The President on Katrina Spending and Military Control

Q Mr. President, with billions of dollars flowing out of Washington for hurricane relief, some Republicans are worried that you're writing a blank check that will have to be paid by future generations. Who is going to have to pay for this recovery, and what's it going to do to the national debt?

PRESIDENT BUSH: First of all, for our citizens who haven't seen what I've seen -- you've seen what I've seen -- it's -- we lost a lot of life and a lot of property. I mean, the area destroyed by the storm is the size of Great Britain. And we've got whole towns just completely flattened, just wiped out. And one of our great cities, New Orleans, is -- a lot of it is underwater. And by "underwater," I mean water over the rooftops. And those homes will be destroyed. Thousands of people won't have homes. And so this is an enormous task to help the region start growing again.

One of the commitments that I made last night is for the federal government to fund a significant portion of the infrastructure repair and rebuilding; in other words, our bridges and our roads. Our schools, the water systems are ruined, the sewer system is ruined. And I meant that when I said we will do that. Part of the recovery is to make sure there's an infrastructure that works.

Yesterday in New Orleans, for example, the Mayor was so thrilled that a portion of New Orleans, the French Quarter, for example, has got lights and sewers -- you can't drink the water, but the sewer system works. In other words, he's beginning to see some life. And it just reminded me that as we can get the infrastructure up and running as quickly as possible, get the debris cleared, get the infrastructure up and running, then life will begin.

And so, you bet, it's going to cost money. But I'm confident we can handle it and I'm confident we can handle our other priorities. It's going to mean that we're going to have to make sure we cut unnecessary spending. It's going to mean we don't do -- we've got to maintain economic growth, and therefore we should not raise taxes. Working people have had to pay a tax, in essence, by higher gasoline prices. And we don't need to be taking more money out of their pocket. And as we spend the money, we got to make sure we spend it wisely. And so we're going to have inspectors general overseeing the expenditure of the money.

Our OMB will work with Congress to figure out where we need to offset when we need to offset, so that we can manage not only to maintain economic growth and vitality, but to be able to spend that which is necessary to help this region get back on its feet. So it's a big role for the federal government.

There's a big role for private sector. And that's why I call for economic growth zones, an economic enterprise zone. Look, there's not going to be any revenues coming out of that area for a while anyway, so we might as well give them good tax relief in order to get jobs there and investment there. It makes sense. The entrepreneurial spirit is what's going to help lift this part of the world up. So we've got a -- I started laying out the outlines of a plan, and it's one that we want to work with Congress on.

Q What will it cost?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, it's going to cost whatever it costs. We're going to be wise about the money we spend. I mean, you're -- we haven't totaled up all the bridges and highways, but I said we'll make a commitment to rebuild the infrastructure, and to help rebuild the infrastructure. We're also spending money on -- $2,000 a family to help these people get back on their feet. There's a variety of programs. The key question is to make sure the costs are wisely spent, and that we work with Congress to make sure that we are able to manage our budget in a wise way. And that is going to mean cutting other programs.

Steve.

Q Last night you said that greater federal involvement and troops may be required in future disasters. Could you elaborate on that a little bit? And were you able to convince President Putin on the need to send Iran to the Security Council? Sorry to do a two-part.

PRESIDENT BUSH: The first part of the question was -- oh, was how to deal with disasters.

Q Federal involvement in disasters.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Yes. I don't want to prejudge the commission's -- what do they call it, the bipartisan commission that is set up in Congress. I don't want to prejudge their findings. But I do think they ought to seriously consider the fact that there are -- a storm, for example, of a certain category, which will require an overwhelming response by government that can only be provided by, say, the United States military through NORTHCOM, because of its ability to muster logistical -- logistics and supplies so quickly. And that's what I want Congress to consider. And I think it's very important that Congress consider this.

It's important for us to learn from the storm what could have been done better, for example, and apply that to other types of situations -- such as a pandemic. At the U.N. I talked about avian flu; we need to take it seriously. I talked to Vladimir about avian flu; I talked to other world leaders about the potential outbreak of avian flu: If avian flu were to hit this country, do we have the proper response mechanisms? Does the federal government have the authorities necessary to make certain decisions? And this storm will give us an opportunity to review all different types of circumstance to make sure that the President has the capacity to react. And that's what I was referring to. I wasn't drawing any conclusions; I was just suggesting that this be a matter of debate and discussion with the bipartisan commission that is going to be set up there, with Democrats and Republican senators and congressmen.

East Room, The White House, September 16, 2005 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050916-10.html.

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