The President: (inaudible)
-weve enjoyed working with you even though these are very
trying times.
And I want to thank you.
Govenor Abbot: Mr. President, I want you
to know the gratitude the people of the state of
Texas have for you.
We're honored to have you here in the Lone Star State.
I wish it were not under these circumstances.
But we are able to be where we are today,
in the aftermath of this catastrophic storm
that we faced.
And it's really been two storms: It was the
hurricane that turned into one of the most immense
floods ever suffered by the United States.
People's lives have been on the line, and I've been
able to see firsthand your care and your compassion
for the people of Texas.
I've had the opportunity -- for those who only get
to see what happens on the front lines, you need to
know what happens behind the scenes.
And behind the scenes, the President has shown both
care and compassion, and direction and commitment,
from the very beginning when the storm was still
way out in the ocean.
You helped Texas get prepared, providing us
every resource and tool that we needed so that we
could have a plan to respond to the catastrophe
that was coming.
And then after the hurricane came onshore,
and after the flooding began in Houston, we were
in communication, either you and I almost every
day, or you and myself and your tremendous Cabinet
members who have bent over backwards to assist us.
And then, on our flight from Corpus Christi to
Austin, to see his genuine compassion, as we saw
videos of what was going on in Houston, Texas, with
the rising water and our fellow Texans suffering,
the President was heartbroken about what he
saw, and he's committed to ensuring that Texas will
rebuild -- because that's the American way.
We take care of each other.
We've seen that with Texans helping Texans,
with Americans helping Americans.
And, Mr. President, we're stronger, better, and
better prepared because of your leadership from
the very beginning.
And I want to thank you.
(Applause.)
The President: And I want to just say hello --
Elaine Duke is here someplace.
Elaine, fantastic job.
And Brock has been incredible.
And from your standpoint, Nim and the whole group,
and Steve, who I just met -- Steve -- and the job
that they've done getting along.
Number one, they like each other -- very important.
And number two, they respect each other.
And the job that all of these groups have done
getting along is -- in terms of coordination,
has been really incredible, and everyone is
talking about it.
The sad thing is that this is long term.
Nobody has ever seen anything this long,
and nobody has ever seen this much water.
The wind was pretty horrific, but the water
has never been seen like this to the extent.
And it's maybe someday going to disappear.
We keep waiting.
We have three of our great -- four of our great
congressmen right here, and we really
appreciate you being here.
We're going to be working with Congress on helping
out the state of Texas.
It's going to be a costly proposition,
because again, and probably -- Ted Cruz is here.
And, Senator, thank you very much -- Senator Cornyn.
And we'll be working with these characters over here --
(laughter)
-- and I think we'll come through
and really get the right solution.
But probably there's never been anything so expensive
in our country's history.
There's never been anything so historic in
terms of damage and in terms of ferocity as what
we've witnessed with Harvey.
Sounds like such an innocent name, Ben, right?
But it's not.
(Laughter.)
It's not innocent.
It's not innocent.
I also want to thank my people.
And Ben Carson, as you know, is here from HUD,
and Linda is -- Linda McMahon from Small Business.
And I say this is not small business, Linda,
this is big business.
When you add it all up, you're going to be giving
away many, many millions of dollars to help people out.
And Tom Price, as you know is -- Dr. Tom Price -- you
have your people in the field, Tom.
In fact, you may say a couple of words.
And then I'll ask Linda and I'll ask Ben, and then
I think we'll get on to Nim and to Brock and everybody.
Tom.
Secretary Price: Sure.
Thanks, Mr. President.
As you said, this is a historic proportions
storm and flood.
The challenge that we have, obviously, is to
get the resources to the individuals that are
stranded right now, make certain that the evacuees
have a place to go.
From an HHS standpoint, our responsibilities are
medical and veterinarian and mortuary.
There will be of the above.
The challenge that we have in the long term is that
most individuals who suffer from these suffer
from not being able to get the medical care that they
need after the -- when the sun comes out.
So trying to make certain that we've got pharmacies
staffed, make certain that dialysis units are up,
make certain that folks are getting the
electricity to their homes so the oxygen
concentrators are able to be utilized.
And then (inaudible) disease -- making certain
the folks can get to their doctor when they are in
their hometown and get the treatment that they need.
But we're staffed up and ready to go.
We've got four federal medical stations that --
two are up and running and two on the way.
And we've another four or five that are stationed
after that, depending on where folks need --
The President: And they're big ones.
Dr. Price: Yeah, yeah.
We're here for you.
The President: Thank you very much.
Thank you, Tom.
Linda.
Administrator McMahon: Well, SBA has its disaster
relief office in the Dallas-Fort Worth area,
so we have 900 people there permanently.
We have 600 available in the surge.
There will be -- they're already coming in.
I actually did get a note on the plane from Corpus
that we made the first home loan approval
from this disaster.
So I was glad that we're already up and running.
We will be making home loans, business loans.
We'll be making loans for those folks who have lost
income, and also the opportunity to replace
property and equipment and inventories.
So we're up and ready to go.
THe President: Thank you very much.
And Ben Carson from HUD.
Secretary Carson: Well, thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you for your leadership, and you,
Mrs. First Lady, also.
Currently, everything that's been done -- it's
been great working with everybody.
And, Governor, you're one of the people
that I admire the most.
(Inaudible.)
Brock has done a fantastic job,
and Elaine.
Everybody that we've been working
has been fantastic.
And what we've been trying to do is make sure that we
go from the phase of rescue and reaction to the
phase of recovery and a smooth transition.
We're also going to be assisting state and local
governments in reallocation of federal
assets to the disaster relief.
We'll be granting immediate foreclosure relief;
insurance -- mortgage insurance,
as well as insurance for rehabilitation,
through the Section 203(k) program, Section 108 of
loan guarantees for infrastructure,
for economic development, and for a host of things,
and also disseminating information,
which is so critical.
The masses frequently become confused.
We're working very hard to get rid of some of the
regulatory burden so that we can get things gone
really quickly.
Linda and I will be working on that to make
sure that we get what we need to the people.
And I want everybody to know that we're in this
for the long run, and know that once the water recedes,
that's where our work really begins.
And we're going to be (inaudible)
until we finish.
The President: Thank you, Ben, very much.
I appreciate it.
So, Nim, why don't you take over along with Brock,
and we can through some of the different
things that we're going to be doing.
Male Speaker: Thank you sir, you know, we've been -- (inaudible)
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