By Nedra Pickler
the Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Bush will tour the hurricane-devastated Gulf Coast region on today and has asked his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton to lead a private fund-raising campaign for victims.
‘This is an agonizing time for the people of the Gulf Coast,’ Bush said yesterday as he stood with the two former presidents in the White House and urged patience, saying relief is on the way.
He asked Americans to be prudent in their consumption of energy, but called the hurricane a ‘temporary disruption’ to gasoline supplies. ‘Don’t buy gas if you don’t need it,’ the president said.
The Bush administration also intends to seek $10 billion to cover immediate relief needs, congressional officials said.
‘We’re united in our determination to help the good people who have been effected by this hurricane,’ Bush said.
The president will fly to Mobile, Ala., then survey the Alabama and Mississippi coast by helicopter before visiting some sites on the ground in Mississippi today. He then plans to go to New Orleans for an aerial tour, said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.
‘Tomorrow’s visit is another way for the president to show the nation’s support and compassion for the victims and our appreciation for those who are helping with the ongoing rescue and recovery efforts,’ McClellan said. ‘It is an opportunity for the president to get a firsthand, up close look at the response and recovery efforts and to hear from those on the ground.’
Bush got a higher-altitude view Wednesday when his plane, Air Force One, dropped several thousand feet to fly directly over the region during Bush’s flight from his Texas ranch back to Washington. McClellan said Bush wanted to get a closer look as soon as possible, but didn’t go sooner because he didn’t want to disrupt emergency response efforts on the ground.
Bush had said earlier yesterday that thousands more victims of Hurricane Katrina still need to be rescued and acknowledged the frustration of people who need food, water and shelter.
‘I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday,’ he said in a live interview in the Roosevelt Room of the White House with ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ program. ‘I understand the anxiety of people on the ground. … So there is frustration. But I want people to know there’s a lot of help coming.’
He said that while the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 were a man-made disaster, the aftermath of Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina were ‘just as serious in both cases.’
‘New Orleans is more devastated than New York was,’ Bush said.
Bush has directed his staff to try to assess the economic affect of the storm as the administration prepares an emergency budget request for Congress. Bush was hearing his economic advisers’ preliminary estimate in the afternoon after a lunch with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Republicans had contacted Democrats about bringing the House back today at noon to pass the emergency bill.
Congress had been scheduled to reconvene next week after a long summer break, Democratic Leader Harry Reid earlier yesterday urged majority Republicans to drop plans to debate legislation repealing the estate tax in favor of hurricane-related relief.
The White House has not yet sent lawmakers a request for funding for hurricane-related costs. Amy Call, a spokeswoman for Frist, said the GOP would bring up relief measures as quickly as possible. ‘Certainly our first priority is Katrina,’ she said.
The White House arranged a conference call for later in the day so Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney could consult with top congressional leaders, according to one congressional aide. Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff and Energy Secretary Sam Bodman also were to participate.
