new orleans

[The Jays]

Q Scott, the President on Saturday referred to the problems of bureaucracy. It's now Tuesday. The Vice President heads down there on Thursday to deal with it. Can you cite for us a specific bureaucratic impediment that has been identified and corrected today?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think that in terms of the specifics, that the Secretary -- Secretary Chertoff, or FEMA Director Mike Brown can provide you the operational aspects of the specifics of what have occurred on the ground today. They'll be doing a briefing later today. But there continues to be good progress made when it comes to evacuating people.

Like I said, most of the people have been evacuated. I think there's a relatively small number. All those that were sent to places where people were evacuated, I think have been evacuated out of New Orleans. The levees, those are getting repaired.

Q Were those bureaucratic impediments that have been corrected? Or was that a --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the bureaucratic impediments that the President is referring to is about getting assistance to the people who need it. Yes, there are a number of agencies that are acting, but they have issued waivers to rules and regulations. The President wants to cut through the red tape in the bureaucracy and make sure that the assistance is getting to the people. One thing that he talked about in the Cabinet meeting today at length was, look, we've got to make sure that there aren't rules in place that are preventing assistance from getting to those who have been displaced, or have been evacuated, who are no longer in a home of their own, they're in a shelter. And we've got to take that assistance to them.

So, yes, that is part of -- all that is part of cutting through the bureaucracy and red tape.

Go ahead.

Q Scott, there's words that James Lee Witt had said, that -- people who had been there within three hours after everything broke loose. Why was Mr. Brown not on the ground?

MR. McCLELLAN: He was, prior to the hurricane.

Q Well, why didn't he bring in the troops? Why didn't he deploy all the necessary assistance that was needed?

MR. McCLELLAN: There were -- disaster medical assistance teams were deployed. Search and rescue teams were deployed ahead of the hurricane.

Q But why didn't he -- but why weren't teams deployed to the Convention Center? Why weren't teams deployed to the Superdome? Why were people without water, without food? Why was there looting in New Orleans for survival? And you're talking about zero tolerance. Why did these things happen over a period of days, and you start seeing Mr. Brown on the air talking about he didn't know about the Convention Center and other things. Why?

MR. McCLELLAN: Look, you're getting into all the after-action analysis, and I can't tell you all the --

Q And you're saying there is not a blame game, but you open the door to the response --

MR. McCLELLAN: I can't tell you that everything you said is factually correct, and they've got -- we've got to look at all the facts. We've got to determine what worked, what didn't work, and apply --

Q Well, what's not working? What's not working in your view right now?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and apply lessons from that.

Q What do you see that's not working right now? What is not working? Because these people are dying from dysentery now --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, last week --

Q -- infection now; they're displaced, homes are gone. Does anyone in this administration know anyone that's down there --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think you need to talk to people on the ground --

Q -- beyond Trent Lott?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- people on the ground who have --

Q Does anyone in this White House know anyone that's there, beyond Trent Lott, that's lost a home, that has lost family, that's displaced?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President visited with a number of those who have been affected by the hurricane. We went down to Mississippi and Louisiana on Friday. The President visited with a number of people in the Biloxi area who have lost everything they had. The President saw firsthand --

Q Does anyone in this administration know anyone personally who's been affected by the devastation?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, the President has talked about those, and the President has visited with people who have lost everything they have. I know people that have been displaced, friends of mine. And it's terrible when you go and see the devastation on the ground. We've seen the devastation on the ground. We've seen the homes that are no longer there. We've seen the flooding that has covered a large portion of New Orleans and that has taken lives. There are people who continue to suffer and we need to get them help. And that's why our focus is on getting them help.

Q Scott, is the President going to New Orleans any time now that the safety situation seems to be under control?

MR. McCLELLAN: He was just in New Orleans on Friday.

Q Is he going back now that the water has receded --

MR. McCLELLAN: I suspect he will continue to visit the region.

Q -- and be on the ground?

MR. McCLELLAN: He was on the ground in New Orleans. Go ahead. In fact, he visited with a number of people who have been affected by the hurricane in New Orleans.

Go ahead.

Q Did anyone take him to the Superdome? Does anyone want to take him there?

MR. McCLELLAN: The Superdome has been evacuated, is my understanding.

Q But is anyone going to take him there so he can see what happened there, to see the aftermath?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, look, one thing we don't want to do is disrupt ongoing response and recovery efforts, April, and there are still issues being addressed on the ground in New Orleans. There's the flooding. We're going to have a very ugly scenario once all the water is pumped out of New Orleans and we start to recover even more bodies and we start to address health issues that could come about because of all the massive flooding that occurred in New Orleans. We've got a lot of concern about health issues.

Q -- dysentery is on the --

MR. McCLELLAN: Actually, I think you ought to talk to the health officials. Secretary Leavitt provided an update to the President about --

Q Scott, you're not up to date with what's happening there. Dysentery has already started --

MR. McCLELLAN: April, I'm going to move on, because I don't think --

Q But it sounds like you are not up to date.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I don't think you have all the facts correct --

Q No, I have enough facts.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and making broad statements is one thing, but --

Q I'm not making broad statements. The people have infection and dysentery already.

MR. McCLELLAN: Secretary Leavitt and the CDC and others can provide you -- yes, they can provide you with those health issues and how they're addressing those health issues.