The White House of USA

MS. PERINO: Hi. I don’t have anything to start with. Sorry I’m late.

MS. PERINO: Hello. One announcement for you. Tomorrow President Bush will deliver remarks at the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives National Conference. During his speech he will highlight the Initiative’s record of helping millions in need across the country and around the world. We are working on getting you excerpts that will be released later this afternoon. I have two, though, that I can give you now.

MS. PERINO: One announcement. President Bush continues to call on the Senate to swiftly clear the pipeline of all pending nominations. Currently there are 394 nominations pending in the Senate. These nominations cumulatively represent more than 50,000 days of missed opportunity in roles that are critical to our nation’s security and prosperity. Most of these nominations are for military promotions, career promotions, or non-controversial appointments whose terms expire at the end of this administration. And before leaving for its 4th of July recess the Senate should fulfill its constitutional obligations to provide these pending nominees a fair up or down vote. The President believes it’s time for the Senate to finally judge the President’s nominees by their qualifications and not by the political calendar.

MS. PERINO: Hello, everybody. I don’t have anything to start off with, so –

MR. FRATTO: Good afternoon. I just have just one quick announcement for you on a — FEMA will be hosting a conference call this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. to talk about the federal response to flooding. This will be at 2:00 p.m, and if you just check in with FEMA and they’ll get you the information for call-in and they’ll tell you about the whole federal response to the region affected by the flooding.