[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 28 (Monday, July 19, 1993)]
[Pages 1331-1332]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Water Distribution Site in Des Moines, Iowa

 July 14, 1993

    The President. Thank you very much. Let me just say, first of all, 
how very appreciative I am for the incredible work that has been done 
here in the last several days by the people of this State. I'm very 
proud of the contribution that has been made by all of the Federal 
Agencies, working in partnership with the people of Iowa, and I want to 
say a special word of appreciation for the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency and its Director, James Lee Witt, but also to the Agriculture 
Department. Secretary Espy is here with me for the second time in only 
10 days, and I think his third trip to Iowa, and Mr. Witt is here. And 
your Senators and your congressional delegation, they're all here with 
us today. And Governor Branstad and I took a helicopter flight over the 
major portions of Des Moines and the surrounding area that have been 
hurt so badly.
    Because I come from a State that's not all that different from Iowa, 
I have seen whole towns flooded, I have seen massive amounts of farmland 
flooded, but I've never seen anything on this scale before. And 
certainly, in my lifetime, anyway, to my knowledge there's never been an 
American city without water that was this large for this long a period 
of time.
    I'm here today to view this damage, to talk to the members of the 
congressional delegation, to talk to the Governor and the other State 
officials of the people who are here working, and to do what I can to 
assure you that the victims of this disaster--and insofar as I, as 
President, can guarantee it--will be treated just like the victims of 
Hurricane Andrew or Hugo or the terrible devastation in Hawaii that my 
wife is visiting today from just several months ago. This is a very 
profound problem.
    As you know, we have five States now, Minnesota, Wisconsin, 
Illinois, and Missouri, along with Iowa, that have been declared 
disasters. We have our Federal folks in South Dakota, which has had 
extensive crop damage, Kansas, and Nebraska, reviewing those States. We 
will present today a bill to the Congress for emergency assistance based 
on our best estimates of the damage reports that have been filed to 
date. But we know there will be several more in, in the next few days, 
and I expect we'll have to revise all those numbers upward. We want to 
get the bill in today just to start movement on the bill. But as the 
damage reports come in over the next 4 to 5 days, I expect you'll see 
some revision upward in the numbers that the administration has asked 
for, both in the House and the Senate. And I want to say again, I'm 
going to do my best to make sure that the full reach of Federal 
assistance comes to the people of Iowa and to all the victims of this 
flood, and I'll be working closely with your congressional delegation to 
get that done.
    But in the end, this is really a triumph of the spirit of the people 
of this State. I've been very moved by what I have seen not only from 
the helicopter but here in this parking lot today. And I want to say a 
special word of thanks to all those who have volunteered their time and 
who have come forward to help people in times of need, because that's 
really what America is all about. We've seen once again that we are 
capable of being a very strong family when we need to be, and it's a 
great tribute to your people. Thank you very much.
    Q. Mr. President, there's a lot of desperate people here in Iowa, 
and Minnesota, Missouri, throughout the Midwest. What kinds of words on 
a personal level, words of encouragement, can you give them?
    The President. Well, I can tell them that I have seen this sort of 
thing happen before in my own State. I've lived through this. I've seen 
people wiped out of their homes. And I talked to a lot of people here 
today who have lost everything they had in their homes, their 
businesses, their crops. And what I would say to them is we'll do what 
we can to help. But in the end, it is the inner strength of people and 
the support of the communities and families that will bring us through. 
But this will pass, and we have to keep looking to the future. That's 
what I sense in this crowd today, people who are willing to do that. I 
will do everything I can to make sure that this country does not forget 
about the people of Iowa and the other victims of the disaster, but 
we've just got to go on. We've got to pick up the pieces and go

[[Page 1332]]

on. That's what Americans do, and that's what we're going to have to do.
    Q. Can you help out, Mr. President, without busting the budget?
    The President. Oh, I think so. Keep in mind all these emergency 
appropriations do come as emergencies, that is, outside the budget. But 
you should be encouraged that since January because of our efforts to 
reduce the deficit in the next 5 years, because they've been successful, 
long-term interest rates have dropped rather dramatically. And our 
deficit this year is more than $20 billion less than it was estimated to 
be when I took office.
    So while a few billion dollars will add to it in this year, it will 
still be lower than everyone thought it was going to be, and it will not 
in any way affect the 5-year deficit reduction program now moving 
through Congress. So the people of Iowa don't need to feel guilty about 
taking this money; that's what it's there for. We've always done this. I 
think there is enormous bipartisan support in the Congress for this. 
There is no sense that this is something that should be held hostage to 
the budget negotiations. And we're going to do just fine on that, I 
think.
    Q. Mr. President, you were here 10 days ago. What are the 
differences now than 10 days ago when you were in Davenport?
    The President. A lot more water over more of the State and a lot of 
residential and business damage in addition to the agricultural damage. 
It is very substantial, and it changes the mix of what our 
responsibilities are. It also makes it a little more difficult to 
calculate right now, so we will ask in this bill that will go before the 
Congress for a significant amount of money, several hundreds of millions 
of dollars in contingency appropriations, over and above anything we've 
proved in direct damages, because we can't know for sure at this moment, 
and we won't know next week, although we care for every last eligible 
disaster loss. And that's very different from the way it was before.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 11:33 a.m. at the HyVee Food and Drug Store 
in the South Ridge Shopping Center. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of these remarks.