Remarks at a roundtable discussion on flood relief in Arnold, Missouri - Bill Clinton speech - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, July 26, 1993

July 17, 1993

The President. Thank you all for coming. As you know, we're starting just a bit late because we all had to come down from the airport, and we came in different ways. I do want to thank everyone for being here and say this is a rather extraordinary meeting of Federal, State, local, and private sector emergency response people. We're going to try to get through a very busy agenda today, and it will be my job to try to keep us more or less on schedule. So I hope we can, because there are an awful lot of issues that have to be dealt with.

I'd like to thank the Governors who are here: Our host, Mel Carnahan, of Missouri. Terry Branstad of Iowa I think is here - there he is; I missed him when I went around - who hosted me on a trip to Iowa, two trips to Iowa recently. Is Governor Thompson of Wisconsin here? I think he's coming. Governor Edgar of Illinois, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Ed Schafer of North Dakota, Arne Carlson of Minnesota, and Walter Miller of South Dakota. I think that is all the Governors who are here.

I'd also like to thank the Members of Congress who are here or who are scheduled to come. We have Senator Barbara Mikulski at the table, whose committee has jurisdiction over the operations of emergency management; Senator Kit Bond from Missouri, our host; Senator Bill Bradley is here somewhere or on the way, whose family farm in Missouri is apparently under water. He may be here in his private capacity rather than as United States Senator.

We're delighted to be in the host district of the majority leader of the United States House of Representatives, Dick Gephardt, and I want him to say a word in a moment, since we're camped out here in his backyard. Congressman Bruce Vento from Minnesota; Congressman Peter Hoagland from Nebraska; Congressman Minge; Congressman Volkmer is coming, I think; and Congressman Pomeroy is here. And I think Senator Wellstone from Minnesota is scheduled to come.

Let me also tell you, all of you from all these States, that the Vice President and I and our administration team had an extensive meeting yesterday in Washington with the congressional delegations from all the affected States. And you would be very interested to know that not only did virtually every Member of Congress from every State here represented show up, but there was also a rather substantial representation from interested Members of Congress from other States who just wanted to be there, get a briefing, and know what they could do to help. It was a very, very large and very impressive turnout. And I told them all we were coming here today. I invited them here, but most of them did their work on this issue yesterday at that meeting. Did I recognize Congressman Wheat? I don't know if I did, but he's here. Thank you.

I also want to say that the heads and Secretaries of 10 Federal Departments or Agencies in our administration are here working together. And I'd like to briefly acknowledge them so you'll know who they are and ask them to at least raise their hands: James Lee Wilt, the Director of FEMA; the Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Espy; Secretary of Transportation, Federico Pena; Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown, who just became a grandfather to twins. He's only 35 years old. We can't figure out how it happened. [Laughter] The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Henry Cisneros; Secretary of Labor, Bob Reich; head of the Corps of Engineers, General Williams; the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Kime; and the head of the National Weather Service, Dr. Joe Friday, is also here. And he and the Vice President had a very interesting conversation about what caused this flood. They're going to talk a little in a minute. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Leon Panetta. And I'd also like to recognize in the audience the head of the American Bed Cross, Elizabeth Dole, who flew down with us. And the Bed Cross has done wonderful work, and we thank you for being here.

Now, I'd like to ask Congressman Gephardt if he'd like to say anything on behalf of his district. And then I want to recognize the Vice President for opening remarks.

[At this point, Representative Gephardt thanked the President and members of the administration for coming.!

The President. Thank you very much. I would just like to say in response to that, I think it's fair to say that all of us in the administration who have been to this region have been very moved by what we have seen, both the pain that people have experienced and their enormous courage and often their great good humor in dealing with this crisis.

I also want to thank the people in the rest of the United States who have sent help of all kinds. We even have seen help coming in from South Florida, which suffered so much from Hurricane Andrew last year.

I do want to say, too, we are here to deal with basically two great issues. One is, what are we going to do right now, while everybody is up to their ears in alligators? And the second is, how are we going to keep this effort going over the long run, so that we can see these areas through to full recovery? There has been a disjuncture in the past, I think, between what happens in the short run - there's all kind of questions about whether we've had enough coordination or not; I think we've really worked through that this time - but also whether the Federal Government can stay in the long run. And there is an almost collective emotional process that people go through when it first hits. Folks are brave and good humored and courageous, but then the reality of the losses that sink in, and a grief takes over. And then, if everyone is not at least doing their best, a lot of anger can come in the wake of that.