Text 1309, 109 rader
Skriven 2005-09-02 23:32:54 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0509022) for Fri, 2005 Sep 2
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President Arrives in Alabama, Briefed on Hurricane Katrina
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 2, 2005

President Arrives in Alabama, Briefed on Hurricane Katrina
Mobile Regional Airport
Mobile, Alabama


˙˙˙˙˙In Focus: Hurricane Relief

10:35 A.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first I want to say a few things. I am incredibly
proud of our Coast Guard. We have got courageous people risking their lives
to save life. And I want to thank the commanders and I want to thank the
troops over there for representing the best of America.

I want to congratulate the governors for being leaders. You didn't ask for
this, when you swore in, but you're doing a heck of a job. And the federal
government's job is big, and it's massive, and we're going to do it. Where
it's not working right, we're going to make it right. Where it is working
right, we're going to duplicate it elsewhere. We have a responsibility, at
the federal level, to help save life, and that's the primary focus right
now. Every life is precious, and so we're going to spend a lot of time
saving lives, whether it be in New Orleans or on the coast of Mississippi.

We have a responsibility to help clean up this mess, and I want to thank
the Congress for acting as quickly as you did. Step one is to appropriate
$10.5 billion. But I've got to warn everybody, that's just the beginning.
That's a small down payment for the cost of this effort. But to help the
good folks here, we need to do it.

We are going to restore order in the city of New Orleans, and we're going
to help supplement the efforts of the Mississippi Guard and others to
restore order in parts of Mississippi. And I want to thank you for your
strong statement of zero tolerance. The people of this country expect there
to be law and order, and we're going to work hard to get it. In order to
make sure there's less violence, we've got to get food to people. And
that's a primary mission, is to get food to people. And there's a lot of
food moving. And now the -- it's one thing to get it moving to a station,
it's the next thing to get it in the hands of the people, and that's where
we're going to spend a lot of time focusing.

We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and
stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities
rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that
out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was
before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire
house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to
sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)

GOVERNOR RILEY: He'll be glad to have you.

THE PRESIDENT: Out of New Orleans is going to come that great city again.
That's what's going to happen. But now we're in the darkest days, and so we
got a lot of work to do. And I'm down here to thank people. I'm down here
to comfort people. I'm down here to let people know that we're going to
work with the states and the local folks with a strategy to get this thing
solved.

Now, I also want to say something about the compassion of the people of
Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana and surrounding states. I want to
thank you for your compassion. Now is the time to love a neighbor like
you'd like to be loved yourselves.

Governor Riley announced the fact that they're going to open up homes in
military bases for stranded folks. And that's going to be very important
and helpful.

My dad and Bill Clinton are going to raise money for governors' funds. The
governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama will have monies available
to them to help deal with the long-term consequences of this storm.

The faith-based groups and the community-based groups throughout this part
of the world, and the country for that matter, are responding. If you want
to help, give cash money to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. That's
where the first help will come. There's going to be plenty of opportunities
to help later on, but right now the immediate concern is to save lives and
get food and medicine to people so we can stabilize the situation.

Again, I want to thank you all for -- and, Brownie, you're doing a heck of
a job. The FEMA Director is working 24 -- (applause) -- they're working 24
hours a day.

Again, my attitude is, if it's not going exactly right, we're going to make
it go exactly right. If there's problems, we're going to address the
problems. And that's what I've come down to assure people of. And again, I
want to thank everybody.

And I'm not looking forward to this trip. I got a feel for it when I flew
over before. It -- for those who have not -- trying to conceive what we're
talking about, it's as if the entire Gulf Coast were obliterated by a --
the worst kind of weapon you can imagine. And now we're going to go try to
comfort people in that part of the world.

Thank you. (Applause.)

END 10:39 A.M. CDT

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