Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Transmitting Supplemental Budget Requests To Support Comprehensive Response and Recovery Efforts After Hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne

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