As well. In addition, i want to acknowledge senator bill cassidy, senate david vitter, representative gary graves, representative cedric richmond, the mayor of baton rouge, kip holder, and somebody who i cant brag enough about, one of the best hires i made as president , the administrator of fema, craig fugate who has done juch an outstanding job not just in dealing with this particular incident but has really rebuilt fema so that there is a change of culture and Everybody Knows that when a disaster happens, femas going to be there on the ground cooperating with state and local officials rapidly and with attention to detail and keeping the families who have been affected upper most in their minds. So we very much appreciate everything craigs done. It is hard, by the way, for craig to be here because he is a florida gator and hes been seeing a lot of lsu tshirts as weve been passing by. I just had a chance to see some of the damage from the historic floods here in louisiana. I come here first and foremost to say that the prayers of the entire nation are with everybody who lost loved ones. We are heartbroken by the loss of life. There are also people who are still desperately trying to track down friends and family. Were going to keep on helping them every way that we can. As i think anybody who can see just the streets, much less the inside of the homes here, people lives have been upended by this flood. Local businesses have suffered some terrible damage. Families have, in some cases, lost homes. Theyve certainly lost possessions. Priceless keepsakes. I was just speaking to a young woman whose husband died shortly after the birth of her second child. She was talking about how her daughter was trying to gather all of the keepsakes that she had in her bedroom that reminded her of her father. And that gives you some sense that this is not just about property danimage. This is about peoples roots. You also have a situation where there are a lot of kids who were supposed to start a new school year, and theyre going to need some special help and support for a while. Sometimes when these kinds of things happen, it can seem a little bit too much to bear, but what i want the people of louisiana to know is that you are not alone on this. Even after the tv cameras leave, the whole country is going to continue to support you and help you until we get folks back in their homes and lives are rebuilt. And the reason i can say that with confidence is because thats what americans do in times like this. I saw it when i visited this place, louisiana, when i came down as a senator after katrina. I saw it when i visited new orleans for the 10th anniversary last year. I know how resilient the people of louisiana are, and i know that you will rebuild again. What ive seen today proves it. I want to thank all the First Responders. The National Guard. All the Good Neighbors who were in a boat going around and making sure people were safe, showing extraordinary heroism and in some cases can risking their own lives. Governor edwards, the state of louisiana, the city, pare rich governmen parish governments, theyve all stepped up under incredibly difficult circumstances. I just want to thank the people on this block. As i was walking down, one woman at the end, elderly, she was on her own. She had just lost her daughter. Yet a young man next door who was helping out his father but had also offered to help out that neighbor so that she could salvage as much as she could and start the process of rebuilding. With respect to the federal response, over a week ago i directed the federal government to mobilize and do everything we could to help. Fema administrator craig fugate arrived here a week ago to help lead that effort. Secretary of Homeland Security, jeh johnson, visited last week to make sure state and local officials are getting what they need. To give you a sense of the magnitude of the situation here, more than 100,000 people have applied for federal assistance so far. As of today, federal support has reached 127 million. Thats for help like temporary rental assistance, essential home repairs, and Flood Insurance payments. Femas also working with louisiana around the clock to help people who are displaced by floods find temporary housing. And any louisiana family that needs help, you can find your nearest Disaster Recovery center by visiting fema. Gov or calling 1800621fema. Im going to repeat that. Fema. Gov, or 1800621fema. Now federal assistance alone is not going to be enough to make peoples lives whole again. So i am asking every american to do what you can to help get families and local businesses back on their feet. If you want help, if you want to help, governor edwards put together some ways to start at volunteerlouisiana. Gov. Thats volunteerlouisiana. Gov. And the reason this is important is because, even though federal movie is moving out, volunteer help actually helps the state because it can offset some of its costs. Obviously private donations are going to be extremely important as well. We want to thank the red cross for everything theyre doing, but there are a lot of philanthropy organizations, churches, parishes around the state and around the country who want to help as well. And thats how were going to make sure that everybody is able to get back on their feet. So let me just remind folks. Sometimes once the floodwaters pass, peoples Attention Spans pass. This is not a oneoff. This is not a photoop issue. This is how do you make sure that and month from now, three months from now, six months from now, people still are getting the help that they need. I need all americans to stay focused on this. If youre watching this today, make sure that you find out how you can help. You can go to volunteerslouisiana. Gov, or you can go to fema. Gov. You with go to whitehouse. Gov and well direct you how you can help. Were going to stay on top of this because these are some good people down here. Were glad that the families ive had a chance to meet are safe, but they got a lot of work to do and they shouldnt have to do it alone. All right . Thank you very much, everybody. God bless. So the president there speaking just for a couple of minutes. Obviously saying louisiana hang on, lets go being ba. What you have is the stafford act provides a certain match. A lot of the homes have Flood Insurance, but a lot of homes dont. And what craig fugate is doing, what i instructed him to do from the start is, lets get money out as fast as we can because we know that there is going to be a certain amount of assistance thats going to be forthcoming. There is no point in waiting. We got to make initial estimates and we start pushing stuff out. That helps us and helps the governor and all these officials here do their jobs, and then what we have to do is, as we finetune exactly whats needed when we know, for example, how much permanent housing is going to have to be built. When we have a better sense of how much infrastructures been damaged, what more we need to do in terms of mitigation strategies. Thats when congress i think may be called upon to do some more. Now the good news is that you got four members of congress right here, and a number of them happen to be in the majority. So i suspect that they may be able to talk to the speaker and talk to mitch mcconnell. But in part because of the fine stewardship at fema and, frankly, because weve been a little lucky so far im going to knock on some wood in terms of the amount of money thats gone out this year, fema has enough money for now to cover the costs that can be absorbed. The issue is going to be less what we need to do in terms of paying for the shortterm. It is going to be the mediumterm and longterm rebuilding. Congress should be back in session right after labor day. By that time well probably have a better assessment. In the meantime, lawyers at fema will be examining what statutory flexibility weve got. I know the governors been right on top of making sure that louisiana gets everything that it can get in order to help rebuild. Mr. President , do you worry about [ inaudible question [ n no, i dont. First of all, one of the benefits of being five months short of leaving here is i dont worry too much about politics. The second thing i have seen historically is that when does ter disaster does strike, it is one of the few times when washington tends to not get political. I guarantee you nobody on this block, none of thes firose firs responders, nobody gives a hoot whether youre democrat or republican. What they care about is making sure theyre getting the drywall out and the carpet out and theres not any mold building and they get some contractors in here and they start rebuilding as quick as possible. Thats what they care about. Thats what i care about. So we want to make sure that we do it right. We want to make sure that we do it systematically. But the one thing i just want to repeat is how proud i am of fema, because if you think about the number of significant Natural Disasters that have occurred since my presidency began, youd be hardpressed to find a local official anywhere in the country, including those in the other party, who wouldnt say that craigfugate and his team have been anything less than exemplary and professional. One of the things i did when i walked through each of these homes was asked, have you contacted fema, have you filed. And uniformly, they said that they had been in touch with fema, they had acted professionally. Some of them had already been out here for inspections. And i think that does indicate why it is important for us to take the federal government seriously, federal workers seriously. There is a tendency sometimes for us to bash them and to think that they are these faceless bureaucrats. But when you get into trouble, you want somebody that knows what theyre doing who is on the ground working with outstanding officials. And thats true whatever party. I could not be prouder of the work that femas done. That doesnt mean that there arent going to still be folks who need more help and that were not going to have some constraints statutorily and congress isnt going to have to step up. But it does mean that the basic backbone, basic infrastructure and architecture that we have in terms of Disaster Response i think has been highquality and im very proud of them for that. I want to publicly acknowledge that at the moment. All right . Thank you, guys. Just want to make sure we caught the tail end of that as the president was answering just a couple of equestions. First and foremost, his message to louisiana, youre not alone. We have your back, huge props to fema, craig fugate has been around a long time. He was on the ground last week, as was jeh johnson, whether those calls began to have are the president come. The federal government was there on the ground. So you have the gutwrenching story of the tens of thousands of homes just gone. Well continue to watch sorry, say it again. Okay. Were just taking photos. Hes been meeting a number of young folks be with folks who have been in baton rouge for a long, long time essentially saying we are with you. Let me also add the politics of all of this. The president s one line that i jotted down this is not a photoop issue. Right . A jab, perhaps, to donald trump himself who flew down there last week with his running mate and donated an 18wheeler full of items for folks who needed them. Two other notes before i bring in my reporter in addition to visiting this floodravaged area of louisiana, he also took time today to meet with families of those Slain Police Officers from last month, the three who were killed, three were shot. And also Alton Sterlings family meeting with him as well. So that said, let me first bring in nick valencia down there in denim springs, louisiana, one of the hardest hit areas by these floods. What is the sense you have from folks who you are talking to about the president come being to them today . Reporter its a bit of a mixed reaction. Some people dont want to touch politics at all. They just dont really want to talk about it. Theyd rather focus on their homes, their personal possessions, trying to figure out what they do next and where they go. Others, however, have been a lot more vocal, including a local newspaper here, the voadvocate saying they didnt need another 2005, what happened with george w. Bush after katrina, the flyover rather than an actual ground visit. Criticism from some residents has been pretty vocal, too little, too late. The president should have cut his trip short. It should be underscored the governor of louisiana asked for some time before the president showed up so he would not be distracted by operations on the ground. By and large, we think people would rather not focus on politics here. Theyre too busy cleaning up their homes. A block down here in livingston pari parish, perhaps the hardest hit area of the nine parishes. You have tens of thousands of homes. An estimated 60,000 homes. I think thats on the low end. Youll probably see that estimate increase. I know we have talked about this over the course of the last week. Our cnn teams have been here. Theres 13 People Killed by this flood. But when you talk to the First Responders and those that are helping out residents, that really does not speak to just how vast and wide the scope of the damage was here. You have nine parishes affected by this all together, and ten days more than ten days removed from this major rain event that caused this catastrophic flooding. You just now have homes that are starting to dry out. Next steps are what happens to the school systems. Schools return on september 6. Here in Livingston Parish just a few miles away, arguably the hardest hit out of all the nine parishes, still no estimate as far as when kids will go back to school here. The president brought that up. To his point, the school kids, teachers, they need help as well. Well stay on these pictures. As you see the president shaking some hands saying thank you to the First Responders, to the National Guard who have rushed in and been there really from the getgo. So how are people who live there feeling about all of this . Lets talk about two. A columnist for nola. Com and rene singleton, coordinator for together bat ton rouge. You live in baton rouge mid city. Rene, let me begin with you. You are leading this effort right now. Cleanup efforts for folks who have lost homes. We just heard from the president of the United States. How do you view his trip to your hometown . Im definitely grateful for it. I think that he was inspirational. I know it was heartfelt. I think he was very, very since sincere. Im more grateful for the fact that he was immediate in response to our governor and that he declared us a disaster area because thats what allowed federal funds to be to be released to provide aid for people. I think thats a more salient point than anything else. Nd a the criticism of the vacation, the photos of him playing golf while all of you were cleaning up, although the governor governor edwards said, hang on, sir, wait a week. Your response to that . Well, thats the only thing that he could do is to respond to what our governor requested of him. That was the reasonable response. You can certainly understand why the governor did that. So mr. Obama responded in i think the right way. Im sure that he coordinated the timing of his trip with our governor. Theres nothing else to be done about that. That was reasonable. You say it is reasonable. Jarvis, to you. You are in new orleans. I know it was 11 years ago this month when katrina happened, when you lost your home. You actually sought refuge in baton rouge then. As a columnist for tthe picciu, what do you think . I agree with the others that the president ial response was a whole lot different than in 2005. The president said craig fugate was his best hire during his term in office and i dont think there is anybody that would actually disagree with that. Mr. Fugate and fema have been outstanding not just in this crisis but throughout the president s tenure. However, the point i was making in the column is that we as americans have developed an expectation that when we are suffering, that our president will Pay Attention to us. And there is something slightly discomforting about the president being on vacation when people are suffering. I think that acknowledging that Everybody Needs a break and the leader of the free world has a lot of issues and would need to take a break every now and then. But the president went on a fundraiser on august 15th, and he said that his wife gave him permission to do so because that was important. And it just contrasts the fact that he did not or just highlights the fact that he did not come to louisiana. I would think most people would say that what was happening here was more important than a fundraiser. We are in the thick of, in addition to this horrible Natural Disaster in baton rouge, it is an election year. The president himself just said nobody gives a hoot if you are a democrat or a republican. So rene, my question to you is, we saw donald trump and mike pence, his running mate, down there a couple of days ago, donated an 18wheeler full of items. Do you give him credit for that . Certainly, i would give him credit for that. I think everything that helps does help and we are certainly grateful for it. Hillary clinton has said that she will visit louisiana at a time when the presence of a lit cal campaign will not disrupt the response. I dont know if youve made up your mind as to who youre voting for, but would you like to see Hillary Clinton come down sooner rather than later . I dont think thats the issue, i dont think sooner or later is the issue. I think what she brings is the issue. If there is aid to be given and aid to be had by her visit, i would certainly welcome it. I think that it would be timely whenever it happens. This is going to take a long time to affect a change for everybody. As you heard the president say, there were over 100,000 people who were affected. So i cant say that within the foreseeable future if she comes with aid, we would certainly be delighted and welcome it. Rene, id like to stay with you because flooding aside, i know that the president is also meeting today with the family members of the Slain Police Officers in baton rouge and also the relatives of alton sterling. This group was around a long before