BUSH RETURNING TO WASHINGTON EARLY TO MONITOR HURRICANE RECOVERY EFFORT

by Jennifer Loven

9:24 a.m. August 30, 2005

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CORONADO – President Bush will cut short his vacation to return to Washington on Wednesday to help monitor federal efforts to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina, the White House said Tuesday.

"We have got a lot of work to do," Bush said in his speech Tuesday, referring to the damage wrought by the hurricane along Gulf Coast areas.

The president had been scheduled to return to the nation's capital on Friday, after spending more than four weeks operating from his ranch in Central Texas. But the White House decided to move the president's return up to Wednesday.

Bush was here to deliver a speech commemorating the Allies' World War II victory over Japan and promoting his war-on-terror agenda. Later Tuesday, he was flying back to Texas, but spending only one night at his ranch.

"This morning, our hearts and prayers are with our fellow citizens along the Gulf Coast," Bush told Navy sailors and World War II veterans, the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier at his back. "We know that many are anxious to return to their homes. It's not possible at this moment."

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