Bush Vows To Rebuild City

President Bush said Thursday the rebuilding of the U.S. Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina will be one of the largest reconstruction projects the world has ever seen and acknowledged the government failed to respond adequately to a disaster that killed hundreds of people and inflicted massive property damage.

"There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again," the president said in remarks prepared for an address to the nation.

CBS News Correspondent John Roberts reports that Katrina's price tag could top $200 billion. But tonight, Mr. Bush will offer up hurricane victims a hand-up — not a hand-out. In Republican style, the focus is on entrepreneurship — tax breaks, voucher programs and regulatory relief.

Mr. Bush committed the federal government to covering "the great majority of the costs" of rebuilding critical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools and water systems.

"Our goal is to get the work done quickly," Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Bush said Katrina "was not a normal hurricane, and the normal disaster relief system was not equal to it."

The federal government and other layers of government must have clear, up-to-date plans for responding not only to natural disasters, but to outbreaks of disease and terrorist attacks, he said. Mr. Bush said the plans must encompass the evacuation of large numbers of people and providing adequate food, water and security.

"In a time of terror threats and weapons of mass destruction, the danger to our citizens reaches much wider than a fault line or a flood plain," the president said.

Mr. Bush was to announce his recovery plan in a nationally broadcast speech from Jackson Square in the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter. Before flying to New Orleans, he stopped in Pascagoula, Mississippi, at the largest oil refinery shut down by the hurricane, a Chevron Corp. facility that took severe damage and is expected to remain off-line for months.

Mr. Bush was expected to demand legislation that would provide job training, education, housing, small business help and health care. The president also was expected to announce tax relief to encourage businesses to stay in the devastated region.

"The work that has begun in the Gulf Coast region will be one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen," the president said in his prepared remarks. "When that job is done, all Americans will have something to be very proud of — and all Americans are needed in this common effort."

Addressing hundreds of thousands of evacuees forced from their homes by the hurricane, Mr. Bush said, "You need to know that our whole nation cares about you — and in the journey ahead you are not alone."

Rebuilding across the devastated region is expected to cost $200 billion or more in the near term. The total eventually could approach the more than $300 billion spent thus far on U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress has already approved $62 billion for the disaster, but that money is expected to run out next month.

Mr. Bush faced the nation at a vulnerable point in his presidency. Most Americans disapprove his handling of Katrina, and his job-approval rating has been dragged down to the lowest point of his presidency also because of dissatisfaction with the Iraq war and rising gas prices. He has struggled to demonstrate the same take-charge leadership he displayed after the Sept. 11 terror attacks four years ago, but Republicans fret that he waited too long to reassure the nation.

Polling shows Americans are willing to pay to rebuild New Orleans. According to a CBS News/New York Times poll released Wednesday, 73 percent expect their taxes will increase as a result of Katrina, and more than half said they were willing to pay more taxes to help with Katrina recovery, job training and housing for victims.

The poll also showed Katrina had shaken Americans' confidence in the government's ability to manage a crisis – and their overall trust in government to do what's right.

Fifty-six percent of those polled said they are now less confident in the government's ability to respond to terror or disaster. And just 29 percent said they generally trust the government in Washington to do what is right most of the time – the lowest level in seven years.

Mr. Bush offered the nation's thanks to all the rescue and aid workers who pitched in to help. "And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes ... we will stay as long as it takes ... to help citizens rebuilding their communities and their lives."

He said Washington would forge a close partnership with Louisiana and Mississippi, the city of New Orleans and other cities along the Gulf of Mexico coastline "so they can rebuild in a sensible, well-planned way." Mr. Bush said taxpayers expect the work of repairing public infrastructures "to be done honestly and wisely — so we will have a team of inspector generals reviewing all expenditures."

After denying charges that blacks and poor people were forgotten in the search and recovery efforts, Mr. Bush planned to promise that needy people would get special attention in the reconstruction, officials said.

Black Americans have been particularly angered by the government response to the disaster, with an overwhelming majority telling pollsters they believe help would have come quicker if so many of the people stranded had not been not poor and black.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Mr. Bush would talk about the need to act boldly to address "a long history of injustice that has led to poverty and inequality" in New Orleans and other areas. "It's a long history and it's not something we're going to overcome instantly."

The administration has promised to reimburse states for the costs incurred in housing hurricane evacuees. Texas alone has taken in an estimated 250,000 refugees from the flooding, an overwhelming majority of whom are believed to qualify for Medicaid.