Our second
commitment is to help the citizens of the Gulf Coast to overcome this
disaster, put their lives back together and rebuild their communities.
- Our goal is to get people out of shelters by
the middle of October. So we are providing direct assistance to
evacuees that allows them to rent apartments.
- In
the disaster area and in cities that have received huge numbers of
displaced people, we are beginning to bring in mobile homes and
trailers for temporary use.
- To relieve the burden on local health care
facilities in the region, we are sending extra doctors and nurses to
these areas.
- We are also providing money that can be used to
cover overtime pay for police and fire departments while cities and
towns rebuild.
- Near New Orleans, Biloxi and other cities, housing
is urgently needed for police and firefighters, other service providers
and the many workers who are going to rebuild those cities.
- Right now,
many are sleeping on ships we have brought to the Port of New Orleans,
and more ships are on their way to the region.
- And we will
provide mobile homes and supply them with basic services as close to
the construction areas as possible, so the rebuilding process can go
forward as quickly as possible.
- And the federal government will
undertake a close partnership with the states of Louisiana and
Mississippi, the city of New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities, so
they can rebuild in a sensible, well-planned way.
- Federal funds
will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public
infrastructure in the disaster zone -- from roads and bridges to
schools and water systems. Our goal is to get the work done quickly.
- And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely, so we
will have a team of inspectors general reviewing all expenditures.
- The Federal government will be fully engaged in the
mission, but Gov. Barbour, Gov. Blanco, Mayor Nagin, and other state
and local leaders will have the primary role in planning for their own
future.
- Clearly, communities will need to move decisively to
change zoning laws and building codes, in order to avoid a repeat of
what we have seen.
- And in the work of rebuilding, as many jobs as
possible should go to men and women who live in Louisiana, Mississippi
and Alabama.