[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 7 (Monday, January 22, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S181]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            EMERGENCY RELIEF

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, during the course of the past few days, I 
have been touring Pennsylvania looking at very, very extensive damage 
from the heavy snows and from the flood.
  Earlier today I came from Harrisburg, where I was present with my 
colleague, Senator Santorum, looking over the tremendous damage which 
has been inflicted at several points from the swollen Susquehanna 
River. It is a very distressing sight. The walk bridge which spans the 
Susquehanna from Harrisburg over to the island has been destroyed in 
part. Many houses have been destroyed. My staff director of northern 
Pennsylvania, Tom Bowman, in Potter County, has several feet of water 
in his basement. His furnace is ruined. Appliances are ruined. And that 
is characteristic as well and has been going on over all of the State.
  On Saturday early, I flew to Pittsburgh, where I met Pennsylvania 
Gov. Tom Ridge looking at the tremendous devastation and destruction 
which is present there. At Three Rivers Stadium, at the confluence of 
the three rivers in Pittsburgh, water was all the way up to the Hilton 
Hotel and was extraordinarily serious.
  Later on Saturday, I saw the swollen Susquehanna in Wilkes-Barre, 
where some 100,000 people had been evacuated, and the flooding had 
spread through Pennsylvania, and what a very, very serious situation it 
is.
  As of this morning, only 6 counties had been declared disaster areas 
in Pennsylvania, which I found just a little surprising. On Saturday, I 
talked to Mr. James Lee Witt, who is the FEMA national director. Mr. 
Witt was on the job and promised to have the emergency declaration 
promptly executed. And, in fact, it was done on Sunday morning, with 
some question, some misunderstanding, perhaps, about how fast the facts 
and figures got through. But as of this morning, only 6 counties had 
been declared a disaster area, and 19 counties were added. Yet, we do 
not have all the appropriate counties identified.
  In western Pennsylvania, Beaver County, immediately north of 
Allegheny County, was not declared a disaster area. I can attest 
personally to the disaster there. Nor was Greene County so declared. It 
is important that those counties be extended, and that the Federal 
emergency relief be moved in there very expeditiously on temporary 
housing, on the grants that are available, on the low SBA loans which 
are available, and on the extension of unemployment compensation when 
people lose out on their work because of this flood damage.
  I might share with you one factor as to how serious the situation is. 
I declared this with my distinguished colleague, Senator Santorum. But 
on the banks of the Susquehanna earlier today, Senator Santorum said 
that he hoped FEMA would be ``liberal.'' But I quickly modified that to 
``moderate.'' There we have the ``L'' word from Senator Santorum. May 
the Record show a smile coming to the face of the distinguished 
Presiding Officer. But it is that serious that a call has been made for 
that kind of treatment by the Federal management corps.

  As I have earlier today on some of the radio networks, I would like 
to repeat the 800 number which people can call for assistance. They can 
make application by telephone. It is 1-800-462-9029. I will repeat 
that. It is 1-800-462-9029, where applications can be made on the 
phone.
  Yesterday, I also talked to Secretary of Transportation Pena, who has 
advanced $1 million for highway cleanup and bridge cleanup, and urged 
that a more realistic figure be assessed because of the tremendous 
damage done to the highways and bridges in Pennsylvania.
  Last year, the Congress appropriated $6.4 billion largely for the 
earthquakes in California but also for emergencies such as are now 
plaguing Pennsylvania and many other States in the mid-Atlantic area 
where we sustained a snowfall 2 weeks ago today of 30 inches. In 
Philadelphia, it measured 30.7 inches. And then with the high 
temperatures last Thursday into the sixties, with the tremendous 
melting and flooding, there is a very serious situation indeed. So I 
urge FEMA and the Department of Transportation to take all action 
possible to bring relief to those people who are in need of emergency 
assistance.
  I thank the Chair, and in the absence of any other Senator in the 
Chamber, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Bennett). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SANTORUM. I thank the Chair.

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