternarcotics effort. And there will be a continuing inter-agency process to evaluate our counterdrug efforts. You've heard General McCaffrey talk about the important role that plays in our comprehensive antidrug strategy, and we'll consider additional options as we go along.

The plan that was mentioned in the article in question is one of only several options that are underway -- or under consideration as part of that process.

Q: On the same subject, at what point did President Clinton decide to abandon the old policy, which prevented American military planes and aircraft to be used in Latin America?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't want to confuse you here. There is a separate question about conventional arms policy in the region, and there's been a discussion of that ongoing. If you followed the State Department -- the Defense Department briefings over the last week about the sale of more advanced fighter aircraft to the region, that is not the issue that is being reviewed in connection with this subject under discussion. That is a separate issue. It involves our arms sales policies.

We have told you in the past that that policy deserves a review at a time when the political dynamic of the region has changed so markedly. We are now talking about governments that are no longer military and authoritarian; they are democracies, albeit one notable exception. And the governments in that region, given that and given the changing security and regional military security needs -- given those changes, the administration felt a review of our policy about conventional arms sales and transfers in the region was warranted. But there's been no -- obviously, been no final decision arising from that review yet.

Q: On the volunteerism thing, did the President reach out personally to President Bush on this? And I gather that General Powell has been involved with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and that Ray Chambers of the Points of Light Foundation has perhaps been involved in some sort of parallel effort with General Powell. Was there a point at which they came to you, you came to them, you both realized you were headed down the same track, decided you should get together?

MR. MCCURRY: As I say, President Bush's keen interest in continuing the Points of Light effort was something that he raised with the President, I believe, as I said on Inauguration Day four years ago. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to doubling checking that with the President later. But that's the story that's been told often here and around the White House. And it is something that President Bush really wanted to make one of his ongoing legacy as a result of his presidency.

And surely it is because the work that the Points of Light Foundation did, the President's -- President Bush's personal attention to holding up examples of people who had committed their own time and effort to better communities, I think is one of the types of inspiration we're looking to jump-start even more with the summit that we now plan.

But the President -- President Clinton -- at one point, I believe, several months ago or several weeks ago -- I think several months ago -- wrote a letter to President Bush and there's been follow-up discussion as a result of that. Mack McLarty has had a conversation or two with President Bush.

And you're right, Todd, there's also been a significant amount of work being done by some of those who will participate. Bob Goodwin from the Points of Light Foundation who's been running that ongoing effort, and then Ray Chambers of the Amerlior Foundation, who will also be one of the participants today in the program.

Q: Do you know like in recent days, has the President has a conversation with President Bush about I hope you can join me on Friday, or with General Powell, or has that been handled by aides to aides?

MR. MCCURRY: They have not -- they talk from time to time and they had a recent conversation, I think, when this subject came up briefly, but it was a conversation about another subject.

Q: Who had a recent conversation?

MR. MCCURRY: President Clinton and President Bush.

Q: And you don't know how General Powell happened to get involved, do you -- what the -- I mean, obviously, he's been involved in volunteerism.

MR. MCCURRY: He has been -- obviously, as he's left the military service, he's been involved in a number of charitable organizations that encourage volunteerism and community service. He's also an inspirational leader and President Clinton thought a very appropriate choice for the assignment of being general chairman of this coming summit.

And, obviously, Henry Cisneros, who himself has been so active as a member of this President's Cabinet in promoting the virtues of national service, working through his agency with a lot of people who are active in AmeriCorps, is a good choice for vice chair as well.

Q: Mike, this volunteerism summit and then the visit to the Chicago north shore about math and science and testing were portrayed as another example of this new bully pulpit strategy on the part of the President. Could you talk a little bit about where that came from and what he hopes to accomplish with it?

MR. MCCURRY: Well, I don't believe it's rocket science. I mean, one of the things that the President does is, by virtue of his national leadership position, hold up things that we can do together as Americans. The point that this President made in the inaugural address is that we don't always need to turn to government for solutions. Sometimes we can look in our own communities, look at what we the American people are doing together. And one of the things the President believes he can do is to, as President Bush did, shed some light on the Points of Light in our communities, those who are addressing problems, figuring out solutions, figuring out how to make our neighborhoods, communities, schools work better.

And among the powers of the presidency are certainly the ability to help Americans see the success and the progress that exists in our communities. And this President understands that part of his -- one of the tools available to him as President is to do exactly that. So there are examples like that. But, of course, we will -- it's not to say that we are reinventing the use of the presidency. It's fairly obvious that the bully pulpit, which was, after all, Teddy Roosevelt's phrase to begin with, is available to him for exactly this kind of purpose.

It will be for other issues, too. You just heard last night the President -- or you heard some of us talk about the President's commitment to those are pressing campaign finance reform, to use his powers of persuasion towards that end. But that's also something in which we have to work closely Congress, do the traditional things required of the Executive Branch as we work with the Legislative Branch to achieve a desired legislative result or a desired parliamentary result.

Q: Is Vice President Gore going to be at this event today, too?

MR. MCCURRY: Yes, and the First Lady.

Q: He doesn't have a problem -- Gore doesn't have a problem with Colin Powell chairing this conference?

MR. MCCURRY: Why would he? I mean, Colin Powell is a distinguished, decorated former member not only of the White House staff, but also the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Why would that pose a problem?

Q: Beats me. (Laughter.)

MR. MCCURRY: Beats me, too.

Q: Mike, the former President who is probably best known for volunteerism is Jimmy Carter. Did the President approach Jimmy Carter about participating?

MR. MCCURRY: One of the things that the President will say later is that former Presidents Ford, Carter, and Reagan have all pledged their active support to this. President Ford, so far, I believe has agreed to actually attend, but all of the former Presidents will lend their support to this summit. And, of course, we also expect, I think, Lady Bird Johnson and Mrs. Reagan to attend as well.

Q: Mike, the Russians are now saying that Boris Yeltsin is not going to be back in the Kremlin anytime in the foreseeable future. The CIS Summit that had been planned has been postponed. Is it -- do you all see any cause for alarm here? What is your assessment of his political and health viability at this point?

MR. MCCURRY: Well, we would not raise cause for alarm in any event. We have an ongoing structured bilateral relationship with the Russian Federation that does not depend upon personalities. Just as if President Clinton would fall ill, there would ways in which we would continue to do the very important work that we do on our bilateral agenda. A good example of this is the fact that Prime Minister Chernomyrdin will be here in the United States in just two weeks for very important meetings with Vice President Gore in the structured commission that the two of them jointly chair that deals with many of the issues that we have in common.

So again, we have no -- to my knowledge, don't have a lot of additional information. We are still -- I was wrong yesterday when I said that Deputy Secretary Talbott was on his way back. He's actually on his way back now -- correct? So he's just been in Moscow and I know that we'll get a much more detailed understanding of the Russian Federation's disposition on a number of issues based on that session and perhaps even some assessment of the political dynamic in Russia.

Q: Mike, while the policy might not hinge on personalities, as you said, the U.S. -- this administration has put a lot of faith and a lot of weight in Boris Yeltsin's future.

MR. MCCURRY: We have put a lot of weight and faith in the future of democracy in Russia and to those who are pledged to continue the process of political reform in Russia, of which Boris Yeltsin has been most closely associated.

Q: Are you corroborating that there may not be a summit?

MR. MCCURRY: Absolutely not. I would have no information to indicate that we are not proceeding with the scheduled summit.

Q: Do you have his information that there -- that he won't get back in the Kremlin and so forth?

MR. JOHNSON: He's talking about a CIS summit.

MR. MCCURRY: Yes, that was the CIS. There's a Commonwealth summit that had been scheduled that I think they're doing some rescheduling on.

Q: Is planning for a Clinton-Yeltsin summit either here or in a third country still going ahead as normal?

MR. MCCURRY: That was the exact purpose among others of Deputy Secretary Talbott's trip to Moscow.

Q: Mike, does the U.S. feel that Chernomyrdin pushes the reforms as much as Boris Yeltsin does with just the force of his personality?

MR. MCCURRY: The Prime Minister has always indicated that he is committed to the process of change and reform that is occurring and has been not only an ardent advocate, but has also been in a position to work with the United States on issues that we have in common that reflect the purpose of that government.

Q: But some in the region say that the momentum is being lost because of Boris Yeltsin's illness.

MR. MCCURRY: Well, that's a subject -- I mean, I could give you a couple of very interesting essays from Foreign Affairs and we could spend a lot of time talking about that issue. There are different assessments of the pace and value and complexity of the change that exists there. It is a very complicated society. It is a changing political -- the political culture of Russia is changing as the changes toward democracy occur. And it has a very dynamic and vibrant political life that reflects a lot of different attitudes within the country.

And government to government, we deal with the elected leaders of the Russian Federation. We deal with the officials appointed by the elected leaders of that government and we maintain a very healthy that is very complex and very broad in its scope. But again, it doesn't depend on any one individual, but it does depend on our willingness to engage with them and to keep them on the path towards reform that we think is so important.

Q: Mike, on volunteerism, do you feel like this is purely bully pulpit, or is possible a forum for discussion of policy changes like charitable tax deduction or --

MR. MCCURRY: Well, look, we're talking about -- this conversation will occur in April, it doesn't occur today. Today is to announce the effort to bring this together. But there may be a number of people who want to talk about that. Now, this administration has used the tool of government to stimulate some aspects of national service. You're all familiar with the AmeriCorps program. But there are different ways to stimulate service, and certainly, using the bully pulpit is one of them. But the point here was to get everyone together involved in a common effort to invigorate the concept of volunteerism and community service. And I think that's a good thing.

Q: So you're open to --

MR. MCCURRY: There's any number of things that might come out of this. We might have -- one of things they hope to do at this conference is to bring together people who are really leaders in the community service movement and they might identify specific things that they think the government can do or should do. So it might lead to some healthy review of policy aspects. But I can't --I don't want to predict, but I think the central purpose is the one that the President will talk about very shortly.

Q: Is part of what's under consideration here, too, Mike, that they could come out of this thing with an agreement, like some kind of ongoing organization that would function as a clearinghouse for these --

MR. MCCURRY: Well, there are a number of people who will be working on this in the months ahead who will have some ideas about how we can build on the meetings that will occur in Philadelphia in April. I don't want to preview that now because I think a lot of work is going to go into holding the summit and, of course, we're going to want to take General Powell's views carefully in mind. He's going to do a lot of work to structure the discussion and the dialogue, so let's not preempt the process that will be underway to make this a successful summit.

Q: But I guess really my question was it's not meant to be just a one-time long weekend in Philadelphia --

MR. MCCURRY: Absolutely not. The President will -- the stated purpose of this summit, in fact, will be exactly the contrary -- to make this an ongoing commitment and to find ways to stimulate ongoing interest in volunteer participation in America and I'm sure that there will be some desire at this summit to structure ways to do that. I just don't want to try to guess here now what that might be when we hold the summit months from now.

Q: Republican lawmakers yesterday introduced a charity tax credit on similar to what Senator Dole had advanced during his campaign. What does the administration's view on using tax --

MR. MCCURRY: Well, we're in favor of charitable giving and we'll have our own ideas on tax relief as we submit the budget February 6th.

Q: Mike, you were talking about themes the President -- you know, the volunteerism as things that people can do for themselves. Then are we supposed to look at food safety as something that only the government can do for people?

MR. MCCURRY: That's a good point, Jill. There are contrasts, there are things that the government does do and that is important for the government to do -- protect public health, protect us from food-borne diseases, where individual volunteers can't go out and do that type of work. So it's an interesting contrast.

At the times when we do need government -- you know, this administration has argued, in fact, that we can use the tool of government to help stimulate service and to offer an opportunity to young people, i.e., assistance with college education in return for the responsibility of giving something back to the country. But there are different ways of doing what we're talking about here, which is to stimulate an interest in volunteer activity.

Q: Just to clarify, I mean, is this -- you seem surprised that that can come up. Isn't this part of the message we're supposed to get this week? (Laughter.)

MR. MCCURRY: Look, I think the President said it best. The debate about the role of government, we believe, has largely been resolved. It's not a problem, but it's not the solution because it's the American people coming together and agreeing on how to address common problems that is the solution. The government is a tool that you use and you have to reinvent that tool for the new century ahead to make it work effectively.

I think the inaugural address the President gave was clear on that point. And you'll hear him put that in a more concrete fashion at the State of the Union address.

But as I said, the central theme here of the week is that Americans have to come together and bridge differences, and Republicans and Democrats have to bridge differences to come together to do things like improve our communities. And I think there's a nice symmetry of, you know, last Friday and this Friday, the Democrats, Republicans coming together to celebrate America and to talk about how we can make it better.

Q: Mike, last week the Boston Globe had a story linking Asian contributions to a change in immigration policy in this administration. You said that was an outrageous link to make and said the story was ridiculous. Today, Lanny Davis' office has released a paper that shows that there was a working group on Asian affairs, that John Huang was on it, that the working group was ordered to get feedback from the Asian community on issues to turn that into the campaign, and that one of the issues still evolving and that they weren't square with, with the Asian community appears to be immigration.

Now, do you stand by what you said last week or was that story maybe --

MR. MCCURRY: Yes, I stand by what I said.

Q: Was that story fair in its implication since Huang --

MR. MCCURRY: No, the implication was that any change in policy was based on contributions, which is what I addressed in that. And I'll stand by what I said in the briefing.

Q: If I could follow, but you made it sound like Huang was writing a memo to the DNC and it wasn't very important. But this turns out to be an official part of his duty. He's on a working group --

MR. MCCURRY: You are not accurately characterizing what the memo says, nor the purpose of the outreach effort. Beyond that, I won't address this comment -- I'll address this in writing, but I won't say anything further on it.

Q: Mike, when you said that the President mentioned in his inaugural address that the great debate over the role of government had been settled, how does he figure that? By virtue of his reelection, he thinks it's been settled?

MR. MCCURRY: I think he feels that there is a broad consensus now, looking back not only at the election results but at the debate this time last winter over the role of government when the government was shut down partially, and that we've come to some consensus about the fact that we need a government, but we need it to be limited improved in its use of resources and targeted on the real need that exist in the community. And that's what the President argued during his campaign. So certainly I think he takes the election result to be some read of that. But there are other things, too -- the debate that went on a year ago and other aspects of the debates we've had here in Washington over the last several years.

Remember how he posited the two different views -- one is that government can solve every problem in the era of big government; the other, government is the enemy, the problem, we can without the government in many cases. And we forged, I think, a synthesis of the two positions. And the President's carrying forward with that agenda.

Q: But the same election also kept the Republicans in charge of Congress. Does that not challenge the President's assertion?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't believe so, because I don't believe those Republicans elected to a majority in Congress ran on the type of platform or program that suggested that should take a major meat axe to programs of government that help Americans who are in need. They just didn't. I mean, if anything, they ran a much more centrist premise in the articulation of their general view about the role of government.

Q: Mike, there seems to have been a pretty short run up to this announcement this afternoon with General Powell and President Bush. Was there some scheduling glitch that was resolved at the last minute, yesterday evening?

MR. MCCURRY: No.

Q: Or was this something that has long been in planning, but --

MR. MCCURRY: This was -- and you're incorrect. There had been a fairly long run up to this announcement today. Just amazingly, it was kept secret, which is one of the rare times that ever happens around here.

Q: You're not trying to say that tomorrow had been --today had been set as the date for this for a very long time, are you? Because my understanding is all actually came together very quickly in the last few days from some cell phone conversations and blah, blah, blah.

MR. MCCURRY: Well, there had been some talk about putting this back together --

Q: Oooh.

MR. MCCURRY: If the New York Times wants to tell us more about cell phone conversations you've been listening to recently, I think I want the U.S. Attorney here.

Q: No privileged information. My understanding is, in fact, that some of the logistics had fallen into place only quite recently.

MR. MCCURRY: I think there is always a lot of discussions that lead to a moment like this. But let's not get mesmerized by process, let's pay attention to what's said.

Q: Yeah, Todd, come on.

Q: None of this process stuff.

Q: Do you have a week-ahead for next week?

MR. MCCURRY: Week ahead. We got -- the President will -- he goes tomorrow night and does the Alfalfa Dinner; does Tuesday a reception with the Democratic Business Council, which will open for press coverage. Wednesday he has dinner with the Commander-in-Chiefs of the various regional and strategic commands at the Pentagon. That's an annual event. Thursday --

Q: At the Pentagon?

MR. MCCURRY: -- the President and the -- aren't they going over to -- sometimes they do it at the Pentagon, sometimes here.

MS. GLYNN: They're going to the Pentagon.

MR. MCCURRY: They're going over there. They go over there for meetings during the day, come back here for dinner at night.

Thursday the President and the First Lady will be talking about micro-credit. Those of you who follow the First Lady's Office know that she's said a lot about what her priorities and goals are for the coming term. One of them is to do a lot more work on the type of community lending programs that she's seen as she's traveled around the country, and that's she's seen work here in various areas of the United States, particularly in communities that have economic distress. So they'll be talking more about micro-credit lending and the importance of that. It's one of the First Lady's, I think, high priorities for the coming term.

Q: Will she be the micro-credit czar? (Laughter.)

MR. MCCURRY: She'll be work on the issues that she considers important.

And then next Sunday we close out the week with the National Governors Association dinner here. That's normally the dinner that usually interferes with the Super Bowl, but it doesn't interfere with the Super Bowl.

And by the way, the President will be having a handful of members of Congress, Democrat and Republican, over to the White House Sunday night to watch the big game.

Q: Who's coming?

MR. MCCURRY: We don't have the final list yet.

Q: Stag?

MR. MCCURRY: We decided to do that fairly late, and they are putting together --

Q: All men?

MR. MCCURRY: No, I think there's --

Q: One woman?

MR. MCCURRY: I think "congressperson" is the appropriate term, congresspersons.

Q: Is the President going to do any TV interview with the Super Bowl audience?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't know. We haven't made any arrangements for that to my knowledge.

Q: Included in Tuesday's schedule, he is doing that press conference, right, on Tuesday?

MR. MCCURRY: Yes. Oh, that's right, Tuesday -- (laughter). Is that not the week ahead? I just happened to skip that. Yes, 2:30 p.m. Tuesday is what we've scheduled.

Q: Which room will that be in?

MR. MCCURRY: East Room.

Q: Mike, speaking of sports, did you release the second half of the Journal transcript about sports?

MR. MCCURRY: We put that out already, didn't we? Part two?

MS. GLYNN: It's being copied.

MR. MCCURRY: Oh, put it out now.

Q: What is that?

MR. MCCURRY: This is the -- Al Hunt's interview with the President the other night for the sports business channel. It's got -- the second half -- we put the first half out yesterday. The second half of it has got the comments that some of you have seen reported on Dennis Rodman and also a fairly lengthy and fairly interesting analysis of the respective prospects of the Patriots and the Packers.

Q: What did he say?

Q: Did he pick a winner?

MR. MCCURRY: His general take on it is it's hard not to have the Packers as a favorite. But he's been very impressed with the Patriots and the way they've actually creatively used different defenses over the last week. He goes on at some length on this, and you will be surprised to find the President very astutely tuned to the work of the two teams.

Q: On this, does the President think 14 is too many points to give? (Laughter.)

MR. MCCURRY: What are you giving?

Q: Thirteen and a half.

MR. MCCURRY: You're 13 and a half? He probably goes with the current spread -- I don't know. But, of course, as a general practice the President would refrain from betting himself and encourage others to refrain from seeking ill-gotten gains. (Laughter.) Fourteen? Probably 14.

Q: Bet against the spread, McCurry.

MR. MCCURRY: That's too high. No, the President, when you read his analysis, you will conclude that he wouldn't -- he thinks that -- he'd take it. He'd think that's too much -- that's too much. He wouldn't give that many himself.

Q: Mike, is he going to call the winners?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't -- actually, I don't know. I don't know we are making -- he traditionally would make some type of call, but I don't know whether he will do that or not. He might -- he's elected after national championship games or major professional championship games sometimes to call the next day and sometimes we have the winners even here at the White House. So, we'll let you know.

That's it. We're out of business for the weekend. See you Monday.

END 1:55 P.M. EST