Transcript for Aug. 27

MR. PAULISON: Well, first of all, they should be outraged, and we are taking each of those issues one at a time and fixing those. Let me cover a couple of those. One: the most—the one that got the most visibility was the expedited assistance program where we gave $2,000 to families who quite frankly were transported in every state in this country. People were taken off the rooftops, out of their homes, swam out of—through their attics, moved to different states, had—barely had the clothes on their backs. We gave them money to, to, to buy clothing, to, to take care of their children, to get clothes, shoes, and food for their children, to make sure that, that they’re going to have what they do to survive. They had no access to identification, they had no access to their bank accounts. It was the right decision to make.

A lot of people took advantage of it. I don’t think it was as much as what the GAO said, and we’re having our, our inspector general actually go over those—that process they used and the methodology they used to determine that.  However, it was the right decision to give the money out. People needed the money and I’m sorry that a handful of people took advantage of that.

What we did not have was an identity verification system in place that would allow us to deal with that many people. Normally, we would go to your house with an inspector, inspect your house, decide what the damage is and give you a check. These people were scattered all over the country, hundreds of thousands of them. We know where the damage was. We knew that Ninth Ward was under water. We knew that East Orleans Parish was under water. So there was no reason to do individual inspections. However, what we have done, we’ve, we’ve hired a company, a company called Choice Point, very good at initial verification, so the next time this comes around, we will know who you say—you are who you say you are and you live where you said you lived.  That’ll stop a lot of that fraud.

Now let me address the, the trailers. The—when I went back and questioned staff, “OK, why’d you buy all these mobile homes?” They bought the mobile homes in the same percentage that they normally buy them, generally 25 to 75 percent mobile homes to travel trailers. Travel trailers are easy. So we bought probably 100,000 travel trailers and 25,000 mobile homes. We were not able to use the mobile homes as we thought we were going to. They’re not going to go to waste. We have probably over 150,000 families around this country in FEMA-provided travel trailers and mobile homes. Having 8,000 or 9,000 as reserves, particularly with the predictions of the storms we’re going to be having this next year, is not an unreasonable number. The trailers are not being wasted, they’re in reserve, they’re there to use instead of waiting for a manufacturer to build them. So we’ll have them immediately. Having ice in storage, having MREs in storage, having all of other supplies in storage does cost money, but if you don’t do that, if you don’t do that, you won’t have the supplies you need immediately to respond like this country expects us to. So what—we are doing the right thing.

MR. RUSSERT: So the money will get directly to the people, but when they get it they won’t be able to use it on tattoos or guns or condoms-to-go, as was evidenced with Katrina?

MR. PAULISON: I don’t have any control once we give people money. Normally, we put money—either give them a check or wire directly to their bank account.  Once they get that money for, for issues the Congress has allowed us to give people money for, how they spend it is out of our control. You know, that’s an individual choice. So if they take that money, waste it on something else and don’t rebuild their home with it or don’t replace a car or don’t pay medical expenses, you know, that’s, that’s a personal decision they have to make. We simply give them the dollars they’re allowed under law, and then they should be spending it on what it’s given to them for, but we don’t have any control once we turn those dollars over to them.

MR. RUSSERT: But then the government has to house them, so how, how could that possibly be fair or responsible?

MR. PAULISON: Well, we don’t give rental assistance and also a housing, like a travel trailer or a mobile home. You get one or the other. If you get rental assistance, then you should be renting money with it, otherwise we’ll give you a travel, travel trailer or mobile home if we have the opportunity to do that.

MR. RUSSERT: You are absolutely confident that you can talk to this nation this morning and say if Ernesto or any other hurricane hits this country, the FEMA response will be quicker and more thorough and more professional than it was during Katrina?

MR. PAULISON: I can absolutely say this: We are going to make this a very nimble, very agile organization, but we are still going to stay compassionate.  I am comfortable we are where we need to be right now, and ready to respond to, to any type of disaster in this country.

MR. RUSSERT: And at the end of the first meeting, the president turns to you and says, “Pauli, you’re doing a heck of a job.” What would you say?

MR. PAULISON: Well, first of all, the—I don’t—hope that doesn’t happen, consider what happened last time he said that. But I’m, I’m confident in my abilities to run this organization, I’m confident in my credentials that I have to run this organization, and I’m very comfortable with this organization, and what we’ve done—the changes we’ve made in the last nine months have been significant.

MR. RUSSERT: We all hope, and we’ll be watching. Director Paulison, thanks for joining us.

MR. PAULISON: Thank you, sir.

MR. RUSSERT: Our viewers should note that NBC’s Brian Williams will have an exclusive interview with President Bush in, in New Orleans on the “NBC Nightly News” Tuesday night. Brian Williams interviewing President Bush Tuesday night, an exclusive interview on “NBC Nightly News.”

Coming next, are the midterm elections a referendum on the policies of George W. Bush, or a choice between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party?  Our roundtable: Al Hunt, Bob Novak, Kate O’Beirne, Eugene Robinson. They are all next, right here on MEET THE PRESS.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: Only 10 weeks to the midterm election. Our roundtable—Al Hunt, Bob Novak, Eugene Robinson, Kate O’Beirne—after this station break.

(Announcements)

MR. RUSSERT: And welcome, all. Some very good news this morning. Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni, two FOX journalists who had been kept in captivity in Gaza, are free. They have been released. Welcome home, guys, and we hope you’re safe, and your families are certainly thrilled and excited, and your news organization, to have you back. Good luck to both of them.

Let’s turn to the midterm elections. This was George W. Bush on Monday throwing down the gauntlet on the issue of Iraq for the upcoming elections.  Let’s watch.

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