[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 34 (Monday, August 27, 2007)]
[Pages 1104-1105]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Briefing on the Interstate 35W Bridge Damage and 
Minnesota Floods in Minneapolis, Minnesota

August 21, 2007

    I want to thank the Senators, the Congresspersons, the Governor, and 
the mayor for joining me and Secretary Peters and others in my 
administration. We're here to talk about two disasters. First we talked 
about the bridge that collapsed. I was here earlier, saw the collapse 
firsthand. I was impressed by the magnitude of the problem. It was--my 
heart was touched by the fact that people lost their lives.
    Coming back here, I'm impressed by the spirit of cooperation that is 
taking place to solve the problem. The Federal Government, the State 
government, and the local government have worked very closely, on the 
one hand, to rescue the remains in a compassionate way. I appreciate our 
military divers who are so skilled--skilled at not only finding the 
bodies but skilled at helping a loved one deal with grief.
    The question now is, how fast can we get the bridge built? Members 
of the Minnesota senatorial and congressional delegation did really good 
work at the end of the session, passed authorization for a significant 
chunk of money that would go to get this bridge up and running.
    And so our job now is to cut through the bureaucracy, as best as 
possible, and get the people down here a new bridge. And that's what 
we've been discussing. The recovery is not complete, but pretty close to 
complete. The investigation as to why is ongoing. What the people of 
Minneapolis want to know is how fast can we get them a new bridge, and 
can it be modern, and can it accommodate future forms of transportation. 
I believe the answer to that question is yes. The spirit that caused the 
recovery to be well coordinated is the very same spirit that's going to 
cause this bridge to get rebuilt.
    The Governor and others have briefed me on the floods in Congressman 
Walz's district.
    These floods come suddenly. People wake up and find their lives 
turned upside down. Water comes charging through their communities and 
really kind of wrecks the infrastructure. But what I have found, and the 
Congressmen and Senators have found the same thing, you can't wreck the 
spirit of people.

    The job of the Federal Government is to get help moving as quickly 
as possible. I just talked to the Governor, who has processed the final 
and the necessary paperwork so that a flood of help can come down--Tim--
to get these people realizing somebody cares about them.

    I understand rural America pretty well. Sometimes people in rural 
America wonder whether or not the people in the cities think about them. 
I appreciate you coming to brief me, because I want those folks to 
understand, the President thinks about it; the senators and the Governor 
have heard about it, and they care about it. There's help that's 
available. We'd love to get the small businesses up and running, maybe 
help to get some shelter down there for people. I'm looking forward to 
making sure that the right people show up here on the ground. Secretary 
Peters has been the right person to coordinate this effort for the 
bridge, and we'll get somebody down here in charge to give the people in 
your district some hope.

    There's no doubt in my mind that when I come back to see the bridge 
open that these communities will be up and running too, and that State 
football championship team you were talking about--[laughter]--will be 
winning games again.
    Thank you all for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 4:53 p.m. in the Base Operations--Blue Room 
at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Air Reserve Station. In his remarks, he 
referred to Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota; and Mayor R.T. Rybak of 
Minneapolis, MN. He also referred to Public Law 110-56, approved August 
6. A portion of these remarks could not be verified because the tape was 
incomplete.

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