FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 02, 2005
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The White House - Office of the Press Secretary
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President Arrives in Alabama, Briefed on Hurricane Katrina |
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Mobile Regional Airport
Mobile, Alabama
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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