Excerpts from Press Gaggle by Ari Fleischer, August 19, 2002 (Full transcript)

QUESTION: Has the President decided on a new economic package to present Congress, you know, when they get back in session?

MR. FLEISCHER: And by the way, because this is the tradition of the gaggle, and I have not gaggled since the happy news, I'd like to congratulate you on gaggle record.

No, the President has not made any decisions. The President continues to review the economic data. The President continues to review the information he received at the economic forum here in Waco, and the President continues to review some of the policy options that are under review, to make a determination about when or if he will advance anything specific on economics.

QUESTION: Have those summary reports already made it to his desk, or are they still being compiled and sorted?

MR. FLEISCHER: In the printed sense, I don't know the answer, whether it's presented to him formally. But in the sense of been an active conversation, that is an active piece of conversation that his advisors continue to have with him.

QUESTION: You said his goal is to have something before the end of the session? Some new stimulus package, is that a goal of the administration?

MR. FLEISCHER: The President has not made a decision.

QUESTION: It's possible we won't have one.