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Iowa City, Iowa

2:00 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Let me thank the Mayor, thank the Governor. Congressman, thanks for flying down from Washington with us, and, Senator Harkin, thanks for being here.

SENATOR HARKIN: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: You know, these are tough times for the people of Iowa City and Cedar Rapids and a lot of other communities in Iowa. Some of them are, you know, real tiny communities. And this -- obviously, as you can see here, they're still going through a recovery phase. The Mayor was telling me that she had part of the city evacuated and now some folks are able to come back in.

I brought a lot of federal officials with me because it's really important that as the rebuilding phase begins, there's a coordinated effort between the federal government and the state and the local governments. And Michael Chertoff is going to be handling the coordinating effort with the Governor. And the Governor will make sure that the affected communities are represented, as well.

We passed a -- or the Congress is contemplating passing a supplemental, and a chunk of that supplemental will be disaster relief money. And I want to thank the members of Congress -- hoping to get that done quickly.

SENATOR HARKIN: It will get done.

THE PRESIDENT: One of the things that happens in a disaster such as this is that citizens from around the country want to know how they can help. They see the picture of this kind of flooding on TV and they know that people are hurting and they want to know how they can participate in helping the rebuilding. Well, one way that the people can do is they can go on their computers and dial up volunteer.org.*

And, you know, if you want to try to figure out how to send something, you can -- there will be ways to -- ways to direct your compassion. If you want to give money, there are organizations that could use your contributions; organizations such as the Red Cross. And I'm -- again, I'll repeat to you: volunteer.gov -- I think I might have said "org"; I meant "gov."

And I really again want to congratulate the local folks here for really showing great compassion and working hard and hugging people and giving people hope. And, Governor, you've been out front. You and your First Lady are working hard, and the Mayor has been very much engaged in helping people deal with the initial response. And now we all got to come together and help people deal with the rebuilding of Iowa.

Anyway, thank you for your hospitality. I'm sorry we're going through this. Tell people that oftentimes you get dealt a hand you didn't expect to have to play, and the question is not whether you're going to get dealt the hand; the question is how do you play it. And I'm confident the people of Iowa will play it really well.

Anyway, thank you. (Applause.)

END 2:03 P.M. CDT

* website is www.volunteer.gov

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