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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office
of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________
For Immediate
Release March 24, 2003
BACKGROUND
BRIEFING
BY A SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL
ON THE SUPPLEMENTAL
Presidential
Hall
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
6:10 P.M. EST
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: We're still the on-time administration,
but we were just at the congressional leadership of both parties, and they
were unexpectedly inquisitive.
Q Unexpectedly?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, I said unexpectedly inquisitive --
I just mean it was a really good exchange and they asked a lot of questions.
And so somebody underestimated the time it would take to get here, and I
apologize for that.
Let me -- obviously, we're here to discuss the supplemental request that
the President will make tomorrow to fund the cost of the war in Iraq, along
with relief and reconstruction, along with support for our diplomatic coalition
partners, as appropriate, and protection of the other front of the war,
which, regrettably, involves the protection of the American homeland.
For all those purposes, the President will be asking for $74.7 billion total.
And this will, we believe to the best of our ability to estimate this, cover
all costs from now to the end of the fiscal year, so six months or a little
more. Actually, more in the sense that many of these costs have already
been incurred and will be covered in this bill, or in the case of some of
our coalition partners, reimbursed.
Six months, as I say, contemplates a conflict, a period of stabilization
in Iraq, and the phased withdrawal of a large number of American forces
within that six-month window.
For prosecution of the war, in all its aspects, the President will request
$63 billion; $53 billion of this is for pure operational activities, moving
troops to the region, sustaining them while there, all the cost of activity
while there, and returning a large number of them home.
Also we will operate on the basis of replenishing or reconstituting those
munitions and other materials which are consumed back to their pre-war level
-- not below, not above. About $8 billion for international operations,
relief and reconstruction; $5 billion of that in bilateral assistance to
supportive countries, or countries which may suffer consequences as a result
of the war. On that list are countries in the region and allies not nearby,
including many in Eastern Europe.
Q Do we have that list of that --
Q -- name some countries?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I will name -- let me give you a partial
list: Jordan, Israel, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan, the Philippines,
and I'll mention Colombia where terror and the drug trade intersect.
The relief and reconstruction of Iraq would commence during this period,
we believe. And we'll be requesting a total of something like $3.5 billion
in this supplemental; $2.5 billion in a fund for Iraq relief and reconstruction.
Then there are other dollars that meet that description elsewhere. For instance,
we have a substantial amount for oil field repair, which is accounted for
in the Defense Department portion -- but about $3.5 billion to at least
begin that process.
And the last piece, $4 billion-plus for homeland security, the defense of
the homeland security at a time of increased threat. That would be divided
roughly evenly between funding for federal protection, additional federal
protection, increased Coast Guard operations being the largest and best
example, but also federal facility protection may need to be enhanced during
this time.
Separately we'll ask for funding at Justice, principally to support increased
FBI activity.
Q What do you mean by separately?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: In an additional fund.
Q Part of the $4 billion?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: In addition to the -- no, it is part of
the $4 billion, I'm sorry. And another large piece for assistance to states
and localities.
Q How much is that?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That's $2 billion.
Q How much for the FBI?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: For the Justice Department total, $500 million.
I think the largest portion of that is likely to support further FBI activities.
Q That's $2 billion for state and localities?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That's right.
Q And $1.5 billion for the other federal part --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That's correct also.
Q New York had asked for a specific allocation when the Mayor came by last
week. Is that included in that state allocation?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, there are no community specific allocations.
But we feel it's a very large amount of money on top of what's been provided
already in '03. And of course, just six months from now we have a very large
request pending for fiscal '04. So Secretary Ridge first told us and just
told the members of Congress who were here he's very comfortable that this
is an ample and appropriate amount of money.
Q He'll determine how it's spent or allocated, Ridge?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, yes, but subject to an awful lot of
state and local discretion. The way we anticipate this $2 billion operating
is in grants to states, subject to really two fairly general conditions,
or basic conditions -- first, that the state is committed to protecting
specified sites. As you know, Governor Ridge and -- or Secretary Ridge and
his department have provided each state a list of sites they believe are
particularly important, and the states will have to assure him that they
have taken the necessary steps to see that those sites are guarded or secured.
And the only other condition that would apply to this money is that it be
spent on specified purposes directly related to anti-terror. I want to stress
that this entire supplemental is intended to be devoted to purposes stemming
from this event, from the war. The President, during the time he spent with
the leadership, was very clear that he welcomed their input and, potentially,
their changes to this request, but he was very hopeful that Congress would
not seize on this in an opportunistic way to do unrelated things.
We asked that it be done fast, flexibly, and -- fast, flexible and clean
would be the summation.
Sir.
Q What kind of deadline do you have on this, or what have you told the leaders
that you'd like to get it by? And also, was there any aid in here for airlines?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The answer to the first question is, we're
hopeful of final passage by the April recess, which comes on April 11th.
And there was a lot of sentiment from the leadership to work together to
meet that goal.
No, there's no provision here, no proposal related to the airlines.
Q To get back to that $63 billion DOD chunk again -- $53 billion is for
operations, that is fighting the war, right, and the rest is for foreign
aid?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, $5 billion is to restore munitions and
other materiel to its previous condition. There is a $1.5 billion for coalition
partners. This is principally Pakistan. There's a classified section, and
then there is a miscellaneous section that, for example, includes the money
I talked about for oil field repair.
Q So the coalition partners -- in addition to Pakistan, you named Israel,
Turkey, Egypt?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes. Most of the support for other countries
comes under that second category, that $8 billion roughly I talked about.
Q That's separate from the $63 billion, right?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That is separate and on top of the $63 billion.
Q And the foreign aid, is some of that loan guarantees, or just outright
grants, or a mix, or could you describe --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It's a mix. I'll leave the details for tomorrow,
but there are some of both. Most of it would be grants.
Q Sir, do you envision eventually using the Iraqi oil proceeds to help defray
the cost of some of the military and the occupation which will be in the
aftermath of the invasion?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President has been very clear that the
oil assets of Iraq are for the benefit of the Iraqi people, and that means
that ultimately I think we will see them being used to rebuild and reconstruct
the country.
Q When do you see that happening? A lot of people say it probably won't
-- it will be at least three years before --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Three years before?
Q The oil capacity is really able to pay for the reconstruction of Iraq.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, I hadn't heard any such forecast.
I'm sure that it's widely hoped that it will happen much faster than that.
Q Does that $25 billion include money for peacekeeping troops?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I'm sorry, does which?
Q The $25 billion for reconstruction, does that also include peacekeeping
troops?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, that's for -- specifically for relief
and reconstruction.
Q Where is peacekeeping?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: As I said, the $53 billion figure contemplates
what I called stabilization. But that means, I suppose, the same thing you
mean by peacekeeping over the next several months. Although you haven't
asked, it's still to hoped that there will be substantial international
participation in the stabilization and the reconstruction of Iraq.
Q Can I just -- I have two questions. First, the six- month period that
you say contemplates the conflict and stabilization and the phased withdrawal,
do you have a -- in all these numbers, is there a -- have you anticipated
how long the actual conflict will last? That must be included in these numbers.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, Elizabeth, actually the -- we believe
the cost model we're working with is flexible enough to give us a pretty
good idea, within this very large number, of what would be necessary. Without
going into more detail, I will just say that the differential in cost between
days or weeks of actual combat and simply days on station there is not that
large.
Q How large a force do you anticipate leaving behind?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I'm not going to talk about numbers of people,
except I will say that the assumptions built in here do include a significant
withdrawal or redeployment of troops out of the region well within the six-month
period.
Let me just give you a little fact that bears on Elizabeth's question. In
round numbers, simply to transport and deploy the force that's there was
something like $30 billion. By deploy I mean to go, be there and to come
back. Just to stay there is several billion dollars more per month. And
the point I'm making is that even if there had been a completely peaceful
resolution, this would have been a very expensive venture. Containment,
itself, which was some people's preferred option, was a very, very expensive
matter.
Q How much do you know that other international contributors will be offering
up? Do you have a figure yet?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Do not.
Q Isn't this whole thing based on a 30-day projection for combat?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, it's based on six months of activity.
And again, we think the model is reasonably predictive. It's not based on
any fixed number of days. We're not --
Q And can I ask one other question?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes.
Q For months the White House has said, we can't give you a price tag, too
many variables. What happened in the last four days that made everything
clear enough that you could offer this now?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: For one thing, we found out finally that
Saddam was not going to simply go peacefully and do what the world community
has been asking him to do for 12 years. That would have led to a very different
package. Secondly, we found that there would not be an immediate surrender
of the Iraq regime, that there would be some resistance. And at that point
it appeared that we knew, as well as we were going to know, the scenario.
And the President said, now we need to go quickly to Congress.
Q These figures for homeland security don't really come close to what Senators
Schumer and Clinton wanted, or even what Mayor Bloomberg was asking for
last week. What kind of reaction do you expect from them tomorrow?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I hope a rational one. First of all, this
is just for the balance of this fiscal year. If you add the very large increase
for '03, this number and the increase we've asked for '04, you quickly get
to an enormous amount of money. I don't doubt that whatever number the President
had proposed, somebody in Congress would have suggested a larger one. No
number we could have proposed would have, I think, headed that off. But
I would hope that folks who have been concerned about this will do two things
-- one, will move quickly to help us secure this funding; and secondly,
to really work with us to make sure that the funding stays concentrated
on purposes that will defend the lives of Americans against terror.
In the some of the proposals to date and some of the legislation to date,
the definitions have been far too loose, and much of the money is not going
-- may not go to actually keep Americans safe from the threat we're really
worried about.
Q What kind of reaction did he get today?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I'm sorry?
Q You were in this meeting for an awful long time. What kind of reaction
did he get today from the --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It was a great exchange, I thought. You'd
have to ask them, but a lot of -- all the questions were perceptive. All
were, I think, in a spirit of cooperation. They had a very sincere interest
in, I think in addressing this problem and addressing it quickly. And I'm
sorry that it made us late here, but I was really very encouraged that that
group, which included, of course, the leadership from both houses, both
sides, as well as authorizing an appropriations leadership from all the
relevant committees, wanted to stay that long and delve into it.
Q If I could follow up on Scott's question for a second. He asked what has
happened the last four days or so that prevented you from giving these projections
earlier. You mentioned two contingencies. One was that Saddam Hussein would
not go peacefully, and the second really sort of the same as the first,
that there would in fact be some resistance, that he wouldn't just surrender
-- the Iraqi forces wouldn't just surrender. What prohibited you from giving
the American people or giving the members of Congress, even on some private
basis, the same -- different projections based on those contingencies, which
surely you had in pocket.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: First of all, I gave you two contingencies,
and you mentioned just one. The second one was that the regime might have
been toppled, let's say, by the events of Thursday or some other intervening
event. That would have led to a very different request than the one we'll
be making tomorrow.
Q But still shareable, right?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Only in the sense that we would have had
to share a very wide range. I don't think there was a lot of surprise. I
didn't see a lot of surprise in that room today. I don't see a lot of surprise
here at the general dimension of this request. And, frankly, it's not possible
to share things privately, to answer your other questions.
Q How do you respond to the --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Just one second. This lady has had her hand
up. And you've had one.
Q When did the President sign off on this? And also when do you envision
beginning to tap into those frozen Iraqi funds that will be used for the
good of the Iraqi people?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President formally signed off today.
I don't know when the Iraqi funds might be accessed.
Q How do you respond to those who still say we can't afford this at a time
when the President is trying to push a new round of tax cuts and do some
other initiatives?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I respond in this way: The cost of September
11th is measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars; $100 billion right
out of taxpayers' pockets; and by the estimates we've made, $225 billion
on up to $400 billion or $500 billion of damage done to the economy. So
money spent to reduce the chance of further events, perhaps even more horrific
than that one, is money well spent.
Secondly, I would mention the point I made earlier -- there is not cost-free
alternative except to ignore this threat altogether, which the President
ruled out long ago. And some in the world thought it would have been a good
idea to gather our forces there, put some sort of pressure on Hussein and
wait. That would have cost an amount not much smaller than this one just
to do for a few months.
Q Really?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes, $30 billion, as I said, simply to go
and be there; $5 billion a month -- you can do the arithmetic.
Q But would you acknowledge that this will add to deficits, do you think?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: All these questions have to be asked with
the follow-on, compared to what? And compared to the leaving unaddressed
the risk of terror and damage far worse than this, it's only the prudent
thing to do. But I suppose the President would say, when it comes down to
it, when the lives of Americans are at stake, dollars and cents is only
a secondary -- a distant secondary consideration.
Q Is $63 billion the number that the Pentagon derived? Or is that the one
that you changed after discussing it?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It was arrived at mutually. All these were
with the departments involved.
Q Can I just ask you, what is the system that the U.S. government would
use to try to get allied partners or coalition members to help defray the
cost? How is the U.S. approaching that, if you're trying to get this passed
by April 11th? Would you expect other countries to be helping by that period
of time?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I really can't answer that. I think we --
I can only say that there's a full intention to try to involve others, to
the extent they're willing and able. But we need to try to secure this so
we can move forward aggressively, whether or not we have any new information
about that.
Q Chairman Greenspan met with the economic team today. What it is the Chairman's
perspective or the economic team's perspective about the impact of the war
on the economy?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President has asked us to watch it every
day and to keep him posted, and we've been doing that. And, yes, the Chairman
has joined us more than once, which is always enormously illuminating. And
it's too soon to tell. The early days have certainly not shown damage. In
fact, there have been some positive aspects; but far too soon and far too
fragile a situation.
Q Could you -- on the state and local part, sometimes big cities want to
just be able to apply straight for their own grants. When you said state
and localities, do you mean then that localities can just get money directly?
You mean big cities?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There will be a requirement of pass-through
to localities. But they will -- this will have to happen pursuant to a state
application. It is important that this job be done in a coordinated fashion,
not every locality and every department and every locality running off in
its own direction.
Q And this is the per-cap formula, or something else?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I'm going to leave that for Governor Ridge.
Q On oil -- two oil questions. How much exactly for oil field repair? And
then, is there anything in your numbers that assumes any offset from selling
Iraq's oil?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: About half a billion dollars for oil field
repair. And, no, there's no assumption, at this stage, of any offset.
Q Where does that money come up -- what slot did that come --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That's in the Defense portion.
Q How does the cost compare to the Gulf -- the first Gulf War? How would
you compare those costs?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: They are -- they are less. If this estimate
proves accurate, they would be less. The Gulf War, today's dollars, was
an $80 billion-plus affair. And of course, there are aspects to this request
that weren't involved then. There was no need for homeland security, for
instance, spending. And there was not the same need to support front-line
states and other coalition partners. So it depends how you look at that
money, but even if you counted it all, it would be slightly less -- again,
provided that we're right or high with this number.
Q -- U.S. share, then, the net U.S. share?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The net U.S. share was fairly small.
Q Do you have
a number?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: About $9 billion.
Q If Congress were to pass the White House budget, as well as this supplemental
request, what will the deficit be next year?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It would be between $300 billion and $400
billion, closer to $400 billion. All of this money that we've talked about
here would not be spent in this fiscal year. About two-thirds, or probably
a little more than two-thirds is our best estimate.
Q But that would be close to $400 billion in fiscal 2004.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, I said closer to $400 billion than
$300 billion. Our forecast for this year is now about $316 billion, and
as I say, a majority but not all of these funds would be spent in this year.
Q Is there anything on the homeland side for the TSA, extra money for them
to fit in these explosive detection machines?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Nothing specific, Nancy. But again, we are
asking for both money and flexibility for Secretary Ridge to address, in
addition to the money for states, to address federal -- purely federal protective
measures. He could well decide that TSA is one place to apply some of those
funds.
Q The President -- he did a lot of traveling before the war started -- spoke
very strongly and critically of Congress and its tendency to overspend.
How strong a case did he make today to the leaders not to bloat this bill
up, and what was the reaction?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: He did make that case, and the reaction,
I think, was a respectful one. He wasn't challenged on that. We'll see,
when Congress at large looks at the whole bill. The Defense Department,
of course, converts most everything to an acronym, and they chose cost of
the war -- (laughter) -- for this, as the COWS, cost of the war supplemental.
And I hope that doesn't prove to apt, because we would like it not to be
milked irresponsibly for purposes unrelated to this event.
Q Following that, how much do you -- do you expect Congress to add to this?
And also, do you expect to have to put in another supplemental for this
year?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It's our intention that there not be another
supplemental this year. That's why we tried to capture all the costs, as
best we could understand them. My hope is that this will prove more than
ample to the task. But that's not knowable at this time. So we hope that
Congress will also find it adequate, and move it quickly at the size we
proposed.
Q If you could clarify the numbers here. One, you talked about the deficit
between $300 billion and $400 billion. That's fiscal year '03.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It's '03, that's right.
Q And in fiscal year '04, how do you expect it --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, it would be coming down, based on
what we know now. That is to say, no further supplementals, Congress staying
within the President's spending limits, et cetera.
Q I just want to make sure we have the $75 billion down. We've got $63 billion,
plus the $8 billion for the --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes.
Q And then that brings up to $71 billion.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: And $4 billion for homeland, in round numbers.
Q And that $8 billion -- it was confusing. There were two parts where you
said that there would be money for other countries in the region. Is that
only coming out of the $8 billion?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Most of it is, Elizabeth, although I mentioned
Pakistan as a coalition partner that would -- for which we have some --
Q Out of the $4 billion?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION
OFFICIAL: Yes, in essence -- out of the $63 billion.
Q How long would fighting have to go on before the amount in this request
was exceeded? You said something about $30 billion just for the coming or
going, and then another $5 billion per month. So does that mean four months
of this, after which it will be -- is that a maximum sort of in the figure
in here?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No answer for that question. The Secretary
of Defense has right along said that he thought that fighting was likely
to last weeks, not months. And I've told you that we do foresee an end to
the conflict within the six months, and the beginning of withdrawal of troops.
That's about as detailed as I can give you.
Q But it's $5 billion per month?
Q Just for keeping people there.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That's about as much detail as I can give
you.
Q You said the beginning of withdrawal. But I thought you said earlier that
it envisioned a fairly substantial withdrawal before the end of the six
months?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It does. I say at least the beginnings of
withdrawal. He's asking whether the fighting could run all through this
period.
Q Just a couple of points. One, does this include the cost of replenishing
the supply of Cruise missiles?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes, it does.
Q And the other, could you just explain the rationale for why you didn't
include the airline industry in this?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I'll only say that like the rest of the
economy, the President has us watching the condition of this industry very
closely. And at this point, we don't have any recommendation to make. We
know there are some in Congress who think that would be appropriate to do
so, and we'll talk to them, if so.
Q That $5 billion a month is for keeping them there? Or is that $5 billion
a month for combat operations as we're seeing now?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, my point was that simply to go there
and stay there would cost you -- to go there and get back, something on
the order of $30 billion. Just to be there would cost several billion dollars.
Q Not fighting?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That's correct. So that I was simply trying
to make the point -- I would urge you not to invest too much precision in
these numbers. But the general point I think is an important one, which
is to say that there was no inexpensive option at all. The cost of containment,
or as some said, coercive diplomacy, and so forth, would have been very,
very high all by itself.
Q Two questions: One, when you talk about international participation, is
the assumption then that there will be some form of Tokyo Conference at
which international donors will contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No such assumption.
Q So then how do you come to your estimate on reconstruction? And my second
question was, is there a figure in here that accounts for the possible use
of biological and chemical weapons?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There is certainly a provision made for
the -- a couple of them that go to the question of dismantling or disarming
weapons of mass destruction. We've definitely included money that would
be available for that because we do anticipate it.
Q And how many countries, sir, on your list? You named some, but how many
are on the overall list of countries --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I didn't count them, but I gave you the
majority.
Q When you talk about the deficit between $300 billion and $400 billion,
'03 or '04?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, '03 I think was the question. And
then the follow-up question was, what about '04? And the answer to that
would be, it would coming down, but a little hard to know from what number
and by how much.
Q When you take six months of activity -- I know this is sort of -- can
you just clarify that a little bit more? And, B, what about Turkey, how
much are they going to get? And, C, the $100 billion that the Senate has
taken out, do you expect that you'll be able to put that back in for fiscal
year '04? And how do you get it to $5 billion a month, versus the CEO's
$8 billion a month, or $9 billion -- I forget exactly, but theirs was more.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, let me just say there have been a
lot of numbers floating around, all of them wrong. And a lot of estimates
floating around, I think all of them good faith, but none of them as grounded
in experience as what I believe we're presenting, which is based -- the
biggest piece of it, of course, based on a very detailed cost model that's
been informed by events from the Gulf to Kosovo, to training, to exercises
during the last few years, to Afghanistan. And so we do think that we have
a reasonable handle on what this activity does cost.
And unfortunately by
now, I've forgotten A, B, C, and D.
Q Could you tell us how much is Turkey? Because you mentioned that's one
of the countries.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: One billion dollars.
Q How much.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: One billion dollars.
Q Was that -- is that a consideration for their overflight rights?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: It is -- I'm not going to comment on reasons
for, I'll just give you the number.
Q In the Gulf War I comparison, you said $80 billion. Was that total U.S.
taxpayer money? My understanding is a lot of that war was -- the bill was
footed by other countries.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes, we had a question over here. Ultimately,
the vast majority of that was paid for by partners.
Q Can you please go over the numbers again, and keep them simple?
Q Make sure they add up.
Q Can we also get your estimates for the cost of September 11th, exactly,
again? Thank you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: All right, the simplest form, and the same
form that I gave them before: $63 billion, $8 billion, and $4 billion, rounded
off. And that's -- so that's, prosecuting the war, $63 billion; international
operations, relief and reconstruction.
Q Okay, that's relief and reconstruction.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That's correct. And a little over -- and
$4 billion for homeland security.
Q But if $30 billion was the cost of transporting them there and getting
them back, then are we to assume that the cost of the actual fighting is
around $30 billion itself, or $33 billion?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, it's not that simple. I have a question
I haven't answered back here. You want to know about the cost of September
11th. The cost to taxpayers, this is reconstruction of New York City, all
the additional additions now over -- moving into their third year, to homeland
security, costs we never incurred before, and cost of the Afghanistan activity
are over $100 billion. Cost to the economy, conservatively measured, the
bottom end of our range is $225 billion, in terms of damage to industries,
damage to property and slower economic growth.
Q That's federal dollars?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes.
Q The $100 billion from the Senate that they took out, do you expect to
get it back in?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Don't know. That process has several more
steps to run.
Q -- that's your range.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes. There were estimates from business
groups earlier that were much bigger than that. But we think it's a fair
and cautious estimate, yes.
Q So the $400 billion deficit for the end of 2004 plus the supplemental?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, I didn't talk about $400 billion for
any year. I said, between $300 billion and $400 billion for '03.
Thanks.
END
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