President Obama held his third solo press conference of the year Wednesday morning in the East Room of the White House. Taking questions on a variety of topics from ten reporters for just over an hour, he started the news conference with a statement on the deficit and job creations.
"Right now, congress can send me a bill that would make it easier for entrepreneurs to patent a new product or idea because we can't give innovators in other countries a big leg up when it comes to opening new business' and creating new jobs," said Mr. Obama of the steps congress can take to boost job growth.
The news conference was dominated with questions about the debt ceiling, with reporters from every TV network called on except CBS. Topics ranges from Libya and Afghanistan to gay rights and immigration.
Here's the full list of reporters broken down by question topics and length:
Ben Feller of Associated Press kicked off the press conference with the first question on the debt ceiling, asking president Obama if he would insist the deal has to include tax increases. The President spent over five minutes responding about the debt negotiations in Washington.
Chuck Todd of NBC was called on second, asking a three part question about the war powers act being constitutional and how it relates to Libya, if the debt limit is also constitutional and a gay rights question, if the president believes marriage is a civil right. Mr. Obama took almost nine minutes to answer.
The third reporter to ask a question of president Obama was Julianna Goldman from Bloomberg TV. The financial reporter threw him a question on regulation in job growth, citing the NLRB complaint against Boeing. The president spoke on the topic answering Goldman's topic for approximately six minutes.
Mark Lander of the New York Times asked the president about the military procedures for capturing versus killing of terrorists. Obama answered his question in the shortest amount of time, less than three minutes.
The fifth reporter to get a question to president Obama Wednesday was Fox News' own Mike Emanuel, the newly appointed Chief Congressional Correspondent. Emanuel asked Mr. Obama about not using the word ‘victory' in his Afghanistan speech last week. Obama answered for four and a half minutes, including a follow-up question about the attack Tuesday on the Intercontinental hotel in Kabul.
This was Emanuel's fourth time asking president Obama a question in a White House news conference. He most recently questioned the commander in chief about jobs after the budget passed in March. In December Emanuel threw Obama a question about closing Guantanamo Bay. And after the midterm elections in November, he questioned the president's concern of the republican majority in the house of representatives possibly repealing his health care legislation.
ABC correspondent Jim Sciutto was called on sixth in the East Room. Sciutto asked the president about the proposal by Senators McCain and Kerry for leeway in Libya. The president responded for three and a half minutes saying how important the bipartisan support of coming together to prevent the Qaddafi regime from massacring Libyan civilians.
The Wall Street Journal's Laura Meckler landed the seventh's question to president Obama and threw him a two part inquiry on gay marriage and the deficit talks. The president answered her in a little over three minutes.
The eighth reporter called on was Antonieta Cadiz from La Opinion, the only member of the foreign press who got a question in today's news conference. She asked the president if he would veto a mandatory E-verify bill if he was planning to replace ATF leadership after the recent guns operation to Mexico. He spent over three minutes answering her question saying the investigation was ongoing and we need comprehensive immigration reform.
The newest member of the White House press corp, CNN's Senior White House Correspondent, Jessica Yellin was called on ninth, asking if the August 2nd deadline for the debt ceiling is a final deadline. Obama spent almost nine minutes talking about the importance of the US government paying its bills.
The final question of the news conference was asked by Reuters reporter, Caren Bohan. She asked the president if he was worried about the payroll tax holiday impacting long term deficit reduction. Mr. Obama wrapped things up saying, "the American people need to know we're focused on jobs and not just deficit reduction."
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