White House Gaggle

By Dana Perino
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. Incidently, 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. Incidently,
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