President Bush Meets with Elected Officials and Community Le

THE PRESIDENT: It is my pleasure to be back in New Orleans. I want to thank the Lieutenant¹ Governor, the Mayor, the head of the City Council, the parish presidents for joining me.

I committed to stay involved in the rebuilding of -- gosh, a United States Senator, excuse me, Senator -- and the Congressman², I beg your pardon. I committed to the people of this part of the world and the Gulf³ Coast that the federal government would fund recovery and stay committed to the recovery. And one of the reasons I have come down is to hear from you. I fully⁴ understand that there are frustrations⁵ and I want to know the frustrations. And to the extent we can help, we'll help. I told the people that I would work with the Congress to write a $110 billion check -- the people of Louisiana and Mississippi, and that check has been written. And now it's incumbent⁶ upon us to get the money into people's hands.

Sometimes it's hard to see progress when you're living close to the scene. I guess the New Orleans Saints football team represents to me what's happening in this part of the state -- a resurgence⁷, there's a renewal⁸. Even though there's a lot of work to do, the spirit of the people down here is strong.

And so I want to thank these leaders for joining me. It means a lot to me. It's good to be with you. It's also good to be in a place where you can buy some pretty good food. (Laughter.) I'm looking forward to it.