For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 27, 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, which
provided $2 billion in supplemental funds for hurricane-related
disaster relief. On September 14th, I submitted a supplemental request
totaling $3.1 billion to continue immediate assistance to address the
impact of Hurricanes Charley and Frances.
Due to Hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne and other hurricane-related
needs, I am requesting additional emergency funds from the Congress. I
now ask the Congress to consider the enclosed requests, totaling over
$7.1 billion, for additional emergency FY 2004 supplemental resources
for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland
Security, the Interior, Justice, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs;
as well as the Corps of Engineers, International Assistance Programs,
and the Small Business Administration.
I hereby designate these specific proposals in the amounts
requested herein as emergency requirements. These additional requests
will support response and recovery effort to address the critical needs
associated with the effects of Hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne and other
storms in southern and eastern States and other affected areas. 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
September 14th emergency supplemental request.
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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