[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[July 29, 1993]
[Pages 1236-1237]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in the Missouri-Kansas Flood Relief Telethon
July 29, 1993

    The President. My fellow Americans, I want to thank you for watching 
this program tonight and for your concern for those who have been 
victimized by this awful flood. I've been to the Midwest three times 
myself. I've met with the Governors of the affected States here in the 
White House. Our people are there every day working hard to try to help 
put the lives of the folks back together who have been so hurt.
    We have an emergency aid package moving through Congress which 
should be signed very shortly, and then the money will begin to flow to 
the Midwest. But under our system, the Federal Government can only do so 
much. We also need your help. The Red Cross has been magnificent. So has 
the Salvation Army. So have the churches and the other volunteer groups 
and people of all ages from all over America. But we now need to fill 
the gap left by Federal assistance, and left by the limits that people 
have in their own bankbooks, with private donations to help people put 
their lives back together. I hope you will help, too, so that together 
we can restore the people who have been so hurt and help them to rebuild 
their lives and our Nation.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. I think the bill will pass the Congress in the next 
couple of days and come right to me for my signature. The people in our 
administration believe that we'll be able to have checks flowing out 
there within 2 weeks after that bill is signed. I have told them to be 
ready and to work hard. We also have an 800 number which any citizen can 
call, which I'll provide to your station, to provide specific 
information about farm aid, small business aid, personal assistance, 
what can happen to the communities. We're working very hard to be ready, 
to be aggressive, to be fast.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. I think we lost a day we should not have lost, but I 
think now you will see the thing move very, very quickly indeed. And 
they'll bring it to me. And as soon as it comes, I'll sign it, and we'll 
move the money out. I think no more than a day has been lost. There was 
an honest debate here about how we're going to pay for emergency 
assistance over the long run, but we couldn't afford to let that take 
away from the urgent need to help the people in the Midwest. And that's 
the program everybody's on now, without regard to party and without 
regard to which House of Congress. I think you'll get it in a hurry.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. The Small Business Administration has an emergency 
program to provide very, very long-term, very, very low-interest loans 
to help people get back on their feet. In addition to that, for people 
who have been totally wiped out and have no assets left, there is some 
emergency financial aid available through the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency. So between the two of them, I think we can go 
forward. As I said, one of the things

[[Page 1237]]

I hope you'll do tonight is put our 800 number up. A person can call 
that number and get information on all the programs from all the 
agencies. You don't have to go to the hassle to call first one place and 
then another.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. I was very moved by it. When I went to Iowa and to 
Illinois and to Missouri and everyplace I went, there were just 
literally thousands of people who just showed up to help and to pour out 
their concern and to break their backs, frankly, to help their fellow 
Americans. It was our country at its best. And that's what I hope that 
this telethon will prove to be, too, asking for help and giving people a 
change to participate in the reconstruction of millions of lives.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. Well, for one thing, the Government programs have 
never been designed to cover 100 percent of the losses. We simply can't 
do that. We are going to help the cities, we are going to help as many 
farms and business people as we can, but there will be some gaps in this 
coverage. And those gaps have to be filled by private citizens.
    For another, Americans have always rallied to one another in times 
of real need. And if we can do that now in this place for these people, 
just as we did about a year ago for the victims of Hurricane Andrew, 
then who knows when Americans in another State--people listening tonight 
who think nothing like this could ever happen to them, they may need the 
help of the folks in the Midwest. So if we help each other, we can put 
our lives back together and our whole country will be stronger, believe 
me. Someone in Utah or Texas or my home State of Arkansas, their 
economies will be weakened by the fact that the Midwest has been hurt by 
this flood. But if we all work together and rebuild the region, then 
that helps everybody in every State in America.

Note: The President spoke at approximately 8:30 p.m. via satellite from 
the Library at the White House. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of these remarks.