Senior White House Correspondent Major Garrett's questions at today's White House Briefing with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Garrett: Robert, you said the message on the phone calls to the Hill is to pass health care, correct?

Gibbs: Yes.

Garrett: Yes, I would. And so that -- that message is about a bill that the president has yet to endorse. Am I still correct on that?

Gibbs: The president supports the passage of the bill.

Garrett So he does endorse it?

Gibbs: Support, endorse...

Garrett: Getting back to what Jake (Tapper) was asking about earlier, there are still some unresolved issues, so I'm just curious if the president supports it in its unresolved form or its resolved form?

Gibbs: The president wants the House -- the president wants the House to pass this. The president wants the House to pass health care reform.

Garrett: On August 7th, the president said the worst...

Gibbs: I'm glad we got to... six questions to get to the fact that the president would travel from here to the House to say, "Pass the bill."

Garrett:  Well, when I asked him yesterday, he didn't say, and neither did you, so I'm just trying to nail that down.

Gibbs: I don't think it -- I hope it wasn't news that we were going up there to have them pass the bill. Apparently it was.

Garrett: On August 7th, the president said, "The worst may be behind us. Today, we're pointed in the right direction. That's why we're turning this economy around. I am convinced that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel." Was he correct on August 7th?

Gibbs: Yes.

Garrett: There's nothing about that that we want to revise?

Gibbs: The -- as I've said here and I think you'll hear economists of all political stripes say, you're not going to have economic growth -- I'm sorry. You're not going to have job growth without economic growth, right? The figures that were released recently denote that we have, for the first time in more than a year, seen positive economic growth. We see figures like unemployment claims, as I mentioned, go down, productivity go up. I think the president would believe that we're on the right path, yes. Is he satisfied? Of course not.

Garrett: But the worst is behind us?

Gibbs: I believe that's the case, yes.

Garrett:  Two publications, the Guardian and the Weekly Standard, are both reporting about IAEA possession of documents that suggest Iran has tested what they called an advanced nuclear warhead, or a two-point implosion device, and has brought this to the attention of the Iranians in the most recent conversations not only about trying to find out if they're in favor or not in favor of the low-enriched uranium transfer to Russia, but about this apparent new technology breakthrough. And also, they suggest that the intelligence committees in the House and the Senate have been briefed about this.

I'm curious. Is the White House aware of this? Is it concerned about it in any way, shape or form?

Gibbs: Let me check with NSC on that. I don't have anything on that. (The NSC staff informed Fox later it would have no comment at all on this matter)

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

November 6, 2009

Remarks by the President in the Rose Garden

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I want to begin by offering an update on the tragedy that took place yesterday at Fort Hood.

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9:30AM THE PRESIDENT receives the Presidential Daily Briefing - Oval Office

11:00AM THE PRESIDENT signs the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 - Oval Office

2:35PM THE PRESIDENT visits Walter Reed Army Medical Center

4:25PM THE PRESIDENT meets with Congressman-Elect Bill Owens of New York - Oval Office

5:10PM THE PRESIDENT meets with Secretary of State Clinton - Oval Office

TBD Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

Major Garrett reports...

President took a call from Lt. Gen. Robert Cone in the Oval Office. During that call the President personally expressed his condolences to Cone and all base personnel. In the Oval with the president were John Brennan, White House Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism Adviser, Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Council Adviser, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

President Obama was scheduled to talk at the closing of the Tribal Nations Conference today, and used that time to make remarks about the shootings at Ford Hood, Texas.

His remarks are below..

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Major Garrett reports, President Obama has been told about the shootings at Fort Hood this afternoon.

Keep watching FNC for the latest updates on the incident and more reaction from the White House...

Transcript of Senior White House Correspondent Major Garrett's questions at the Nov. 5 White House briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Topics: Afghanistan decision timing, H1N1, Cash for Clunkers

Garrett: Robert, is it safe to assume that since you're going to double check on the status of the Joint Chiefs meeting with the president that he will not make an announcement before he leaves for Asia? I just want to make...

Gibbs: I have not been told -- I have not been told that it won't happen, but won't happen, but...

Garrett: It's becoming increasingly unlikely that it will. That's a safe assumption. Correct?

Gibbs: I -- I -- I -- it is a safe assumption, understanding that it could change.

Garrett: OK. Do you have any guidance as to whether or not the country will know before Thanksgiving?

Gibbs: Just -- the only guidance I have is the next several weeks -- coming weeks.

Garrett: Back on H1N1, was it wrong for Wall Street firms to even request? And would the administration, more broadly say, "Look, if you're not in the priority category, don't ask?"

Gibbs: Well, look...

Garrett: Or was it wrong for the bureaucracy at the city level to give it out, getting what they would consider a legitimate request?

Gibbs: Well, the CDC has priority groupings for those that are likely to be most susceptible to this strain of flu and to the effects, obviously, that it can cause -- younger children, pregnant women, individuals that have -- are in homes with children that I think are under six months of age all comprise part of that priority group.

If there's anybody in that locality that fits that priority grouping that hasn't had or made available to them vaccine and others that aren't in that priority grouping are getting it, then, yes, that is -- that is a failing of the system that should work.

Garrett: And the word from the White House is if you're not on the list, don't ask. Is that correct?

Gibbs: We want everyone ultimately to be -- to have access to and get vaccinated. We want, though, first to establish -- CDC has -- that priority ordering so that those most susceptible to the effects of this illness are vaccinated first.

Garrett: Back to Gitmo, is it fair to say that the detainees are on a list?

Gibbs: I don't -- you'd have to ask the Pentagon of what -- what -- what their ultimate priority listing is. I don't know.

Garrett: How concerned is the administration that cash-for- clunkers in some respects turned out to be a cash for F-150 Ford trucks, that did not really demonstrably increase gasoline fuel efficiency?

Gibbs: Well, you couldn't get -- you could not get a -- you couldn't get the award unless the car you were turning in got a greater gas mileage than the -- the car that you were getting got a greater gas mileage than the car that you were turning in. That was written into the law.

I can get you final statistics for the amount -- the average amount, based on the cars that were purchased, what that ultimately saves in energy costs, in environmental costs, which ultimately mean our national security.

Garrett: It's OK?

Gibbs: Again, there -- there are certain benchmarks that are written into the law, and you don't qualify for -- you don't qualify for the money unless you meet the benchmarks in the law.

[Following up on President Obama's position on the House health care reform bill]

Garrett: Does that include or not include an explicit endorsement of the House bill?

Gibbs: Well, I don't know what he's going to say tomorrow because he hasn't said it.

Garrett: But you don't know?

Gibbs: I -- I haven't seen the remarks.

Garrett: But it's not his formulated position yet?

Gibbs: I haven't seen the remarks.

End Garrett questions.

President Obama says he is "extraordinarily pleased and grateful"  that two key groups have endorsed a health insurance reform bill that is working its way to a vote in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Obama surprised reporters today with an impromptu appearance in the Brady Press Briefing Room to laud the announcements from the AARP and the American Medical Association. 

The endorsements, the President says,  bring the country "even closer" to passing reform. 

Keep reading to see the full transcript of the President's remarks. Keep Reading ...

President Obama opened a summit with American Indians here in Washington today, making good on a campaign promise to hold annual meetings with tribal leaders.

386 tribes were represented at the Tribal Nations Conference where Mr Obama signed a presidential memorandum requiring every cabinet agency to report back to the president on ways to improve the relationship between the federal government and tribal communities.

According to the White House today's meeting at the Department of the Interior was the largest and most widely attended gathering of tribal leaders in US history. Government officials planned to discuss problems facing the American Indians including the economy, education, health care, public safety, and the environment.

President Obama's remarks are below:

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