Today, Congress has quickly responded to the president's $10.5 billion Hurricane Katrina emergency relief request.

Make no mistake: this $10.5 billion is initial relief designed to meet the immediate needs of the people on the ground - both the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and the brave men and women working around the clock to help them.

This disaster is unlike any our nation has ever faced before - and so the recovery from it must be as well.

Two days ago, the Speaker and I asked all the House committee chairman to begin preparing for a comprehensive, long-term response to the Katrina disaster.

Beyond this initial installment of funding, we will provide for humanitarian relief as long as the victims of this storm need it.

We will also ensure any rising gas prices in the wake of Katrina are not the result of gouging.

We will work to provide assistance and opportunities to the thousands of citizens who have lost jobs and businesses in the Gulf Coast.

We will rebuild their infrastructure, and help get their public utilities back on line.

And we will work with the law enforcement community to ensure the police and judicial systems in effected areas can respond fully and effectively to this unprecedented situation.

As this review progresses, more detailed, specific legislation will come, but for today, our job is to get sufficient resources to pay for food and water and shelter and clothing down to the Gulf Coast... right now.

The full impact of this crisis on our entire nation, our economy, our society, will not be known for years.

Our only choice now - our only hope - is to come together with courage, compassion, and resolve, to do whatever it takes to get through this emergency as a stronger, more united nation.

The flood waters will recede, but America's compassion and duty to the victims of this tragedy will not.