Contact: White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 202-456-2580

BILOXI, Mississippi, Aug. 28 /Christian Newswire/ --The following text is of remarks by President Bush after a lunch with community leaders:

12:39 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Laura and I are pleased to be down here again, and we want to thank the community leaders from the Gulf Coast region of Mississippi for sharing their thoughts and their concerns and their hopes and their aspirations. 

I was just commenting on how clean the beaches look, and that wasn't a given a year ago.  The beaches were cluttered with debris and garbage -- the beautiful beaches here had been destroyed.  And now they speak to the hope of this part of the world. 

There's still a lot of problems left, but the people down here need to know the federal government is committed to working with you and the local people, and that, even though we've been through about one year together, one year doesn't mean that we'll forget.  As a matter of fact, now is the time to renew our commitment to let the people down here know that we will stay involved and help the people of Mississippi rebuild their lives. 

The truth of the matter is the ultimate future for this region down here depends on the people of Mississippi.  It requires the spirit and the courage of the people of this part of the world to rebuild and I'm confident that's going to be the case.

We saw that spirit right after the storm hit, and we still see that spirit.  And so I want to thank the good folks for letting us come by and say hello.  We value our friends down here, and we really appreciate the good people of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi for what you stand for. 

Governor, thank you, appreciate you.  (Applause.)  

END           12:42 P.M. CDT