Of course, our hearts and thoughts go to those who lost life. And of course, we're concerned about those whose -- who lost their homes or lost their businesses. First task at hand is to deal with the flood waters, to anticipate where the flooding may next occur... For example, in the case of Iowa, one of the issues was the need for fresh drinking water or drinking water, and so Director Paulison informed me that we've provided about 2 million liters of drinking water. When I was overseas I spoke to the Governor, and he said, listen, I -- the federal -- we need federal help on drinking water. Now that the water is beginning to recede, the question is, how do we help with the recovery? I fully understand people are upset when they lose their home. A person's home is their most valued possession. And we want to work with state and local folks to have a clear strategy to help people find -- get back into a place that -- where they can live. The country that's being affected by these floods has got a lot of farm country, a lot of people raising livestock. We've got what we called a Disaster Relief Fund. Congress doesn't need to worry about working with the White House on this, because we think the supplemental is the way to go. What they do need to worry about is making sure that there is enough but not too much money in the fund, so we can say we have done our job. I want to thank the folks at the local level for loving a neighbor like they'd like to be loved themselves. And I, unfortunately, have been to too many disasters as President. But one thing I've always learned is that the American citizen can overcome these disasters. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/06/20080617-1.html It can't come soon enough...
