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Skriven 2007-03-01 23:31:06 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0703015) for Thu, 2007 Mar 1
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Press Gaggle by Dana Perino
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For Immediate Release March 1, 2007

Press Gaggle by Dana Perino Aboard Air Force One En route Mississippi

˙˙Press Briefings


8:42 A.M. EST

MS. PERINO: Good morning. We are on our way to the Gulf Coast for the
President's 14th trip to the Gulf Coast region.

Q Fourteen?

MS. PERINO: Fourteen, yes. We're first going to Mississippi and then to New
Orleans. I have Don Powell here, the President's Federal Gulf Coast
Coordinator, who will set up the trip for you and then answer a few
questions. And I'll come in at the end if you have other topics.

MR. POWELL: Good morning. As Dana indicated, this is the President's 14th
trip, and I think, again, as evidence of his long-term commitment to
rebuild the Gulf Coast area. In that regard, I think there's been lots of
progress since the last -- over the last 18 months. Children are in school;
"help wanted" signs are up; the port is 100 percent back; restaurants are
open; hotels are open; building permits have increased; self -- (inaudible)
-- revenue is, in some cases, at record highs. So there's been lots of
progress.

Is there more work to be done? Absolutely. And that's the reason we're
involved in all issues of life from education to health care to criminal
justice. So the President will see firsthand some of the progress and some
of the work that yet may need to be done.

Q I read an editorial in the paper today, read an editorial in the Post
today that said the recovery has been painfully slow and that more than
half of the schools remain closed. Another report said tens of thousands of
people remain displaced. Is that true, and does that worry you?

MR. POWELL: Well, we all have a sense of urgency about the recovery; we
want it to be -- but I think it's important to look and put it in
perspective about the size of the storm and how overwhelming this storm
was. So I think there's been some good progress. As I mentioned, 53 schools
are open. There's 28,000 kids in school. They're there. By some of their
own testimony, the schools are better than they were before Katrina. I've
heard that from teachers, from administrators.

Is there work yet to be done in the schools? Absolutely. Do they need to
get it better? Do we need to continue to open more schools and plan for
that? But the students that are there now, they have classrooms. The seats
are available to the students. There needs to be more recruitment for the
fall of teachers, and we're working on those issues.

We work very closely with educators of the recovery school district, the
New Orleans school district, but those 53 schools, 60 percent of our
charter schools -- and there's lots of good things happening in education.
Incidentally, all the higher-education institutions are open. They're open.

Q Are these schools in New Orleans or in the local region?

MR. POWELL: New Orleans parish, yes. New Orleans parish. That's the
recovery school district and the New Orleans independent school district.

Q Where you are running into trouble, sir, what are the biggest obstacles?
What are you finding are the real trouble spots?

MR. POWELL: Well, our office, we focus on lots of issues. I think
affordable housing is an issue, and so that's the reason we spend lots of
time working with the state and the local people, making sure that the
federal government is not an impediment to getting the Governors' Road Home
program into the hands of the recipient. We spend a lot of time on that.

That's a program that the state owns and it's a program that they in --
contractually obligated with the contractor to execute and implement that
program. But we make sure that the federal government is not an impediment
in that. So we need to get the money into the hands of those people so they
can begin to start rebuilding their lives.

The second thing we focus on a lot is the so-called project worksheets, the
infrastructure, the money that FEMA gives to the state, the state then
gives to the local people to make -- to rebuild their infrastructure.
Seventy-one percent -- 71 percent of the projected money that the federal
government has allocated to that has been placed in the hands of the state
-- 71 percent. The state has only passed down about 45 percent of that
money to the local parishes.

So we work to make sure that we do three things there: We make sure that,
again, we're not an impediment; is there any red tape in regard to that.
Since the anniversary that process has increased something like almost 30
percent. So there's been lots of movement toward that.

FEMA has done lots of things as relates to that. They've looked at
policies, they've looked at personnel, they've looked at models to make
sure that they're up to speed. So there's -- I'm encouraged about some of
that movement being done.

The criminal justice, a thing that we all are concerned about, it's my
opinion that all of the project worksheets will be completed as in relation
to the federal government within the next 45 days. That's huge.

Q What are the downward figures that correspond to total allocation, the
amounts you've given the states --

MR. POWELL: The dollars in the state of Louisiana is about $6.3 billion; 71
percent of that, about $4.5 billion, has been placed in the coffers of the
state. So they have that money to spend. In turn, 45 percent of that money
has been obligated to the parishes.

Q What is $6.3 billion?

MR. POWELL: The $6.3 billion is the estimated total amount of dollars.

Q From the federal government to the state?

MR. POWELL: To the state for infrastructure.

Q What about the $110 billion --

MR. POWELL: The $110 billion, as you know, it's $83 billion* in total has
been obligated, and spent is about $53 billion. Incidentally, since the
anniversary, that's increased by $6 billion to $7 billion.

Q What is the difference between $53 billion -- what's the difference?

MR. POWELL: The $83 billion* is -- you've got $110 billion; $83 billion* is
what's been obligated, and $53 billion is what's been spent.

Q Thank you.

Q I'm not sure if I'm hearing you correctly. Could you run through the
numbers again? It's just very loud.

MR. POWELL: Yes -- $110 billion; $83 billion* has been obligated, and about
$53 billion has been spent.

Q What is it going to take to get the rest of the money to filter down to
who needs it?

MR. POWELL: The plans have to be submitted. The work has to be done for
that money to flow. I always say, it's just like me remodeling my house. I
get the commitment from the bank, but then I have to do the work and spend
the draw request for the money to be advanced to me to pay my suppliers.

Q But the $83 billion dollars* is there for them to spend?

MR. POWELL: Right, right. All they have to do is --

Q It's available to them to draw down --

MR. POWELL: -- is do the work. That's right.

Q And $53 billion has been spent. Now, is it -- do the states need to do
more in order to get to that?

MR. POWELL: I'm sorry?

Q Do the states need to do more in order to get to that?

MR. POWELL: Well, the process needs to -- they need to complete the work
that they've agreed to do.

Q Can you tell us just a little bit about the first town we're going to,
Long Beach?

MR. POWELL: We're going to Biloxi and Gulfport, aren't we?

Q Long Beach and then Biloxi. I'm just curious what the storm's impact was
on Long Beach, what basically --

MR. POWELL: It was huge. It was huge. It just -- Bay Saint Louis, Long
Beach, all those areas were wiped out, sort of like a tornado. I'm from
West Texas -- it was just wiped clean -- versus, like in New Orleans, where
you had a city under water. So they had to -- it's hard to describe how
they were devastated. That whole Gulf Coast area, from Ocean Springs and
Pascagoula all the way over to Bay Saint Louis. It was huge.

Q Why are charter schools particularly appropriated in redevelopment?

MR. POWELL: That's a decision of the locals. That's a decision of the local
people. They made that decision they wanted charter schools.

Q How long is it going to take for the area to recover?

MR. POWELL: You know, it's -- I don't think -- I can remember the first
week we were in our office, we looked for a book, a manual. We've never
seen anything like this. So it is -- it's hard to put time lines on issues.
I just know that the President continues to be committed over the long haul
to make sure that the Gulf Coast is done. We're doing everything we can to
speed that process. We all have a sense of urgency. But it's important to
focus about how large this catastrophic event was.

Q Is the federal end of this -- are you guys doing all you can do? Is that
your feeling? Is there anything you can do to get money into the hands of
the people who are frustrated that their house is still in shambles, or
whatever, more quickly?

MR. POWELL: I ask that question myself all the time. That's a constant
question that I'm always asking. At the same time, are we being responsible
to the taxpayers? Are we doing everything we can to make sure that we're
giving the resources

-- the necessary resources to rebuild the Gulf Coast? And with the
leadership of this President, and obviously, Congress, the American
taxpayers have poured a lot of money into that area. It's important that
the locals -- that the local people began to push and process that money
and clothes and put it in the appropriate hands of people.

MS. PERINO: Okay?

MR. POWELL: Okay. Thank you.

MS. PERINO: Anything else?

Q Have you checked into this North Korea story, what -- exactly what our
intelligence says about the North Korean uranium enrichment program?

MS. PERINO: I did try to check into it. I think what I need to do is refer
you to the intelligence community. We've said for a long time, North Korea
is an opaque regime. I'm sure the intelligence community continually tried
to assess and reassess and look at the information that they have. What we
do know is that North Korea tested a nuclear weapon. And we have the
six-party process that's underway with the agreement that was announced
just last week, or the week before. And now that process is moving forward,
based on the September 19th agreement, and there's working groups, and the
IAEA inspectors are going back into North Korea.

So from our standpoint, that's what we know is happening at the moment. In
regards to intel and what they knew and when they knew it, I think I'd have
to refer you back to them.

Okay, thank you.

Q Thank you.

END 8:53 A.M. EST

* American taxpayers have committed more than $110 billion to rebuild the
Gulf Coast. Of that amount, $85.6 billion has been obligated and $53.1
billion has been spent.

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