[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
[September 20, 1999]
[Pages 1559-1562]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Community in Tarboro, North Carolina
September 20, 1999

    Thank you very much. Well, let me begin, ladies and gentlemen, by 
thanking Mayor Morris for welcoming me. And 
I thank Mayor Perkins from Princeville. I flew 
over there and saw all the houses still buried underwater. I want to 
thank all the city officials, all the county officials,

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all the State officials for the magnificent job that they have done, the 
lives they've saved, and all the things they've done to try to ease your 
way.
    I'd like to thank the Members of Congress who came with me today. 
Your Congresswoman, Eva Clayton, when she was 
speaking, I started to call her ``Reverend Clayton,'' she did such a 
good job. [Laughter] She talks to me just like that in Washington all 
the time. If she wants something for you, she comes in the White House 
and talks to me just like she did today. And Congressman David 
Price, Congressman Bob Etheridge, I want to thank them, too.
    I want to thank the members of my administration who came here, and 
I'd like to introduce them to you. This is Secretary of Transportation 
Rodney Slater; Secretary of the Army Louis 
Caldera. They did a lot of work for us; he's 
back here behind me. I want to thank the military, the Administrator of 
the Small Business Administration--they'll be doing a lot of work up and 
down this street--Aida Alvarez. And I want to 
thank the people who have spoken before for their praise of the Director 
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, James Lee Witt. Thank you.
    I also want to thank my good friend Governor Jim Hunt. You know--I know all of you know this anyway, but he 
is in the process of completing a term, after which he will have served 
16 years as Governor of North Carolina. And I served 12 years as 
Governor of my State--would have made 2 more if you hadn't been good 
enough to send me to Washington. [Laughter] And I can tell you, it will 
be--next January will be 21 years since I started working with Jim 
Hunt--21 years. We didn't have so much gray hair back then. [Laughter] 
He is the finest Governor in this country and a ferocious advocate. So I 
will do my best to do what he wants so that I will not have to put up 
with him camping out on the White House lawn to get help for you.
    Let me say, if there's one thing I've learned visiting so many 
natural disasters, as the President and, before that, for a dozen years 
as a Governor, is that no matter how much television there is, it 
doesn't do it justice. Because it can't show what it feels like inside 
for people to lose a business they've put everything into; to people who 
lose their home when they have to take their kids to a shelter and not 
know where they're going to spend the night next week; for farmers to 
have labored for 4 years and see a crop totally destroyed by water or 
the Sun and not know whether they can keep their land or wonder if they 
can ever buy seed again.
    And that's why we have organized all these emergency measures, 
because--Jim Hunt and I were laughing; 
you know, we worked so hard to build the economy and to improve 
education and to protect the environment and take care of the health 
care needs and all of that, but as all the pastors out here in the 
audience know, every once in a while something happens that proves to 
you no matter how hard you work, you are never completely in control. 
And we are not completely in control.
    So that when things like this happen to some of us, we know they 
could happen to all of us. And our country--first of all, our thoughts 
and prayers are with you. And secondly, we know we have a responsibility 
as members of the American family to help you get back on your feet 
again, and we intend to do it.
    Now, the Federal Government has already worked very hard with the 
Coast Guard and others. We've been involved with your local people. I 
believe we think we saved almost a thousand lives. Too many people have 
died here, and not everyone is accounted for. And Governor Hunt told me 
today, you're still rescuing people that have been accounted for. But 
there are a lot of people alive today; and with all the loss, we can 
thank God that there are people who are alive who might not otherwise 
have been because of the efforts people have made.
    So we're going to do what we can to help. And I want to tell you 
some things we can do in the very short run. We have already authorized 
FEMA to provide for direct Federal assistance to clean up the 66 
counties in North Carolina that have been hurt. Today the Department of 
Agriculture will approve a disaster food stamp program to help people 
who need help to get food for their families. And people who need it 
ought to take it. There's nothing to be ashamed of here; people who need 
it ought to take it.
    Today the Department of Agriculture--all they can do for the 
farmers, and that's what--is to offer the low-interest loans. Some of 
the bigger farmers, that'll be enough. Some of the family farmers will 
be ruined, not just here but in other places. And I'm going to do what I 
can to see that the emergency farm bill, which was drawn up to deal with 
the drought and

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historic low grain prices overseas, includes the victims of the horrible 
drought and then the floods on the east coast, from North Carolina all 
the way up the east coast, where our farmers are.
    The Department of Labor has authorized $12 million for temporary 
jobs and to assist in cleanup and restoration activity. People who need 
them ought to try to get them. The money is designed not only to help 
you clean up but to help people who are out of work and need some 
immediate income to get it. And if there's more needed, we'll try to get 
more down here.
    The Small Business Administration has authorized disaster loans for 
homeowners to repair or replace damaged property and loans for 
businesses to repair property, equipment, and inventory and provide 
companies--this is important--and provide companies with adequate 
capital until they can resume normal operations. And that's very, very 
important, so you all need to take advantage of these things.
    FEMA has set up an 800 number for victims of the flood. And people 
who are eligible for the individual relief programs should call the 
hotline, the FEMA hotline, which is 800-462-9029. For the reporters in 
the audience, please put this in the paper; that's 800-462-9029.
    Now, the next thing that we've got to do is to deal with the housing 
problem, which is a huge, huge problem. Some people are insured against 
the floods; and we just learned today apparently, because of blanket 
policies, but most people who have been flooded out, as has already been 
said, were not in any flood plain. Some of you are in a 500-year flood 
plain; nobody gets insured for that. Many people beyond the 500-year 
flood plain--which means if you got flooded out, it shouldn't happen 
again for another 600 or 700 years--we know you'll be prepared. 
[Laughter]
    Now, for you, there are--and a lot of people here are low income 
people that don't have much money. Now, the people that can't repay any 
kind of loan can qualify for cash assistance, and everybody can qualify. 
We're going to try to do what we did in North Dakota, which is to get as 
many trailers as possible available for people to live in that can be 
taken to their property and plugged in, so people can supervise either 
getting another trailer if they were living in a trailer, or rebuilding 
their homes while they're onsite.
    For those who don't want to do that and who need help, there are 
cash funds that are available to help you live somewhere else and other 
help available to buy furniture and do things of that kind. You need to 
make sure, as soon as you can, if you lost your home, as soon as these 
centers are clearly up and open--and I know a lot of you are dying to 
move out of these shelters, but it has got to be safe and the water has 
got to go down first--but you need to make sure that you know where the 
application centers are; that you go in, you figure out what you're 
eligible for.
    Now, what we have to do is go back to Washington and complete the 
assessment of not only how much damage was done here, the worst place, 
but also in Virginia, which was hit pretty hard, and all the way up to 
New Jersey and New York, which were hit pretty hard. And then we've got 
to figure out if we have enough money to deal with the present problem. 
We know we need extra help for the farmers, but we've got to look and 
see if we've got enough extra money. Secretary Slater and I saw some roads that were washed out. It costs money 
to fix some roads that were washed out. It costs money to fix those 
roads. We've got to make sure we've got the funds necessary to do what 
needs to be done. If we do, well, we'll flow them; if we don't, we'll go 
back to Congress and try to get some more.
    But the American people know that no individual can handle this 
alone, and our community ought to be doing this together. So let me say 
finally, I have been--as always, but particularly today--profoundly 
impressed by the spirit of the people here. One of the ministers over 
there, who looks like a professional weight lifter, by the way--
[laughter]--has got a shirt on that says, ``Too blessed to be 
stressed.'' [Laughter] And I want you to keep that attitude.
    Man, I can only imagine what it's like, especially for those of you 
with young children, spending night after night in the shelters with all 
these people, some of whom you know, some of whom you don't; everybody 
is bumping up against everybody else. You get tired of the prepared 
meals; you wonder where you're really going to be able to go. I know 
it's frustrating.
    But we've got to wait until the water goes down. Then the mayor has 
got to be careful--both these mayors--before the water can be turned on 
again, to make sure that it's safe,

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that the supply hasn't been contaminated. There are just things that 
have to be done.
    So I urge you to keep your spirits up and know we're going to be 
with you every step of the way. Know that you have strong advocates in 
your local officials, your wonderful Governor, and your very vigorous congressional delegations that are 
represented here. We're going to stay with you until you get back on 
your feet again, as long as it takes.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:27 p.m. on Main Street. In his remarks, 
he referred to Mayors Donald A. Morris of Tarboro and Delia Perkins of 
Princeville, NC.