CNN.com - Bush pledges nation's help for Gulf Coast

Programming Note: Former President Bill Clinton talks to Larry King about Katrina relief efforts and his global initiative, Friday, 9 p.m. ET.

President Bush addresses the nation Thursday night from Jackson Square in New Orleans, Louisiana.

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HIGHLIGHTS OF KATRINA AID

Some details of President Bush's aid package for Hurricane Katrina victims and regions.

• A 100 percent reimbursement to states to cover their costs of health care for treating some evacuees from August 29 through January 1, 2006.

• $1.9 billion to reimburse states for the cost of educating displaced students. The money could go to religious schools in states that provide reimbursement to the parents.

• Six-month forgiveness on student loan interest for affected areas, at an estimated cost of $100 million.

• Individual worker recovery accounts of up to $5,000 for job training.

• Increased subsidy rate on Small Business Administration loans and loan guarantees, at a cost of $130 million.

• The cost of Gulf Opportunity Zones is estimated at $1.7 billion over five years.

• Homesteading for low-income refugees to move back into the area.

• The private fundraising effort by former Presidents Bush and Clinton has received pledges of more than $100 million. Donations can be made online at www.BushClintonKatrinaFund.org.

-- The Associated Press

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NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- President Bush pledged Thursday night to put the full might and money of the federal government behind the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast and vowed to its people that "in the journey ahead, you are not alone."

In a nationally televised address from Jackson Square in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans, Bush outlined his plans to assist recovery efforts and to prevent bureaucratic errors of the sort that slowed the response to Hurricane Katrina.

The president said the federal government will pay for most of the costs to fix damage during and after the storm -- the most destructive hurricane ever, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- struck August 29.

"Federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone, from roads and bridges to schools and water systems," he said.

"Our goal is to get the work done quickly. ... And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely, so we will have a team of inspector generals reviewing all expenditures." (Transcript of Bush's remarks)

"Within this zone, we should provide immediate incentives for job-creating investment, tax relief for small businesses, incentives to companies that create jobs, and loans and loan guarantees for small businesses, including minority-owned enterprises, to get them up and running again," he said.

Bush also talked about his plans for federally funded worker recovery accounts of up to $5,000 for evacuees to spend on job training, classes or child care during the hunt for employment.

Hours before Bush spoke, Democratic congressional leaders issued their own call for a domestic "Marshall Plan" to rebuild the Gulf Coast.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Democrats envisioned "a partnership with the people in the region to build new housing, revive farmland, repair infrastructure, construct schools -- to rebuild your communities, to rebuild your lives, to restore your economies." (Full story)

The idea would be modeled on the U.S. effort after World War II to rebuild Europe, under the direction of Secretary of State George Marshall, which lasted more than two years and cost $13 billion -- about $100 billion in today's currency, adjusted for inflation.

Bush vowed to help rebuild New Orleans, much of which sits below sea level and sustained massive flooding after levees and flood walls failed.

"All who question the future of the Crescent City need to know there is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again," Bush said.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said she believed the president's comments about New Orleans were sincere.

"I am greatly heartened by President Bush's strong words tonight reaffirming the nation's commitment to rebuilding southeast Louisiana," Blanco said.

Bush -- who earlier this week took responsibility for a disaster response widely seen as sluggish and confused -- said the federal government would henceforth react to large disasters differently.

He conceded "the system, at every level of government, was not well coordinated and was overwhelmed in the first few days."

"It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority," he said, "and a broader role for the armed forces -- the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice."

The president called on U.S. cities to have "clear and up-to-date plans for responding to natural disasters, disease outbreaks or terrorist attacks, for evacuating large numbers of people in an emergency and for providing the food, water and security they would need."

"I consider detailed emergency planning to be a national security priority," he said.

The Department of Homeland Security will undertake an immediate review of every major city's disaster planning, he said.

"I also want to know all the facts about the government response to Hurricane Katrina," he said.

"It was not a normal hurricane, and the normal disaster relief system was not equal to it."

The president also sought to address concerns of the black community, hit particularly hard in Louisiana.

"As all of us saw on television, there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well," he said. "And that poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America.

"We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality."

Bush said the reconstruction effort will be one of the largest ever and the government "will stay as long as it takes."

He unveiled plans for a Urban Homesteading Act, which would make some federal property free to some poor families through a lottery system.

In turn the family would secure a mortgage or financial help to build on the lot through a charity like Habitat for Humanity, he said.

Bush praised Americans for their charitable contributions to relief funds and said "this evening the need [for donations] is still urgent."

"His three proposals are innovative and bold," said Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, as reported by The Associated Press.

"Leadership isn't a speech or a toll-free number. Leadership is getting the job done. No American doubts that New Orleans will rise again. They doubt the competence and commitment of this administration," the AP reported Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts as saying.

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HIGHLIGHTS OF KATRINA AID

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