[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 37 (Monday, September 19, 2005)]
[Pages 1385-1387]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and an Exchange With 
Reporters in Gulfport, Mississippi

September 12, 2005

    The President. First of all, I want to thank the school principal 
for her hospitality. It's interesting, you know, she said she lost her 
school and lost her house, but I told her, she hadn't lost her smile or 
her will to succeed.
    Behind us we've got U.S. troops and Mexican troops working together 
to help get this school up and running. The superintendent of schools 
here in the region tells me that they're trying to have everybody back 
in school by the end of October. And that's part of what you're 
beginning to see here in Mississippi. This country is beginning to 
rebuild and lives are starting over.
    I thank the Governor and the Congressman for their hospitality here. 
And Mayor, thank you, sir. You've been in office for how long? Four 
months?
    Mayor Brett Warr. Two months.
    The President. Two months.
    Governor Haley Barbour. It seems like 4. [Laughter]
    The President. But there's a remarkable spirit all across this--all 
across this affected zone. You're hearing the Mississippi spirit here, 
where there's a can-do attitude. People are coming together, slowly but 
surely putting their life back together. The Governor was telling me 
about the electricity, and the mayor has got a positive attitude.
    I remember when I was down here last time, they were talking about 
gasoline. I saw a gasoline station up and running. And so progress is 
being made, and yet there's a lot of work to do, a lot of issues to be 
resolved, a lot of lives to be lifted up, a lot of hope to be restored.
    I look forward to working with the congressional delegation, seeing 
people in Mississippi and the two Senators, of course, and the Governor, 
to address problems. I mean, we are problemsolvers, and we look forward 
to working with the folks here.
    I said something in Louisiana I want to repeat here in Mississippi, 
and that is, as these communities are rebuilt, they're going to be 
rebuilt by people from Mississippi. And as the coast is replanned and 
the vision of the coast emerges, it's going to be planned by the people 
of Mississippi. The role of the people in Washington is to support the 
Governors and support the Congressmen, support the mayors, as a vision 
for what this part of the world will look like. And it's important for 
people to understand that, and that's a pledge we will keep.
    Now, the school is going to open before the end of October.
    Phyllis A. Bourn. We're hoping for the end of October.
    The President. End of October--isn't that fantastic?
    Ms. Bourn. Well, I'm sorry--the beginning of October.
    The President. The beginning of October.
    Ms. Bourn. The beginning of October for this school, for this 
school.
    The President. Well, that's great. Well, thank you all very much. 
Thanks for having me.
    Are we doing another round of questions today, or is one enough, do 
you think?

[[Page 1386]]

Resignation of FEMA Director Michael D. Brown

    Q. Can you tell us, have you accepted the resignation of Michael 
Brown, or have you heard about it?
    The President. I haven't. No, I have not talked to Michael Brown or 
Mike Chertoff. That's who I'd talk to. As you know, I've been working. 
And when I get on Air Force One, I will call back to Washington. But 
I've been on the move.
    Q. Our understanding is, he has resigned; he's made a statement. 
Would that be appropriate----
    The President. I haven't talked to Mike Chertoff yet, and that's 
what I intend to do when I get on the plane. You know, I--you probably--
maybe you know something I don't know, but as you know, we've been 
working, and I haven't had a chance to get on the phone.
    I just came from an extraordinary event. When I say I've been 
working, what I've been doing is thanking people. We just came from a 
church that's feeding people in need, that need help, and there were 
people from all over the country there. It was unbelievable. And so I 
was spending time thanking them and lifting their spirits.
    So I can't comment on something that you may know more about than I 
do. So don't ask me again about a subject that----
    Q. Can you say--we're you disappointed in the job that he did?
    The President. We went through this this morning, as you know, and 
I've said this--so I haven't changed my mind since you asked that 
question--or somebody asked the question about it----
    Q. This is a little bit different. We're asking specifically about 
him.
    The President. It's the same spirit, and that is, is that there will 
be plenty of time to figure out what went right and what went wrong. And 
the reason why it's important for us to figure that out at a national 
level is that, if a major event were to come--another major event--we 
want to make sure that there's an appropriate relationship between the 
State and the local government. And so it's appropriate that we step 
back and take a look.
    Here in Mississippi and in Louisiana, people want to move forward. 
They understand there's time to try to blame somebody. But they want to 
get their lives back together. And that's the spirit I see, and that's 
what----

Reconstruction After Hurricane Katrina

    Q. On rebuilding, when you say it's up to--the vision of it is up to 
those on the ground, the local decisions, does that mean the Federal 
Government doesn't want to help rebuild things exactly, as vulnerable as 
they were?
    The President. Well, you see, I think that nobody wants to build a 
fragile society. Everybody wants to, when you rebuild, rebuild better. 
And we want to work with the local folks to achieve that.
    The Congressman brought up an interesting issue. He said that he's 
waiting to find out what height--in order for Federal money to come, the 
houses have to be built to a certain height. He's not trying to figure 
out the height; he just wants an answer.
    Representative Gene Taylor. And the same thing with the highways, 
for example. We can't--a highway commission can't put out contracts for 
bridges until the Coast Guard tells us how the vertical clearance has 
got to be.
    The President. So, obviously, there's a collaborative effort. And 
what the Congressman's basic point was and the Governor's point is, how 
about getting us the answers--for one reason: They want to get going, 
which is exciting news. And it's--so that's the kind of relationship I'm 
talking about.

Insurance Issues

    Q. Mr. President, these people asking about insurance----
    The President. Yes----
    Q. ----the flood versus wind. What can you----
    The President. I can't give an answer to that right now. But I am 
taking back the message, again, of the Congressman and the Governor, and 
particularly a lady I met at the church. She said she'd lived here for a 
long period of time, and she said, ``I want to ask you something, 
President.'' She said, ``How would you like it if your insurance

[[Page 1387]]

company said, `Ma'am, this is a flood event, and therefore, I'm not 
going to cover it, cover your house?' '' I said, ``I wouldn't like it a 
bit.'' She said, ``Well, that's just what happened to me today.'' She 
had come back from where she had evacuated to, to hear that message. And 
she asked my opinion, and I said, ``I'll find out the process that 
determines whether or not it's a wind or water event.''

President's Focus on Domestic and Foreign Policy

    Q. One more question. With all your focus on foreign policy the next 
couple of days, what--have you put in place to keep your----
    The President. I can do more than one thing at one time. That's 
what--I hope you--by the time I'm finished President, I hope you'll 
realize that the Government can do more than one thing at one time, and 
individuals in the Government can. And so I'll be in constant touch 
with--I have a hurricane recovery briefing every morning, for example. 
I'll be in touch with Mike Chertoff. Andy Card, on my staff, will be in 
touch with the appropriate people. And so if I'm focusing on the 
hurricane, I've got the capacity to focus on foreign policy, and vice 
versa. But I thank you for asking that question.
    Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 2:06 p.m. at Twenty-Eighth Street 
Elementary School. In his remarks, he referred to Glen East, 
superintendent, Gulfport School District. Phyllis A. Bourn, principal, 
Twenty-Eighth Street Elementary School; Gov. Haley Barbour of 
Mississippi; Representative Gene Taylor of Mississippi; and Mayor Brett 
Warr of Gulfport, MS, participated in the exchange. A tape was not 
available for verification of the content of these remarks.