September 9, 2005 The Honorable John W. Snow Good afternoon. Mayor Holden, thank you for hosting us in your fine city that has suffered so much since Katrina brought her devastating winds and rains. I'm glad to be in Today we've seen a lot of great work being done here. The employees of the center we just visited are doing incredible work to help scores of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina get their federal benefits – like unemployment checks or special disaster unemployment payments. They've really been doing great work here and I commend them for their efforts. Katrina wreaked incredible devastation on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. In We also know that the last thing people here need to worry about right now is taxes. That's why we quickly implemented extensions of tax deadlines, so that people in the affected areas who would otherwise have had taxes or returns due on September 15th don't have to worry about that deadline. We were also pleased to be able to announce yesterday something that we believe will give workers and businesses an easy and effective way to contribute to the charities that are doing so much to rescue, comfort and care for the victims of this terrible tragedy. This action allows employers to adopt leave-based donation programs under which employees could convert vacation, sick or personal leave into cash donations for hurricane victims. In turn their employers would make cash contributions to charitable organizations involved in relief efforts. This is a time to help. The scale of this catastrophe is unprecedented, and the generosity of the American people is extremely important to Katrina's victims. We believe that this announcement will help workers and employers as they seek ways to help their fellow Americans. Over the long term, I'm confident that the region will recover and rebuild. We picked ourselves up after 9/11 and other catastrophic events, and we have the will and the resources and the resolve to do so again. I am confident we will; it's the spirit of Americans to do so
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