2001 US press briefings
3:15 P.M. EDT
MR. FLEISCHER: Good afternoon. I want to give everybody a report on the President's activities for the day, and then share with you some information about what the various agencies are doing to combat this terrorist attack.
Q Can you tell us about the evacuation of the EOB?
MR. FLEISCHER: There is no evacuation of the EOB.
Q No?
MR. FLEISCHER: No.
Q And Lafayette Park?
MR. FLEISCHER: I'll be explaining everything.
The President today has made a series of phone calls to world leaders. He has spoken to Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan, Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy, Lord Robertson of NATO, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and Egyptian President Mubarak.
As you know, earlier today he spoke with Mayor Giuliani and Governor Pataki to express his concerns about events up in New York and inform them, of course, that he will be going there tomorrow. The President also visited a local hospital today. I'm going to have a little bit more to say about that shortly.
And beginning in just a few minutes, the President will meet with members of Congress from the Virginia area and the New York area to talk about the ongoing efforts of the federal government to be of assistance to the families and to the victims.
Tomorrow will be a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance. The President will attend a church service here at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. And the President is asking all Americans at their lunch hours to go and attend a church, a synagogue, a mosque, a place of their own choosing for worship, to say a prayer in assistance to the families and the victims of this horrible incident.
As for the activities of the federal government, let me fill you in on several activities, including the one Helen just asked about.
The Department of Defense will be announcing the names of those who were killed in the Pentagon disaster, if families have been notified, for those families that have been notified.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that they will direct all FHA approved lenders to provide relief to families with FHA insured mortgages affected by the recent attacks by providing additional mortgage flexibility and not to start or threaten foreclosure actions for at least 90 days. Secretary Martinez has also asked all major mortgage lenders, including those who are not insured by FHA, to consider providing relief to families, as well.
The Department of Treasury, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, has announced the deployment of agents from U.S. Marshal Service, U.S. Border Control, and U.S. Customs, at designated airport security checkpoints throughout the country as part of the heightened security measures that have gone into effect.
The Secret Service has expanded the security perimeter around the White House, as what you have seen here, as a precautionary matter. All further questions I'll refer to the Secret Service.
The Department of Transportation, Secretary Mineta has ordered that national airspace will be reopened to commercial and private aviation. They did so earlier this morning. Airports will reopen on a case-by-case basis only after implementing a more stringent level of security.
The Department of Justice, in conjunction with the Department of Treasury, I indicated, has beefed up the security at the airports. And the President has directed Attorney General Ashcroft, and he announced it earlier today, to streamline the application, approval, and payment process for benefit claims of eligible survivors or firefighters, police officers, medical rescue personnel and other public safety officers who died in the line of duty as a result of the act of terrorism around our nation on September 11, 2001.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson is in New York. He has announced that the Department of Health and Human Services will be working with the Federal Emergency Management Administration to provide coordinating counseling service to victims, their families, and the rescue workers. And the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Whitman, is also in New York today, and she will be having a briefing at 5:00 p.m.