Today's Press Briefing Part 1
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
Press Briefing
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1:23 P.M. EDT
MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everybody. The President remains very engaged in our efforts to make sure we are getting assistance to those in need and meeting the immediate priorities while putting in place plans for the longer-term response and recovery related to Katrina.
There is a massive federal response that continues. There has been some good progress. There are ongoing problems, though, that need to be solved, and the President is not satisfied. We've got enormous challenges ahead of us and it's important to continue working together to address those challenges.
The President held a daily meeting this morning with Secretary Chertoff, Andy Card, and some others here in the Oval Office. Then he chaired a meeting of some Cabinet officials and White House staff that was relating to our plan that we're putting in place to help people get back on their feet when it comes to government benefits. The delivery of government benefits and services for people in the -- for people who have been evacuated is a high priority for us. This includes immediate cash assistance; it includes Medicaid benefits, other health care benefits; it includes child care, food stamps. Secretary Johanns announced yesterday the card that was being provided for some initial help for people to be able to purchase some food and supplies. Housing needs, unemployment insurance, national emergency grants that were announced by Secretary Chao earlier this week -- or I think last week -- to provide some temporary work for people relating to the response and recovery of workers that have been displaced.
This is an effort that's being chaired by -- or overseen by Secretary Leavitt, and it includes Health and Human Services, HUD -- the Housing and Urban Development -- Agriculture, Labor, Education and Veterans Affairs, I believe. And we're going to be announcing more on that plan soon. But this was a meeting on some of the efforts that are already underway, as well as what we're going to be doing going forward.
As I mentioned earlier, there are nine working groups that have come out of the White House task force that was created. These working groups are focused on areas like housing -- that would include temporary and long-term housing needs. It's focused on economic development priorities, the restoration of essential services, continuity of benefits, which I just mentioned, and environmental cleanup, as well.
A couple of updates. Momentarily here, the EPA and Centers for Disease Control will be doing a press conference to talk about some of the initial results of flood water samples from New Orleans. At 2:00 p.m. there's going to be a Health and Human Services conference call -- this is relating to mental health issues that are arising from Hurricane Katrina, including counseling and warning signs and resources. And then I believe FEMA has another briefing from the region at 5:00 p.m.
Our priorities remain focused on lifesaving search and rescue operations, medical care, the remaining evacuation of people, although that number is relatively small at this point, and making sure that people have the shelter and food and water and other necessities that they need, and that we continue to keep that flow going, as well as restoring essential services and repairing the levees and drawing back the water from New Orleans.
Just to give you the latest update, this is some numbers from late yesterday. There are some 559 shelters in place, and more than 180,000 people housed in those shelters. You've had 11.3 million MREs provided to people in shelters. You've had 18 million liters of water provided. And there are more than 75,000 response, rescue -- rescue, recovery and law enforcement personnel that continue to work around the clock to get critical assistance to people in need. Those numbers are from yesterday, so they probably will be updated later today.
Our military continues to provide great humanitarian assistance. We now have more than 60,000 active duty and National Guard personnel on the ground or aboard ships that are supporting the relief operations; some 20 U.S. Navy ships are in the operational area. You have 360 helicopters, 93 airplanes that are involved in this. The Department of Defense has provided extensive search and rescue, evacuation and medical support. And the Corps of Engineers has closed that 17th Street Canal levee breach and begun pumping water out from that area.
Let's see -- one other update on some of the relief efforts. The Bush-Clinton -- this is the former Presidents -- Katrina Fund has raised over $2.5 million online. That's online donations alone as of -- this was as of last night. And they've raised some $60 million overall. Some of that is still in pledges. And the fund estimates that over 10,000 people have made donations through their website alone. And that website is BushClintonKatrinaFund.org. And we appreciate the continuing generosity of the American people.
And finally, I want to make an announcement on the supplemental request. We are sparing no effort to help those who have been affected by Katrina and are in need of help. Last week, Congress moved quickly to approve the President's initial request of $10.5 billion for immediate needs of people in the Gulf states that were hit by Katrina. We have been consulting with congressional leaders and intend to request a second installment later today. This will provide additional resources to continue meeting the needs on the ground. This will be for ongoing search and rescue operations, food, water, medicine, and actions to address public health issues that may arise, among other things.
The President today will request $51.8 billion in additional funding for the immediate needs of the people affected by Hurricane Katrina. This is, as I said, in addition to the $10.5 billion. And the White House will be issuing the formal request later this afternoon. And I expect that our OMB Director, Josh Bolten, will conduct a conference call for reporters to talk further about the details.
At this point, I can tell you that $50 billion of the supplemental request will go to FEMA; $1.4 billion will go to the Department of Defense; and $400 million will go to the Army Corps of Engineers. There will be more to -- more that will be needed to cover the longer-term response and rebuilding efforts, and we continue to work on assessing those needs. We appreciate Congress' willingness to move ahead quickly on this additional supplemental to make sure the needs of those who have been affected continue to be met on the ground.
And with that, I will be glad to go to your questions.
Q Scott, recently, top Democrats in Congress, they had some tough words and some questions about President Bush. Congressman Pelosi says that -- said that "the President was obviously in denial," because she said she talked to him yesterday about Mike Brown and said that things were going wrong, and he said, What's gone wrong?" What hasn't gone right? And I'd like to ask you if you know if that's an accurate portrayal of the conversation.
MR. McCLELLAN: No, it's not, because they discussed a lot of other things. And I think the President was just wanting to know what she -- what she was most concerned about.
Q So it wasn't as if he knew -- he didn't know, wasn't aware that things had gone wrong?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, Terry, I just updated you on the President's day; I updated you yesterday. You all are well aware of how engaged this President is in the response efforts and making sure that we're meeting the immediate needs. The President has been participating in Cabinet meetings. He's been participating in meetings with key staff and Cabinet officials, and the President has been working to make sure that we have all the resources needed dedicated to this effort, and that the needs on the ground are being met.
We are focused on bringing everybody together to help the people in the region. And the President continues to act to make sure that we're addressing the ongoing problems. The President, very clearly to you all, over the last few days has talked about how he is not satisfied. I just said at the beginning of this how he is not satisfied. There are ongoing problems on the ground, and that's why we're working to address those issues. That's why the President held a meeting earlier today to talk about our plan for moving forward to deliver benefits to people who have been evacuated out of the area.
Q And then Senator Harry Reid is questioning whether the President's Texas vacation impeded any kind of relief efforts.
MR. McCLELLAN: The Senator -- the Senator must not be aware of all the updates that we were providing you all, because I cannot imagine that he would engage in such personal attacks if he did. You all, or your colleagues were covering us during that time. We were providing you regular updates on the President's participation in our efforts to prepare for what was then a tropical storm off the coast of Florida, and then we continued to keep you all updated over the course of the next several days about the President's participation in the preparations for what was coming.
And the President, if you'll recall, on Sunday morning, was in touch with Governor Blanco. He was in touch with Governor Barbour. He was in touch with Governor Riley and Governor Bush, as well, even later in the morning. I know he spoke to that Sunday morning -- he spoke to Governor Blanco around 9:00 a.m., had a good conversation with her about some of the things that needed to be done ahead of the hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast. So you all were well aware of what the President was doing and his involvement during that time.
Q Scott, can I follow up on what Terry was saying? One of the things that Harry Reid did say today was, why didn't President Bush immediately return to Washington from his vacation, and why didn't he recall key officials and staff members back from their vacations? And then he asks, would the President -- would the presence of key officials in Washington have improved the response?
MR. McCLELLAN: First of all, we are focused on getting things done and solving problems on the ground. And again, I go back to what I was just talking about, the President on Saturday, Saturday night issued -- this was Saturday night before the hurricane hit, which I believe was early Monday morning -- the President issued an emergency disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana. Then the next morning, he issued declarations for Mississippi and Alabama. So we were focused on the preparations that were being made prior to Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast region.
Q So your answer to the Senator would be that the presence of officials in Washington would not have improved the response?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think that my answer is that you all are very well aware of what we were doing in terms of preparations for Hurricane Katrina. And I'd just assume that he is not informed of everything we were doing and all the updates that were being provided at that point.
Q Scott, does the President retain confidence in his FEMA Director and Secretary of Homeland Security?
MR. McCLELLAN: And again, David, see, this is where some people want to look at the blame game issue, and finger-point. We're focused on solving problems, and we're doing everything we can --
Q What about the question?
MR. McCLELLAN: We're doing everything we can in support --
Q We know all that.
MR. McCLELLAN: -- of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA.
Q Does he retain complete confidence --
MR. McCLELLAN: We're going to continue. We appreciate the great effort that all of those at FEMA, including the head of FEMA, are doing to help the people in the region. And I'm just not going to engage in the blame game or finger-pointing that you're trying to get me to engage.
Q Okay, but that's not at all what I was asking.
MR. McCLELLAN: Sure it is. It's exactly what you're trying to play.
Q You have your same point you want to make about the blame game, which you've said enough now. I'm asking you a direct question, which you're dodging.
MR. McCLELLAN: No --
Q Does the President retain complete confidence in his Director of FEMA and Secretary of Homeland Security, yes or no?
MR. McCLELLAN: I just answered the question.
Q Is the answer "yes" on both?
MR. McCLELLAN: And what you're doing is trying to engage in a game of finger-pointing.
Q There's a lot of criticism. I'm just wondering if he still has confidence.
MR. McCLELLAN: -- and blame-gaming. What we're trying to do is solve problems, David. And that's where we're going to keep our focus.
Q So you're not -- you won't answer that question directly?
MR. McCLELLAN: I did. I just did.
Q No, you didn't. Yes or no? Does he have complete confidence or doesn't he?
MR. McCLELLAN: No, if you want to continue to engage in finger-pointing and blame-gaming, that's fine --
Q Scott, that's ridiculous. I'm not engaging in any of that.
MR. McCLELLAN: It's not ridiculous.
Q Don't try to accuse me of that. I'm asking you a direct question and you should answer it. Does he retain complete confidence in his FEMA Director and Secretary of Homeland Security, yes or no?
MR. McCLELLAN: Like I said -- that's exactly what you're engaging in.
Q I'm not engaging in anything. I'm asking you a question about what the President's views are --
MR. McCLELLAN: Absolutely -- absolutely --
Q -- under pretty substantial criticism of members of his administration. Okay? And you know that, and everybody watching knows that, as well.
MR. McCLELLAN: No, everybody watching this knows, David, that you're trying to engage in a blame game.
Q I'm trying to engage?
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes.
Q I am trying to engage?
MR. McCLELLAN: That's correct.
Q That's a dodge. I have a follow-up question since you dodged that one. Does the White House feel like it missed opportunities to alleviate or head off some of the damage in the New Orleans area, flood damage? Did it miss an opportunity to head any of that off?
MR. McCLELLAN: In what way?
Q In responding to requests to make structural improvements, or other improvements to alleviate flood damage, and so forth?
MR. McCLELLAN: Maybe you ought to look at what General Strock said, because General Strock briefed on this the other day and he talked about the design issues relating to the levees and how that was a design issue. And he talked about that. And we provided, I think it was some $300 million in additional funding over the course of the administration for flood control in the Southeast Louisiana area. But General Strock talked about that and he talked about some of those issues. And any suggestion that it would have prevented something, that there could have been action that would have prevented something, I think he dismissed because of those reasons. |
