During today’s White House press briefing, a reporter asked spokeswoman Dana Perino about the “prospects” for the Protect America Act (PAA) “from the White House point of view.” Perino quickly attacked Congress’s request for a 21-day extension to find a compromise between the House and Senate versions of the bill.
To underscore her point, Perino pulled out a slide that she had been “waiting to use” for “a couple of days.” Her attack fell flat, however, when reporters pointed out that the quote on the slide was inaccurately attributed to the nonexistent “Senate” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer:
PERINO: Well, what’s interesting is, you know, I actually have a slide I can actually bring up, now that you’ve asked. … We’ve been waiting to use this for a couple of days. […]
About four weeks ago, everyone in this briefing room was asking why President Bush wouldn’t accept a three-week extension. And everyone thought it would be very reasonable to just give them 21 more days to work. Well, we’re nearing — I think we’re at 20 days today and they’re not even here.
QUESTION: Steny Hoyer is the House majority leader, by the way.
PERINO: He is. That is a bad slide.
QUESTION: That says Senate.
PERINO: I know, and it’s the House. That’s why it’s bad.
Watch it:
[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2008/03/perinoslidechart.320.240.flv]
The reason Congress asked for the 21-day extension is because the White House claimed that the expiration of the PAA undermined America’s national security. Yet despite this fear-mongering, conservatives rejected the extension.
Since that time, congressional Democrats have held a series of bipartisan meetings to work out a solution. White House officials have skipped the meetings. “I don’t understand why the White House hasn’t been more active in pushing the solution they want,” said Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV). “It’s very strange.” House Republicans have also prevented their staffs from attending the meetings.
Transcript:
QUESTION: Dana, what are the prospects for the Protect America Act from the White House point of view?
PERINO: Well, what’s interesting is, you know, I actually have a slide I can actually bring up, now that you’ve asked. It was almost 21 days ago.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: We’ve been waiting to use this for a couple of days.
(LAUGHTER)
If you remember, it was…
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: About four weeks ago, everyone in this briefing room was asking why President Bush wouldn’t accept a three-week extension. And everyone thought it would be very reasonable to just give them 21 more days to work.
Well, we’re nearing — I think we’re at 20 days today and they’re not even here.
QUESTION: Steny Hoyer is the House majority leader, by the way.
PERINO: He is. That is a bad slide.
QUESTION: That says Senate.
PERINO: I know, and it’s the House. That’s why it’s bad. So, I will take Pete’s seat and I will give him…
(LAUGHTER)
… a lot of trouble. His mother will not be happy.
(LAUGHTER)
But the point of the matter is, they said they needed three more weeks. It’s been nearly three weeks and they haven’t done it.
And so, they’re nowhere near where they were, I don’t think. Except it was interesting last week when Chairman Reyes said on Sunday morning that he thought that they were closer.
We were hoping this week that there would be a vote. And now it appears that they’re going to kick it to maybe next week. So, they wouldn’t have met their three-week deadline anyway.