[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 29 (Monday, July 26, 1993)]
[Pages 1354-1364]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Roundtable Discussion on Flood Relief in Arnold, Missouri

 July 17, 1993

    The President. Thank you all for coming. As you know, we're starting 
just a bit late because we all had to come down from the airport, and we 
came in different ways. I do want to thank everyone for being here and 
say this is a rather extraordinary meeting of Federal, State, local, and 
private sector emergency response people. We're going to

[[Page 1355]]

try to get through a very busy agenda today, and it will be my job to 
try to keep us more or less on schedule. So I hope we can, because there 
are an awful lot of issues that have to be dealt with.
    I'd like to thank the Governors who are here: Our host, Mel 
Carnahan, of Missouri. Terry Branstad of Iowa I think is here--there he 
is; I missed him when I went around--who hosted me on a trip to Iowa, 
two trips to Iowa recently. Is Governor Thompson of Wisconsin here? I 
think he's coming. Governor Edgar of Illinois, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, 
Ed Schafer of North Dakota, Arne Carlson of Minnesota, and Walter Miller 
of South Dakota. I think that is all the Governors who are here.
    I'd also like to thank the Members of Congress who are here or who 
are scheduled to come. We have Senator Barbara Mikulski at the table, 
whose committee has jurisdiction over the operations of emergency 
management; Senator Kit Bond from Missouri, our host; Senator Bill 
Bradley is here somewhere or on the way, whose family farm in Missouri 
is apparently under water. He may be here in his private capacity rather 
than as United States Senator.
    We're delighted to be in the host district of the majority leader of 
the United States House of Representatives, Dick Gephardt, and I want 
him to say a word in a moment, since we're camped out here in his 
backyard. Congressman Bruce Vento from Minnesota; Congressman Peter 
Hoagland from Nebraska; Congressman Minge; Congressman Volkmer is 
coming, I think; and Congressman Pomeroy is here. And I think Senator 
Wellstone from Minnesota is scheduled to come.
    Let me also tell you, all of you from all these States, that the 
Vice President and I and our administration team had an extensive 
meeting yesterday in Washington with the congressional delegations from 
all the affected States. And you would be very interested to know that 
not only did virtually every Member of Congress from every State here 
represented show up, but there was also a rather substantial 
representation from interested Members of Congress from other States who 
just wanted to be there, get a briefing, and know what they could do to 
help. It was a very, very large and very impressive turnout. And I told 
them all we were coming here today. I invited them here, but most of 
them did their work on this issue yesterday at that meeting. Did I 
recognize Congressman Wheat? I don't know if I did, but he's here. Thank 
you.
    I also want to say that the heads and Secretaries of 10 Federal 
Departments or Agencies in our administration are here working together. 
And I'd like to briefly acknowledge them so you'll know who they are and 
ask them to at least raise their hands: James Lee Witt, the Director of 
FEMA; the Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Espy; Secretary of 
Transportation, Federico Pena; Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, who 
just became a grandfather to twins. He's only 35 years old. We can't 
figure out how it happened. [Laughter] The Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, Donna Shalala; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 
Henry Cisneros; Secretary of Labor, Bob Reich; head of the Corps of 
Engineers, General Williams; the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral 
Kime; and the head of the National Weather Service, Dr. Joe Friday, is 
also here. And he and the Vice President had a very interesting 
conversation about what caused this flood. They're going to talk a 
little in a minute. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, 
Leon Panetta. And I'd also like to recognize in the audience the head of 
the American Red Cross, Elizabeth Dole, who flew down with us. And the 
Red Cross has done wonderful work, and we thank you for being here.
    Now, I'd like to ask Congressman Gephardt if he'd like to say 
anything on behalf of his district. And then I want to recognize the 
Vice President for opening remarks.

[At this point, Representative Gephardt thanked the President and 
members of the administration for coming.]

    The President. Thank you very much. I would just like to say in 
response to that, I think it's fair to say that all of us in the 
administration who have been to this region have been very moved by what 
we have seen, both the pain that people have experienced and their 
enormous courage and often their great good humor in dealing with this 
crisis.

[[Page 1356]]

    I also want to thank the people in the rest of the United States who 
have sent help of all kinds. We even have seen help coming in from South 
Florida, which suffered so much from Hurricane Andrew last year.
    I do want to say, too, we are here to deal with basically two great 
issues. One is, what are we going to do right now, while everybody is up 
to their ears in alligators? And the second is, how are we going to keep 
this effort going over the long run, so that we can see these areas 
through to full recovery? There has been a disjuncture in the past, I 
think, between what happens in the short run--there's all kind of 
questions about whether we've had enough coordination or not; I think 
we've really worked through that this time--but also whether the Federal 
Government can stay in the long run. And there is an almost collective 
emotional process that people go through when it first hits. Folks are 
brave and good humored and courageous, but then the reality of the 
losses that sink in, and a grief takes over. And then, if everyone is 
not at least doing their best, a lot of anger can come in the wake of 
that.
    And our goal is to just be a good partner and to sensitively know 
that people will have to go through an emotional cycle, and the whole 
States will go through an emotional cycle. But we don't want people to 
think that they have been abandoned when the immediate emergency is 
over. So we're going to start this meeting with a discussion of the 
present conditions and what we can do in the short run. Then we're going 
to go to a discussion of long-term relief. And then at the end of the 
discussion, we're going to move to the legislation that is now moving 
through Congress, what it means and where we go from here.
    Let me just introduce the Vice President with this thought. I read 
the other day that a 61-year-old retired State police officer in Quincy, 
Illinois, was fighting to save that bridge up there. And as you know, 
unfortunately the Fabius Levee broke in spite of their best efforts, and 
the bridge has now been closed. So there's no link for about 200 miles 
now across the Mississippi River. But this police officer said it's a 
shame the rest of the country can't come together like this to solve its 
problems. I thought that was such a simple and yet brilliant statement. 
I hope that we can come away from this with a sense that we've all done 
our very best to work together to solve this problem and that we will 
take the powerful example of human courage that we have seen in 
countless places across these States to follow that.
    Again, I want to say to all of you, I thank you for taking your time 
to come today. We will run through a rather brisk schedule. And I want 
to begin with the Vice President, who has been to this region twice and 
who I think has done a very good job, especially when I was away on the 
G-7 meeting. And I'm very grateful to him. But he has a little insight 
on exactly what the scope of the damage is and how it all came about. 
And I think it would be good to sort of set the stage with his remarks.
    Mr. Vice President.

[The Vice President, using satellite images, discussed the unusual 
weather patterns that led to the flooding.]

    The President. Thank you very much. I'd like to now call on the 
White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty to make a few remarks. I have 
asked Mack to oversee the White House coordination of this to ensure 
that it receives the best possible attention within the White House and 
that we continue the very close coordination we've had with all these 
Government Departments represented here today.
    Mack.

[Mr. McLarty discussed the administration's commitment to provide 
adequate and effective assistance.]

    The President. Thank you very much. Before we begin to call on the 
Governors, I'd like to ask Secretary Espy and our FEMA Director, James 
Lee Witt, to just briefly, for about 5 minutes each, review the current 
situation in the region and an overview of the present Federal response. 
They have spent more time here personally by quite a long ways than 
anyone else in our administration. And I think it's important that their 
views get out and that they have a chance just to make a few 
introductory remarks.
    So I'd like Mr. Witt and Secretary Espy to talk in whatever order 
they have decided to speak.


[[Page 1357]]


[Director Witt explained FEMA's efforts to assist flood victims. 
Secretary Espy then described the damage to the agricultural community 
and discussed USDA assistance efforts, including offices in FEMA 
disaster centers.]

    The President. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary.
    With regard to the co-location of offices, I also want to point out 
that FEMA has brought in 20 SBA specialists into the tele-registration 
center, and there are small business people who are now filling out the 
applications for aid by telephone. This is also something that has 
really been without precedent, particularly between the SBA and FEMA.
    I neglected to introduce earlier, in that regard, the Director of 
the Small Business Administration, Erskine Bowles, from North Carolina, 
and also Congressman Talent. I apologize for that. And Governor 
Thompson, I introduced you before you got here, but we're glad to see 
you.
    I'd like to now ask our host Governor, Governor Carnahan--we're 
going through a whole series of issues here. And if you don't feel 
something is adequately discussed, feel free to interject. But I think 
it's important that we try to stay on the agenda. And I'd like to ask 
Governor Carnahan to begin by discussing short-term emergency response 
and public assistance delivery.

[Governor Carnahan discussed the damage and assistance needs in 
Missouri.]

    The President. Thank you very much, Governor. A little later in the 
program, I'm going to ask the Secretary of Labor, Bob Reich, to talk 
about the dislocated worker issue. It is a major issue.
    But before we move this topic, I'd like to ask General Williams from 
the Corps of Engineers if you have anything you want to say about the 
emergency work, work to repair the public and private facilities and 
what you're doing to try to minimize the damage.

[General Williams discussed Corps of Engineers disaster relief and water 
management efforts.]

    The President. Let me ask you one quick followup question. When 
Governor Branstad and I were in Iowa the other day and we saw this vast 
lake that essentially went from Des Moines all the way to the 
Mississippi River--the kind of thing the Vice President was talking 
about there--and one of the people who was there with us said that we 
had to be very careful how we drained off this water in order not to 
aggravate the problems of the rivers being too high. Is that a serious 
issue?

[General Williams said the Corps will continue efforts to coordinate 
water levels in both tributaries and main rivers to prevent further 
damage.]

    The President. With regard to the issue that Governor Carnahan 
raised, this is not exactly responsive, because you talked about farm 
losses. But I do think it's important to point out that FEMA does have a 
modest program to deal with personal losses of families. And I thought 
I'd let Mr. Witt just briefly state that again so people who have been 
wiped out of their homes or jobs and don't have anything would know 
about it. Would you just briefly say what it is.

[Director Witt said flood victims may be eligible for grants to cover 
personal losses.]

    The President. I'd like to, if I might, move on to another issue, 
which affects more people in Iowa than any other place, but that's the 
lack of potable water. And I'd like to ask Governor Branstad to talk to 
us a little about that. I live in a State where I've seen whole little 
towns flooded out and gone. I don't believe there's been another time in 
my lifetime when so many Americans in one place have been without 
drinking water, bathing water, any kind of water as are the people who 
live in and around Des Moines. And I'd like for Governor Branstad to 
discuss how they're managing that and how they're dealing with the 
public health risks that are posed by that.

[Governor Branstad described water distribution efforts and 
infrastructure damage in Iowa.]

    The President. I just want to throw out something; I don't need a 
response now, but I invite any of the Governors who choose to respond. I 
spoke this morning to the people who are constantly on the air at that 
wonderful radio station in Quincy, Illinois, that's

[[Page 1358]]

served as sort of the informal headquarters and information source for 
people on both sides of the river, on this part of the flooding. 
They're, by the way, broadcasting this whole hearing live. But one of 
the things that I was asked on the radio was whether or not the National 
Guard resources of the States were being stretched too thin, whether or 
not the Guardsmen and women were in need of some relief, and whether I 
had thought of sending in any regular personnel.
    Let me just say to all of the Governors, we have no way of knowing 
what percentage of your National Guard force you have deployed to do 
this. But if you do feel you need some relief from resources outside the 
State Guard, I hope you will feel free to let me know, and we'll try to 
deal with that.
    General Williams, did you have a question?

[General Williams and the Vice President commented on the National 
Guard's role in relief efforts. Governor Branstad then commented on 
State, local, Federal, and private sector cooperation in Iowa.]

    The President. Thank you. Before we move off the public health 
issues, I'd like to ask Secretary Shalala to comment about a number of 
issues. The obvious one is the water situation and with regard to 
potable water. But there are some other issues here: Are there any risks 
of disease from other flooded facilities, water facilities or treatment 
facilities or flooded fields washing pesticides? Are there environmental 
risks there? What about the damage sustained that we are aware of by 
Federally supported public health facilities? And so a lot of public 
health issues here, and I'd like for Secretary Shalala to just make 
whatever comments she'd like to make about that.

[Secretary Shalala discussed cooperative public health efforts 
concerning infectious diseases and mental health.]

    The President. Thank you very much. If I might just respond to two 
other issues Governor Branstad raised, first with regard to the National 
Guard. I don't know what this country would do without them. Anybody who 
has ever served as a Governor knows that you literally couldn't 
function, the Governor's office could not function in most major problem 
areas, without them.
    The second thing, with regard to your request for a waiver of the 
local match, I have asked James Lee Witt, since he obviously had 
experience in his former life as the director of emergency services at 
the State level in our home State, to work with the Governors on that 
and to try to make a reasoned judgment about what can and can't be done. 
There is some precedent, as you know, for waiving all or part of the 
match. There's also a big precedent for the match. And we have to be 
very careful about how we handle this. Where there is a genuine problem, 
we want to be responsive. But we want everybody to kind of work with us 
and work through the facts on it, and we will try to make a humane as 
well as a clearheaded decision.
    I'd like to ask Governor Edgar from Illinois now to talk about the 
current situation in terms of its impact on the farmers. We've heard 
Mike Espy talk about it, but I think it would be helpful to have a 
Governor of a great farm State just to start and discuss a little about 
how the impact is in Illinois.

[Governor Edgar requested the National Guard to postpone other duties in 
order to help damaged areas rebuild. He then discussed the damage and 
assistance needs in Illinois. Secretary Espy then stated that financial 
assistance will be provided as quickly and in as flexible a manner as 
possible and promised to work on crop insurance reform.]

    The President. Let me say, if you have any other specific 
suggestions on this, this is an important issue that Governor Edgar has 
raised and that the Secretary has responded to. As we look at the crop 
insurance reformation issue, if there are other areas of flexibility you 
believe ought to be given to the Secretary of Agriculture to help deal 
with this and subsequent crises, it's very important that you get them 
to us now while the Congress is focused on this issue.
    Yes?

[Governor Branstad expressed concern that the amount of money allocated 
for farmers in the disaster assistance package is not adequate.]

    The President. Senator Bond and Congressman Gephardt, the 
administration, I

[[Page 1359]]

think, in 1992 presented a revised downward formula. It used to be two-
thirds of two-thirds, didn't it, something like that? And it was revised 
downward because of the magnitude of the losses in Andrew and the side 
problem with the deficit, is that right? I wasn't here so I don't know.
    Senator Bond. Mr. President, in the 1990 farm bill we authorized a 
very complicated formula for people with crop insurance. It was 
essentially 65 percent of 65 percent. As a result of OMB actions during 
some of the disasters, they cut what is effectively 42 percent by a 
half, and thus the proposal is about 21 cents on the dollar. We had a 
chance to discuss and several of the Members of Congress discussed with 
you our strong desire and our hope that OMB and you will support, and we 
can encourage Congress not to cut that 42 percent in half, because for 
most farmers that represents their out-of-pocket costs of feed, 
fertilizer, and fuel to put the crop in.
    The President. We're going to review that. We presented that under 
the terms of--the same thing that happened with Hurricane Andrew. And I 
frankly was not even aware of it being a problem until the Congressmen 
from the affected States brought it up to me in large numbers and on a 
bipartisan basis yesterday at our big meeting. And so we're going to 
review that.

[Governor Branstad thanked the President for agreeing to review 
assistance for farmers.]

    The President. I think it's very important that, even under the 
formula adopted in 1990, everyone understands it's not a question of 
whether you're holding people harmless but whether you're at least 
giving them enough help to have a fair chance so that they'll be able to 
continue in farming.
    Let me just mention two other things quite quickly. I got a note on 
this local match issue. Secretary Shalala sent up a note that said we 
need to get rid of the State match on VETRA control so we can quickly 
put in a multistate strategy on mosquitoes. If we have time I'll tell 
you a story one time when I gave a speech when a swarm of mosquitoes 
came up in a rice field. The speech lasted 20 seconds, and I never lost 
the county again. [Laughter] I could have used that swarm of mosquitoes 
in later points in my life. [Laughter]
    I want to say one other thing. Yesterday Congressman Harold Volkmer, 
who is not here today, told me about an incident involving FEMA and 
State emergency people that affects environmental and health issues that 
I thought I should repeat in the event that it happens to any of you, so 
you know that this capacity is there.
    There was a pesticide and herbicide storage area at Hannibal, 
Missouri, that was threatened. And immediately FEMA and the State 
emergency people were able to put divers into the area, and the divers 
actually helped to shore up the area and keep that from being 
threatened. If that storage area had been overrun, obviously you would 
have had a huge amount of very toxic materials, not very much diluted, 
to which people would have been exposed. So I think it's important that 
we try to identify that. Every time I fly over one of these sewage 
treatment facilities or something else where there's water all around 
it, I just get the willies thinking about what could happen. And I think 
that it's important to know that we do have this dive capability. And if 
something like that you think might happen, you need to call FEMA to try 
to put together a dive team and a reinforcement team so that we avert 
those kinds of possibilities.
    I'd like now to talk about individual assistance and small business 
assistance. And I'd like to ask Governor Thompson of Wisconsin to talk 
about it. The worst of his flooding, we hope, is behind us, although 
after the Vice President's weather forecast today, I'm not sure. But we 
hope that it's true. And as people begin to look about getting back on 
their feet, I'd be interested in knowing how you think this assistance 
program is working, how adequate is it, what's your assessment of both 
the individual and the SBA programs.

[Governor Thompson discussed the damage and assistance needs in 
Wisconsin.]

    The President. Thank you very much. I'd like to ask the SBA 
Director, Erskine Bowles, to comment briefly on the SBA programs and how 
they're being implemented here. Erskine.


[[Page 1360]]


[Administrator Bowles discussed SBA disaster assistance programs and 
promised the Agency's cooperation. Mr. McLarty mentioned USDA loan 
programs to complement those of SBA. Administrator Bowles then stated 
that some checks had already been delivered.]

    The President. Believe it or not, we're almost back on schedule. 
Before I move away from the short-term to the long-term issues, I think 
it would be a mistake not to at least acknowledge the efforts of the 
private volunteers, the people who came on their own, the people from 
the Salvation Army. I saw a lot of Salvation Army people in Iowa, and I 
was deeply moved by them. They even showed up, some of them, in their 
uniforms. I couldn't believe they could bear to work in their uniforms, 
as hot and difficult as it was. And of course, the Red Cross, where I 
think, Governor Branstad, the largest employer in your State gave, I 
think, $100,000 to the Red Cross while I was there to do their work.
    Since Mrs. Dole is here, I thought, if there's any comment you'd 
like to make about the volunteer efforts, what we're doing, where we're 
going, we'd be glad to hear from you. And I think it might be nice if 
you came down and sat in Senator Wellstone's chair, and then we'll take 
a picture of you there with his name and send it to the Senate minority 
leader for his--[laughter]. There's a certain sweet irony there--my 
photographer to take a picture of Senator Wellstone as she speaks.

[Mrs. Dole praised the spirit of the volunteers.]

    The President. Thank you. I also think it's fair to say, though, 
that all those volunteers have to be coordinated. And we really 
appreciate the work that's been done there.
    James Lee, did you want to say something about that?

[Mr. Witt praised the Red Cross and other volunteers. The Vice President 
and Governor Branstad then discussed FEMA's coordination of the 
distribution of donated goods.]

    The President. Since we're talking about this, I want to get in a 
plug for my pet project. Some of our national service volunteers this 
summer have come to the flooding areas and are working as volunteers. 
And Senator Durenberger and Congressman Vento from Minnesota have 
suggested that we actually have a little modest appropriation to get 
some more of these young people who are in the national service program 
just physically to the affected States. Bruce, you might want to say a 
word about that, but I really----

[Representative Vento encouraged the involvement of youth in relief 
efforts. Representative Minge then requested flexibility in banking and 
crop insurance requirements.]

    The President. Thank you very much. As I said, we do intend to 
review the agricultural rules. Let me comment very briefly on the bank 
loan issue. Along with a number of other farm State Governors, back in 
the mid-eighties we had a meeting in Chicago--I never will forget this--
Governor Edgar's predecessor hosted it, and we tried to work through 
reform in the farm financing system. Congress acted on that, 
substantially what we recommended, but it was 4 years later and 255,000 
farmers later. I believe that the regulators have the authority to give 
the banks the flexibility to do what you suggest, but I will check to 
make sure.

[Representative Minge said that the Congress is supportive of the 
administration's efforts.]

    The President. Let me make one other comment on the crop insurance 
issue. There are deficiencies in the crop insurance program all right 
for the catastrophic losses. The main problem we've got in this instance 
is that this flood occurred a heck of lot further north on the 
Mississippi than floods normally occur. And by the time the land drains 
off, it'll be too late to plant soybeans. I mean, that's the main 
problem we've got. So unless you sort of threw the beans in the ground 
to create a fiction, you know, a falsehood, to claim your crop 
insurance, you can't cover it. That does not mean that, at least I 
could, in good conscience, to ever advise any farmer not to ever buy 
crop insurance. It does do some good, and I do think that, in effect, 
the preference in the law for people who have some insurance is a pretty 
good thing, still, but we do need to drastically reform the crop 
insurance program.


[[Page 1361]]


[Representative Minge predicted long-term reductions in the cost of farm 
programs.]

    The President. Thank you very much. I want to move on, if I might, 
and talk about--he meant 10 cents, Jim--I want to move on to discuss, if 
I might, some of the long-term issues here and ask Governor Miller of 
South Dakota to begin by just discussing the impact of the flood on 
jobs. That will take us back to the job training remark made by Governor 
Carnahan at the end of his remarks. But I'd like for Governor Miller to 
talk a little bit about the job impact on this flood.

[Governor Miller discussed the damage and assistance needs in South 
Dakota.]

    The President. Thank you. Mr. Bowles has already discussed the SBA 
programs which would be relevant here. And the Secretary of Agriculture 
has talked about the farm programs a little. I'd like to ask the 
Secretary of Labor, Bob Reich, to talk about the job training elements 
of this issue.

[Secretary Reich discussed the availability of disaster unemployment 
insurance and funding for jobs in the cleanup effort. He then gave 
checks to some of the Governors present.]

    The President. You're the only guy in my administration with any 
money. How can you do that?
    Yes, Governor Schafer.

[Governor Schafer asked for clarification on how the disaster 
unemployment assistance program works, and Secretary Reich gave a brief 
explanation.]

    The President. I think that's important. Terry's going to say 
something, but when I was in Iowa the other day, it's very interesting 
that you discussed this because there are more people than you would 
think affected by this who aren't in the normal unemployment insurance 
pool. And I had two or three people come up to me just when I was in Des 
Moines to talk about it.
    Terry, what were you going to say?

[Governor Branstad expressed concern for the needs of small businesses 
to rebuild.]

    The President. Given the--no one has ever mentioned this to me. You 
know, when you get to be President, you're supposed to never say 
anything off the top of your head. But given the problems we've got with 
the budget and the difficulty of dealing with that issue, I think it 
would be virtually impossible that the Congress would adopt any new 
program in that regard.
    The one thing I would ask the Governors to consider among yourselves 
about this is whether or not you would want to ask us, the Federal 
Government and the Congress, for some sort of modification of the law 
affecting how you can invest your community development block grant 
funds for a year or so because that's something that--I mean, I know 
that that program is not real popular with every Member of Congress, but 
it's real popular with me because I was a Governor. And I know how much 
good it can do, and I think there's very little--at least in my State 
there was very little waste in it. But I think that if you have the 
flexibility to allocate some of that money to job creation or job 
preservation under emergency situations for a year or two, that might 
make a significant difference. So let me just suggest that that's 
something you all might want to put your heads together about and get 
back to us on.
    Ron, what were you going to say? Secretary Brown.

[Secretary Brown discussed the need for a long-term economic development 
plan.]

    The President. Let me just follow up on that very briefly and say 
that I think that that is very good. I'd like to ask you to examine, 
given the specific questions you've heard today, what you think the EDA 
could do and the Department of Commerce. And at the end of the session 
here, I want to talk a little about long-term planning. And I think that 
you should really work with the Secretary of Agriculture to make sure 
that every State knows that they have available the resources of 
Commerce to develop this kind of economic plan.
    And meanwhile, I think the Governors ought to look at this community 
development block grant option. I think it's got some legs. And I don't 
know, but Des Moines may get CDBG directly; does it? It may be of 
sufficient size to get it. So that would also be quite helpful there.

[[Page 1362]]

    I'll call on Bruce Vento, and then we've got to go. We're getting 
behind.

[Representative Vento expressed his concern about long-term unemployment 
among agriculture-related workers in urban areas and among migrant 
workers.]

    The President. Thank you.
    We have a few other topics I think it's really important that we 
cover today: shipping and commerce, housing, and infrastructure for 
sure. I'd like to ask Governor Carlson and Governor Schafer to comment 
on the issues of shipping and commerce, the impact of the flood on 
shipping and commerce over the long run.

[Governor Carlson expressed his support for crop insurance reform and 
more flexibility in banking regulation and his concerns regarding 
insurance for development on flood plains. He also commended efforts to 
open global markets to U.S. agricultural products. Governor Schafer then 
discussed long-term difficulties in storage and shipment of agricultural 
products as a result of flood damage.]

    The President. Thank you. I'd like to ask Secretary Pena to comment 
on this issue, as well as on the infrastructure damage generally.

[Secretary Pena discussed the extraordinary impact of the flooding on 
both regional and national transportation systems.]

    The President. Thank you very much. Before we move on to discussing 
the actual aid legislation, I'd like to talk about one or two other 
issues. I'd like to ask Governor Nelson of Nebraska to talk about the 
question that many of the Governors are facing, which is what happens to 
people who are displaced from their houses, and then I want to ask 
Secretary Cisneros to comment on that. And you might feel free to 
comment on any of the other long-term economic issues of concern to your 
people. Thank you.

[Governor Nelson discussed wind losses in Nebraska, suggested the use of 
community development block grants for housing assistance, cautioned 
against downsizing the National Guard to the point of limiting its 
emergency response capability, and questioned the relocation of homes 
out of proximity to cropland and agricultural jobs.]

    The President. Thank you.
    Secretary Cisneros, we flew over a lot of people that don't have 
their homes anymore today.

[Secretary Cisneros discussed use of community development block grants 
for immediate cleanup and reconstruction work including waivers to 
permit use for public facilities and services, elimination of matching 
fund requirements for the home program, easing of FHA and HUD mortgage 
foreclosure practices, and assistance through other FHA and HUD 
programs.]

    The President. Thank you very much. That's very encouraging. And I 
know all the Governors listened closely to it. I'm going to wait to hear 
from you, from the Governors, about exactly how you would advise me to 
proceed on the CDBG issue and the waivers. You can be in touch directly 
with us or Secretary Cisneros. But I thank him for that very 
comprehensive discussion.
    We need now to have a brief presentation from Mr. Panetta about the 
legislation now pending in the Congress. We are running about 30 minutes 
behind. We're actually only about 10 minutes behind because we started 
20 minutes late because of the transportation. I think that's 
remarkable. But I would like to ask Leon just to run briefly through a 
summary of where we are right now and what the sort of timetable is for 
the movement through Congress as well.

[Director Panetta said he expected the disaster assistance legislation 
to be voted on in the House by Thursday, July 22, and that the Senate 
would also act on it rapidly. He then listed specific elements of the 
package.]

    The President. Thank you very much.
    Before we close out this section, and there are a couple of other 
things that we need to do, but I would like to thank and recognize and 
give an opportunity to speak to Senator Mikulski. She has come all the 
way from Maryland--this is not in her district or State--because of her 
profound and longstanding concern about the operations of FEMA which 
fall within the jurisdiction of her committee. I thank her for coming, 
and

[[Page 1363]]

I hope she will be graceful enough, Governor Carlson, not to mention the 
Orioles' victory over the Twins last night. It was a very exciting game 
that I watched at the end.

[Senator Mikulski said Congress would act quickly on the legislation. 
She then praised State, local, and volunteer disaster workers and 
congratulated the President for leading a quick and comprehensive 
Federal response.]

    The President. Thank you. I like that line. I don't know about being 
``Commander in Chief of disasters.'' I'm afraid I may live to hear that 
again before long. [Laughter] But thank you very much, Senator Mikulski. 
That was a wonderful statement, and thank you for your work.
    We have to wrap up, but Governor Edgar has asked for the floor.

[Governor Edgar expressed concern that the $2.5 billion requested would 
not be enough.]

    The President. I want to make two points here. First, as we get more 
information in over this legislative process, we will ask that the bill 
be amended, wherever it is, if it's in the House or in the Senate. But 
in order to keep faith with the Members from all the other States, all 
of whom themselves might have disasters someday--many of whom do--but 
who are also charged along with me with, you know, maintaining the 
discipline of the budget, it's very important that when we plug a number 
in we have some research basis, some factual basis for it. But we intend 
to modify this as the information comes in on the losses. If the bill 
passes and there's still things that aren't dealt with that should be 
dealt with under Federal law, we will go forward with seeking more 
assistance. I want to make that absolutely clear.
    Let me make one final comment about the substance here. Many of you 
have made the same observation that Senator Mikulski did about the 
importance of the ongoing effort, and that's really where I began my 
remarks.
    In other contexts I have asked a member of the Cabinet to supervise. 
I asked Secretary Cisneros, for example, almost the week after we took 
office, to go down to Florida and supervise the long-term effort in the 
aftermath of Hurricane Andrew so that they would know that we were still 
in there. I asked Secretary Brown to go to California and to try to 
supervise a long-term effort to deal with the collapse of the economy of 
that State rooted very largely in the dramatic reductions in defense 
spending without any kind of off-setting plan for defense conversion.
    And I think we ought to do that here. And so, because so many of 
these States are farming States and because so much of this is 
agricultural loss, I've asked Secretary Espy to coordinate the long-term 
Federal response in the flooded area here, and he has agreed to do that. 
So he will be working with all the suggestions made by the Governors 
today and by the suggestion made by Secretary Brown for economic 
development plans and others as well as with the FEMA Director, James 
Lee Witt, who may well have another emergency to deal with before we 
work our way out of the long-term problems here, which is why I've asked 
Secretary Espy to do that.
    Let me also thank all of our hosts from Missouri: Mr. Wheat, Mr. 
Talent, Senator Bond, Majority Leader Gephardt, and Governor Carnahan. 
And before we break from here, I want to talk about the very important 
sessions coming up. I want to ask Mr. McLarty to describe very briefly 
what happens now.

[Mr. McLarty gave instructions to the participants for the afternoon 
session.]

    The President. I want to give our hosts here, Mr. Gephardt and Mr. 
Carnahan, a chance to wrap up if they like, or Senator Bond. But before 
I do, let me say that Governor Finney from Kansas could not be here 
today, but she is ably represented by her Chief of Staff, who also 
happens to be her daughter, and we're glad to see you here. And I thank 
all the rest of you from around the room for being here. I hope the 
afternoon sessions are valuable. I think this has been quite important.
    Not long after I became President I met with the Governors, and I 
asked the Governors on a bipartisan basis to make sure that we kept our 
administration rooted in the real problems of real people. This is not 
exactly what I had in mind, but it certainly does qual- 

[[Page 1364]]

ify. And I thank you all for being here and for the contribution you've 
all made.

[Governor Carnahan, Representative Gephardt, and Governor Bond expressed 
their appreciation to the President for meeting with them.]

    The President. Governor Branstad wants a last word. He's earned it, 
since he's down to taking a shower every other day.

[Governor Branstad presented the President with a T-shirt.]

    The President. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:22 a.m. at Fox Senior High School. A 
portion of this item could not be verified because the tape was 
incomplete.