For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 5, 2004
Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Speaker:
On September 8th, I signed into law Public Law 108-303, the
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act, 2004,
which provided $2 billion in supplemental funds for hurricane-related
disaster relief. On September 14th and 27th, I submitted additional
supplemental requests totaling $10.2 billion to continue immediate
assistance to address the impact of Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan,
and Jeanne.
Due to the availability of better estimates regarding the damage
resulting from Hurricane Jeanne, I am requesting additional emergency
funds from the Congress to address this natural disaster. I now ask
the Congress to consider the enclosed requests, totaling $691.2
million, for additional emergency resources for the Departments of
Agriculture, Defense, the Interior, Transportation, and Veterans
Affairs; as well as the Corps of Engineers, the Environmental
Protection Agency, and International Assistance Programs.
I hereby designate these specific proposals in the amounts
requested herein as emergency requirements. These additional requests
will support response and recovery efforts to address the critical
needs associated with the effects of Hurricane Jeanne. In addition to
this enacted and requested emergency funding, Federal agencies will
continue to use existing resources and programs for response and
recovery efforts from all recent hurricanes and storms.
I urge the Congress to limit this emergency funding to those items
directly related to the recovery efforts from the impact of these
recent major disasters and to act expeditiously on this and my pending
emergency supplemental requests.
The details of this request are set forth in the enclosed letter
from the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Sincerely,
GEORGE W. BUSH
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