A: Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education:
Clarissa, I recently sent a letter to the chief of education in every state, representatives in every local education district, and all higher education institutions, asking them to make planning for pandemic flu a priority. The letter included checklists developed by HHS, CDC and ED and intended to provide schools with guidance for planning. The checklists, also posted on www.pandemicflu.gov, outline specific steps that pre-schools, K-12 schools, and colleges and universities should take to prepare. They include:

• Reviewing and disseminating health information about hygiene for kids, such as the tips at www.cdc.gov/flu/school/.
• Meeting with local health officials to ensure that schools are part of the community's pandemic plan.
• Planning for staff absences, and considering how to educate children if your school is closed for a period of time.
• Identifying alternative sources of meals if normal school lunch programs are disrupted.
• Considering how to provide medical care for students on site.

Furthermore, our Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools is holding emergency crisis planning training seminars including a specific workshop on pandemic flu planning. This training, designed for school officials, has already taken place in Denver and another is scheduled for Pittsburgh in a couple of weeks. In the coming months, we will disseminate model flu plans to school officials as further guidance for planning.

A: Heidi Marquez Smith, Special Assistant to the President for Cabinet Liaison:
Kerry, thank you for your question about the President's Cabinet.

During President Bush's Cabinet Meetings, members of the Cabinet are seated around the table in protocol order. Protocol is determined by when the Cabinet Member's department, agency, or office was established. The President sits at the center of the table, the Vice President, who is next in protocol order, sits directly across from him, the Secretary of State, whose department was established first, sits to the President's right, and the Secretary of the Treasury, whose department was established next, sits to the Vice President's right.

In addition, each Cabinet Member's chair has a plaque on the back with his/her title. Cabinet Members who have served in a Cabinet-level position more than once have a plaque for every position in the Cabinet they have held. Secretary Rumsfeld has held the most Cabinet-level positions of any current Cabinet Member. He has five plaques on his chair, including; Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and Assistant to the President (Cabinet rank under President Nixon), Counselor to the President and Director of the Economic Stabilization Program (Cabinet rank under President Nixon), Chief of Staff to President Ford, and Secretary of Defense twice (under President Ford and President Bush).

A: John Snow, Secretary of the Treasury:
Kimberly, you and I think a lot alike, and I'm glad that you are looking at your paychecks to see how much of your money goes to pay taxes. You are holding your government accountable, and that's a very important part of living in a free country.

Since he has been in office, the President has done a great deal to reduce the tax burden on the American people. Your taxes are lower today than they used to be thanks to the President's Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, and the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004. Those tax-cutting bills provided enough relief for American workers and businesses to help with economic recovery, and the best news is that the resulting economic growth has led to the creation of five million new jobs. Some Members of Congress have called for tax increases, and the President will not accept them. In fact, he has called on Congress to take action to make his tax relief permanent. It's very important that Congress acts on that request - otherwise you will see more money taken out of your paycheck in future years. Thanks for this question, Kimberly. If you want to read more about the President's tax relief efforts, I encourage you to read this document on the Treasury Department's website: http://www.treas.gov/offices/tax-policy/library/tax_relief_kit.pdf.

A: Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States:
Kimberly, thanks for the great question. Actually, this requirement comes directly from the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1:

"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."

To learn more about the Constitution of the United States, and the other members of the "Charters of Freedom" including the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, please visit the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) website at: www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_transcript.html

Attorney General Gonzales is the former White House Counsel to President Bush, and also served as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Texas. He was born in San Antonio, Texas and raised in Houston. He is a graduate of Texas public schools, Rice University, and Harvard Law School. He served in the United States Air Force and attended the United States Air Force Academy. He and his wife, Rebecca, have three sons.

A: Colby Cooper, Director for Communications and Media Relations, National Security Council:
Dennis, President Bush released his second term National Security Strategy (NSS) last Thursday, March 16, 2006. You can access this document at www.www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss/2006/. If you are interested in reading his first term NSS you can access it at www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss/2002/index.html. I also draw your attention to a speech that Steve Hadley, the President's National Security Advisor, gave on March 16, 2006. Mr. Hadley's remarks highlighted the President's 2006 NSS, which explains how the Administration is working to protect the American people, advance American interests, enhance global security, and expand global liberty and prosperity.

A: David Almacy, White House Internet Director:
Kristy, thanks for the question and for your interest in Ask the White House. In fact, April 16, 2006 marks the three year anniversary of this popular interactive feature where almost 350 guests have answered your questions. We typically host two to three chats a week depending on the President's events and the issues of the day. In order to accommodate the schedules of our guests, times and days for chats often vary. Therefore, I encourage you to check the White House website every morning. We usually promote upcoming chats on the front page, as well as, on the "Ask the White House" main page. We look forward to your future participation!

A: Bill Allman, White House Curator:
The executive residence has been white since 1798. Scottish stonemasons were hired to build and carve the sandstone walls. Painters then covered the walls in 1798 with a whitewash to keep water and ice from seeping inside the walls and breaking them apart. The names "President's House" and "Executive Mansion" were used to refer to the building formally, such as for stationery and engraved silver serving pieces, but newspapers began referring to the building as the "White House" as early as 1809. President Theodore Roosevelt made the "White House" the official name of the president's home and office in 1901.

A: Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education:
Heather, thanks for you interest in the No Child Left Behind Act. The text of the law is available on the Department of Education’s website at: www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html. Also, you might want to look at the document, “Facts and Terms Every Parent Should Know About NCLB,” which is available on the Department’s website at: www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/parents/parentfacts.html.

A: Chuck Blahous, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy:
Thank you for your question. The President does not favor privatizing Social Security. Social Security will continue to operate as it always has, providing checks to today's seniors, as well as to millions of future retirees.

Instead, the President has noted that we must together take action to fix Social Security so that is strong for our children and grandchildren. As the Social Security Trustees have demonstrated, the program is not sound for young workers under the current law. The Baby Boomers begin to retire in just a few years, and by the time today's young workers retire, there will be only two workers to support each person on Social Security. The Trustees have further found that, unless the program is fixed, the program will be insolvent before today's young workers retire.

One reform that the President would like to see is for younger workers to have the voluntary opportunity to save some of their Social Security money in a personal account. Note that this is very different from "privatizing" Social Security. Such a personal account would be a purely voluntary choice. Under the current Social Security system, workers pay taxes into Social Security, and the government spends the money. President Bush believes that workers will have greater retirement security if they are permitted to save a portion of their payroll taxes in a personal account. When workers retire, therefore, they would have a nest egg that the government could never take away. And if they pass away before retirement, they could leave behind an inheritance to their loved ones, something that they cannot do now.

Again, these personal accounts would be entirely voluntary. The biggest gamble is heading into retirement without any savings. Instead, those with personal accounts would have the opportunity to build a nest egg for retirement, and a chance to have greater retirement benefits than the current Social Security system will be able to pay.

Personal accounts are not "privatization." "Privatization" is a word that is used to try to scare seniors into believing that something bad will happen to their Social Security benefits. President Bush's proposals would strengthen Social Security for our children and grandchildren.

A:Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education:
Flor, thanks for your question. I am glad to hear that your son is pursuing a higher education. And, as a mother of a college freshman, I know that college is very expensive. Here are two websites where you can search for scholarships that are available as well as other information on financial aid: www.finaid.org and www.students.gov/STUGOVWebApp/index.jsp. I hope you find these websites helpful and I wish your son much success in his studies.

A: Ann Gray, White House Intern Coordinator:
The White House Internship Program offers an excellent opportunity to serve our President and explore public service. We are seeking exceptional candidates to apply for this highly competitive program. In addition to normal office duties, interns attend weekly lectures, tours, and complete an intern service project. Interns may serve a term in the Fall, Spring, or Summer. All candidates must be 18 years of age, hold United States citizenship, and be enrolled in a college or university. The Fall, 2005 application deadline is July 1, 2005.

Please see the White House Intern Website for additional information: http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/wh-intern.html.

Thanks for your interest. I look forward to hearing from you.

A: Claude A. Allen, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy:
Clearly federal resources devoted to medical research need to be allocated in a careful and informed way to ensure they go where they can do the most good and that we are spending taxpayer dollars responsibly. This means not only that we are not wasteful with public money, though that is crucially important, but also that we recognize that in spending taxpayer funds we are making a significant statement of approval on behalf of the American people. That's why President Bush took the issue of taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research so seriously, and why he sought and found a way to use such funding responsibly: to advance research that may have medical potential while holding to the clear and important moral principle that government should never support the destruction of human life for research.

Since that decision was made, in August of 2001, the Administration has spent over $50 million on embryonic stem cell research pursued within moral bounds, and has spent some $1.7 billion on other ethical stem cell research, including animal research as well as work using cells from children, adults, and umbilical cord blood that have already shown real results in treating patients. President Bush is strongly committed to advancing medical research, and has seen to it that the doubling of the National Institutes of Health budget to $29 billion has been completed by his Administration.

By insisting that medical progress be guided by ethical rules, the President is working to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used responsibly, and that an age of great medical breakthroughs also be a time of high moral standards. This is the essence of his policy on embryonic stem cell research funding, and of his firm support for science and medicine more broadly.

A: Heidi Marquez Smith, Special Assistant to the President for Cabinet Liaison:
Candis, thank you for your question. The President's Cabinet includes the Vice President, the White House Chief of Staff, the heads of 15 executive departments, and the heads of four Cabinet-level rank offices. Every day these Cabinet Members carry out countless responsibilities that help protect our homeland, maintain critical services, ensure economic growth, and strengthen our national security. These individuals serve our citizens and help make our government more efficient and effective. For more information on the President’s Cabinet and their respective agencies please visit the Cabinet page located in the "Your Government" section of the White House Website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/cabinet.html.