    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [February 26, 1996]
    [Pages 337-338]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Teleconference Remarks to the National Emergency Management Association
    February 26, 1996

        The President. Hello.
        Federal Emergency Management Agency Director James Lee Witt. Mr.
    President, good morning.
        The President. Good morning, James Lee, how are you?
        Mr. Witt. I'm fine, sir. We have a lot of State directors in the
    room, probably about 200 people here, and we're very appreciative for
    you to call in.
        The President. Well, I'm delighted to do it, and I wish I were there
    with you.
        Mr. Witt. We do, too. [Laughter]
        The President. You haven't seen Washington today--it just depends--I
    wish I were there with you even more than you wish I were there.
    [Laughter]
        Let me begin by saying that I can imagine that for many of you,
    having the chance to come to the conference is a welcome relief from
    being out there on the front lines of disasters in your home States.
    This has been a tough, a cold, a wet, even a miserable winter for people
    in a lot of places and may of you are still in response or early
    recovery from the floods and the blizzards. We also, as I'm sure you
    know, have these terrible fires in some parts of our country. We've had
    more than 3 times as many disasters declared in the first 6 weeks of
    this

    [[Page 338]]

    year than in this same period in the past 20 years.
        I was recently in Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Pennsylvania to see
    the devastation, the ruined homes, the businesses, as a result of the
    recent flooding. And I got a chance to talk with people who have lost
    their homes and their belongings and literally have to start all over
    again. I couldn't have known it when I became President, but I suppose
    that I've seen the widest array of natural disasters, along with James
    Lee Witt, in the last 3 years as in any period--comparable period--in
    modern history. We had the great Midwest flood of '93, the Northridge
    earthquake, the Oklahoma City bombing, Hurricanes Opal and Marilyn,
    dozens of floods and tornadoes, and of course, these fires.
        I did know, though, when I became President that this was an
    important part of my job. When I became President I promised myself,
    based on my own experience as a Governor and my own frustrations with
    FEMA, that I would improve the Nation's response to disasters. For many
    years FEMA had been regarded almost universally as an agency not up to
    the job. And I'm very proud that under James Lee Witt's management and
    with all of your help, FEMA is now a model disaster relief agency and,
    in some corners, thought to be by far the most successful part of the
    Federal Government today. That is a breathtaking turnaround in just 3
    years.
        If I could just give one example: It used to take a month or more
    for many people to begin receiving relief, and now people can call in to
    a 1-800 number and see those checks arrive within days.
        I am very pleased with the progress that's been made. I also am more
    impressed than ever before about the importance, the integral importance
    of FEMA to the Nation's business. It now relates to the Transportation
    Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Labor
    Department, the Energy Department, right across the line because of all
    of us having to work with James Lee in the dealing with disasters. So
    today it's a pleasure for me to announce to all of you that I am
    extending Cabinet membership for the first time in history to FEMA and
    to James Lee Witt.
        Mr. Witt. Thank you, sir.
        The President. Let me also say that I think all of us know that in
    dealing with these disasters, the most important thing is the spirit of
    the people. I'll never forget when James Lee and I were in Woodland,
    Washington, a few days ago. We came upon a 70-year-old man, and he and
    his wife had lost everything in the flood. He had even lost his hearing
    aid. And he looked at me and he said, ``Well, I'm 70 years old, and I've
    never had a President shake hands with me before. It was nearly worth
    losing my home to do that at my age.'' [Laughter]
        And I thought to myself, I wished that spirit could kind of somehow
    capture America. And at the end of my visit with this man he said to me
    how grateful he was for the help he'd received, how grateful he was for
    everyone treating him as they had. And then he said, ``It's just too bad
    that we don't behave this way toward each other all the time.'' And I
    think that's an important lesson that we could take out of the work that
    FEMA and all of you have done. The teamwork, the spirit of can-do, the
    openness to doing what has to be done, the total lack of cynicism that
    you see in the midst of a disaster and taking care of its aftermath,
    that's really what this country needs all day, every day. When America
    works together, we never lose, and if we don't, we beat ourselves.
        So I want to say again to all of you how grateful I am to you. I
    know the American people look to you, your Governors, to James Lee, and
    to me when they need us in these disasters. I know that they rise to the
    challenges they rarely do on a daily basis when a disaster occurs. And I
    just want to tell you how grateful I am to you for your public service
    and how I want to encourage you to continue to imbue the spirit of
    service that you demonstrate in times of disasters every day, every
    week, all year long.
        Congratulations for all the good work you do. Have a successful
    conference, and let's hope and pray that for the rest of this year you
    won't have quite so much to do as you have had in the beginning.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:24 a.m. by telephone from the Oval
    Office at the White House to the association meeting in Arlington, VA.