The White House of USA

MS. PERINO: Hello. A couple of announcements. First of all, President Bush called Russian President Medvedev today to congratulate him on his inauguration. The two leaders underscored the importance of the U.S.-Russia relationship, and they look forward to working together, with the recent Sochi agreement being used as a basis for future cooperation. They discussed briefly the recent 123 Agreement regarding nuclear energy that was signed last week in Moscow. And President Bush raised his concerns about the situation in Georgia, and hope that all sides were working to reduce tensions. The two Presidents said they look forward to seeing each other at the G8 in Japan.

MS. PERINO: A quick announcement: The President met this morning with a group of preeminent economists to highlight the passage of two tax cuts that have proven to help lift our economy out of recession in 2001, and following the economic slowdown after the 9/11 attacks. Those tax cuts led to a long period of economic growth and to the longest unbroken run of job growth on record, which was 52 consecutive months, and only recently ended when we started experiencing the slowdown in the housing market and in the high energy prices that we continue to experience.

MR. STANZEL: Good afternoon, everyone; let’s go right to questions.

MS. PERINO: Okay, I’ve got two things for you — I said I would have the radio address preview and tomorrow’s commencement address. In this week’s radio address the President will outline several important legislative matters pending in front of Congress and note the dwindling number of days they have left in session to get this work done.

MR. HADLEY: Good afternoon. On Monday, the President and Mrs. Bush will travel to Europe to participate in the summit between the United States and European Union in Slovenia. They will also make bilateral stops in Germany, Italy, the Holy See, France, and the United Kingdom.