The Washington Bureau will cover an Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on “Accountability Lapses in Multiple Funds for Iraq,” a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Hearing on “Retail Price of Gas and Competition in the Oil Industry,” and a subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee on “The Border Security Challenge: Recent Developments and Legislative Proposals.” A correspondent will also cover a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on “Seniors at Risk: Improving Medicare for Our Most Vulnerable.” Later, the Washington Bureau will cover a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and House Financial Services Committee joint hearing on how the mortgage crisis afflicts neighborhoods, as well as a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on how to provide legal assistance to low-income Americans.

Pentagon Correspondent Meredith MacKenzie will attend a pen and pad briefing with the Senate Leadership, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), as well as a press conference with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Correspondent Dawn Jones will cover a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nominations of Gen. David Petraeus “for reappointment to the grade of general and to be commander of the United States Central Command,” and Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno “for appointment to the grade of general and to be commander of the Multi-National Force-Iraq.”

White House Gaggle
By Ellen Ratner
Briefer: Dana Perino

The President’s Schedule
The president had his usual briefings.
At 11:30 a.m. he will make a statement on Iraq. In the morning he met with Gen. David Petraeus, commander of Multinational Forces Iraq and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. The president also met with the special envoy to Sudan.

This afternoon he will go to the ranch in Crawford, Texas. The White House announced that the president will make three commencement addresses this year. The first is May 4 at Greensburg High School in Greensburg Kansas, the second is May 29 at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the third will be May 31 Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

The White House announced the summer schedule for tee ball on the White House lawn. There will be three games this summer: one in June with Hispanic Americans and others with members of the U.S. military.

The president also had a private meeting in the Oval Office and on the Truman balcony with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker, but Perino said that would not discuss the content of the meeting.

On Iraq
Perino said that the cost of reconstruction is increasingly being picked up by Iraqis and that they have more resources available to them. A question arouse as to the timing of a dramatic pull out in Iraq as it relates to the U.S. presidential election. “From our perspective, politics will not enter into it,” Perino said.

She explained that the speech is going to focus on the recommendations from Gen. Petraeus. The president will speak about the planning reduction from 20 brigade combat teams to 15. The president will also announce his support for a 45 days of “consolidation and evaluation” before another draw down of forces is scheduled.

The president will also speak about the tours of duty for soldiers scheduled to deploy after August 1, 2008 will be 12 months in Iraq and a min of 12 months at home in the United States. Perino said “the troops will continue to come home,” but she said “some people” (implying the Congressional Democrats) want to “change the goal posts.”

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Explaining the recent attitude shift of Sunni Arabs in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of Multinational Forces Iraq, talks about the tribes in Iraq comparing them to the television show “The Sopranos,” while testifying before the House Foreign Relations Committee (0:41)

 

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What progress has been made in Iraq? The progress question or some variant of it was asked repeatedly at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Iraq After the Surge: What Next?” Chairman Joseph Biden (D-DE) said in his opening statement violence in Iraq has gone down, but not as far as anticipated. These are fragile gains, he said, and the notion of staying in the country is not the goal. The continued loss of life, drains on our treasury, the impact of readiness on our armed services, and the ability to send soldiers to where al-Qaida has grouped, is like “treading water” and we can’t keep treading water without exhausting ourselves.
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Answering questions from Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of Multinational Forces Iraq says that al-Qaida is further from their goal of establishing a base in the Middle East because of the surge in U.S. forces in 2007. (0:42)

 

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Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) greets Gen. David Petraeus before he testifies at the Senate Armed Services committee

Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker testify before the Senate Armed Services committee

Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker surrounded by Capitol Hill photographers

Code Pink protesters before the Iraq hearing at the Senate Armed Services

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