Bill Clinton: “First of all, I would like to--let me begin by thanking all of you who have spoken and those who worked in public…”

“First of all, I would like to--let me begin by thanking all of you who have spoken and those who worked in public capacities and the citizens who told their stories. Thank you in Wilmington, Mr. Mayor, and the others for joining us by satellite. The wonders of modern technology have given us a picture of that house, which proves that no matter how modern technology gets, we are not in total control, and I thank you all for what you have done. What I'd like to do in the time we have available here is just to-- first of all, let me tell you that we talked--the Governor and Congresswoman Clayton and I talked on the way down here with Leon Panetta and Mr. Witt and others about what we could do before the Congress goes home, maybe, to get a little help here for North Carolina and for the other States that were damaged not as badly but there was still quite a bit of significant damage from Hurricane Fran in some other States and whether we could get something done. So we're looking at that. What I'd like to do is to have the clearest picture I can when I leave here today of what your priorities are. Phil Lader, our Small Business Administration director, is here. Jim, you told me, I think, 50,000 small businesses have been hurt by this hurricane. And I think we've acknowledged everyone else here. North Carolinian Martin Lancaster is here from the Defense Department, and General Genega, the head of the Corps of Engineers. We'd like to know exactly what you need done the most quickly, and what priority--what we need to be sensitive to. And we want to do the best we can to try to fashion this relief package that's as adequate as possible within the limits of the law. We also want to organize our own efforts in a way that is most helpful to you. We've been dealing with the emergencies in the last week, but Mr. Culbreth just said--I mean, I frankly was astonished that you had over 98 percent of the people hooked up to their power again. I think it's a stunning achievement. But now we need to focus on where to go from here and how to do the rebuilding. I'm glad to see Commissioner Graham out there, and Mr. Campbell, I'm glad to see you. I asked on the way in about the farm losses and how we could help to deal with that. So I'd just like for anybody here around the table or out in the audience--again, there are a couple of public officials I see on the television there in Wilmington or at least citizens who haven't said anything. Anybody wants to say anything else to me about what you feel should be done in what order, I would like to hear it. [The discussion continued.]”