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CNN Live At Daybreak
America's New War: Americans Are Pitching in All Over to Help
Aired September 20, 2001 - 08:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Another touching story from the streets of New York about ways Americans are pitching in -- health workers, relief workers, firefighters.
Joining me here now in our Washington story (sic) for a little bit of how the federal government can pitch in and help, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Mel Martinez.
This largely a commercial district, sir, the World Trade Center, Wall Street, but I understand the government is concerned that some people could have had their lives disrupted in the sense of being displaced from their homes, and you will announce a new initiative today.
Share that with us.
MEL MARTINEZ, HUD SECRETARY: Well, we are indeed. We are looking -- the president has asked us for a list of ways that we can help on the domestic front to assist people who have been so devastated by this tragedy. So we're looking to find ways to help. One of them is that we've been able to identify over 100 homes that are available, so we're working with FEMA to ensure that anyone who may be displaced from their homes can find a place to go, and we have a home available for them.
So this is now a new initiative that we have started at HUD, and working with FEMA, we should have these available immediately for at least 100 families or more should they be displaced from their homes.
KING: Now, thousands of families have lost loved ones and have their financial situation dramatically disrupted here. You are also reaching out to banks and the mortgage community urging them to help out here and pitch in.
MARTINEZ: Absolutely. I have asked all FHA-insured mortgagers to, for 90 days, put off any type of foreclosure action, to not charge late payments and not to even turn people to collection agencies or to the credit bureaus. The fact is that we feel at this time, we're asking the entire mortgage housing industry to join with us in helping families to have a period of time to adjust to their losses, to adjust to the problems that they have had.
And, John, we're making this expansive, not just to families who have lost a loved one, but also to those who have been directly affected by the impact of this tragedy. For instance, there were about 4,500 clean-up workers in the area of the World Trade Center. Those people are now out of work. They have no place to go clean. So to those families, we're also extending this type of assistance.
And I'm really proud of the mortgage banking industry, who has joined with us in this call for this type of assistance.
KING: Let's turn the corner a little bit. You are a member of the president's cabinet, a key member of his domestic policy team, which was to be the major focus of this first year in office. These terrorist strikes have changed the tenor and the tone of the administration; the president to address the American people tonight through a speech to a Joint Session of Congress. You were at a cabinet meeting Friday. You interact with the president.
How has this changed the agenda and changed the president himself?
MARTINEZ: Well, I think the mood is definitely different. It's a far more serious president. He is very determined and tremendously has grieved (ph) for the loss to the people of our country, but at the same time, very determined to move us forward. And his instructions to us in the domestic side of the house is to keep the agenda moving forward. So even though we are in this time of crisis and we are dealing with a crisis, we are also very committed to moving forward the president's domestic agenda. So we'll be getting to that, and we're definitely keen on doing that, and the president expects us to do it.
KING: Mel Martinez, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, thank you for joining us. Tonight he will be in the front row tonight at the capital when the president addresses a joint meeting of the Congress and the American people. Audiences around the world will be watching -- now back to Paula Zahn in New York.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCOR: We will all be watching that very carefully -- thanks, John.
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