[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 10, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5431-S5433]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DISASTER RELIEF BILL
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, those who are watching the activities of
the Congress now understand that the Congress, after some delay, passed
a disaster bill to provide disaster relief to victims, especially the
victims of the blizzards and the floods in South Dakota, North Dakota,
and Minnesota, but to provide disaster relief on a much broader scale
to those who have been victims of disaster in many States around the
country.
The Congress did something different this time on disaster relief. In
this circumstance, on this disaster relief bill, which is called a
supplemental appropriations bill, the Congress decided to attach some
very controversial provisions that don't have any relationship to the
bill, that are totally extraneous, unrelated to the disaster bill. They
attached these provisions that weeks ago the President said he would
not accept.
The result was the disaster bill became a political vehicle asking
flood victims and disaster victims to wait: ``Hold on over there, we're
going to have a political exercise on the disaster bill.'' And, in
fact, this weekend, following the passage of the disaster bill by the
Congress last Thursday night, instead of sending the disaster bill to
the President then, this weekend it was held over in the House of
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Representatives, and then the Republican National Committee went on
paid radio ads in North Dakota, for example, to make a political issue
of this so that the bill could be sent down to the President on Monday,
so that they would hope the President would pay a political price for
vetoing the bill.
I don't care about one or the other. I don't care about this side,
that side, your side or my side. What I care about are disaster
victims, and disaster bills ought not be the product of political
games. In any event, I ask those who would construct a political
strategy on the disaster bill, how on Earth could you construct a
strategy by which everybody loses? What kind of a political game is
that, a game in which you have constructed an approach so that everyone
loses, most especially, the losers are the victims of a disaster?
Thousands of them this morning who woke up not in their own homes,
because their homes are destroyed, but woke up in neighbors' homes, in
a neighboring city, relatives' homes, a shelter, a tent, a camper
trailer. That is where they are living. They are the first victims of a
strategy that plays politics with disaster relief, but there are
others.
The other losers are all the folks in the political system. There are
no winners here, only losers, and the biggest losers are those who can
least afford it: victims of this disaster.
I intend, in just a moment, to ask unanimous consent to call up a
bill that I introduced in the Senate yesterday. It is identical to the
bill that Congress passed providing disaster relief, except for two
things. It takes out the two major controversial provisions to which
the President objects. I say, by doing this, let's pass a clean
disaster bill, pass it now, get it to the President, get it signed and
get disaster relief to the victims who so desperately need it.
Mr. DURBIN. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. DORGAN. I will be happy to yield for a question.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let me say to my colleague, I can, as said
by the President, feel your pain here, because in 1993, my
congressional district was inundated in a Midwestern flood.
There are many natural disasters which can befall America and a
family. One of the most insidious is a flood. It just never goes away.
Some disasters strike quickly, with a tornado or an earthquake or fire,
and by the next day, people are starting to reassemble their lives and
clean up the mess and put it behind them. A flood lingers, and as it
lingers, I have watched family after family in my district reach a
level of depression, then desperation. About the only thing that
sustains them is not only all of the good neighbors and volunteers who
come to their assistance, but the belief that this Nation stands behind
them; that, as a family, America says, ``We will come to your aid, too.
We will assist you.''
It is interesting to me that during the course of our history, time
and time again, without exception, we have said we are going to waive
the rules, we are going to drop the politics, we are just going to
focus on helping people. We aren't going to ask them whether they are
rich or poor, Democrat or Republican, Independent; it doesn't make any
difference. They are Americans, they are neighbors, they are in need.
Let us get on with the business of being a nation of people who care
about those in need. Why then are we going through this exercise? Why
haven't we passed the disaster bill to help the victims of the flood in
North Dakota and South Dakota and Minnesota, and other places?
Unfortunately, it is because some of the leaders here believe that this
is the kind of bill that puts pressure on the President. Send him a
bill that he has to sign, like a disaster bill, and then like a
Christmas tree, put on these ornaments, little things totally unrelated
to disasters. ``Let's send this to him and, boy, we'll force his hand.
No President is going to veto a disaster bill with homeless people. We
will force him. We will put a provision in there that says we are going
to violate the budget agreement, we are going to set up a new standard
here for funding agencies.''
What does that have to do with disaster assistance? If you were out
of your home, if you had seen all of your Earthly belongings inundated
with a flood, if you and your kids were huddled in some shelter, would
you really want the Congress of the United States of America to get
involved in this kind of political gamesmanship?
Even worse, there is a provision in this bill that relates to the
taking of the census. Boy, there's a real timely emergency; we better
get on this one. Shoot, take a look, it is only 36 months from now that
we are going to have to deal with it; 36 months away we are supposed to
take the census. The Republican leadership said, ``Let's put a
provision in this bill that will force the hand of the Federal
Government when it comes to taking the census.''
This is sad. This is really sad for so many people who have been
victimized by this flood to now be victimized by politics on Capitol
Hill. And it is outrageous. Senator Dorgan is correct, let us not
violate the standard which we have established which says when there is
a disaster and a need in America, we will rally behind the victims, our
neighbors, our fellow Americans regardless of party label, regardless
of agenda.
We are losing it in this debate because the Republican leadership
insists on amendments to this bill which have nothing to do--nothing to
do--with disaster victims.
I salute my colleague for his efforts. I tell you, I have been there,
and I know what it means to go home weekend after weekend and see these
families struggling, looking at homes that have been inundated with
floodwater and mud, everything in their life washed away--the wedding
pictures, everything, it's gone--and then to have to tell them, ``I'm
sorry, another week has gone by and Congress has not met its
responsibility.''
I salute my colleagues. Let us hope that just for one brief shining
moment that this body will rise above politics and support your effort
to bring a clean disaster bill to the table, pass it today, pass it in
the House, move it on to the President and get it signed this evening.
We can then say to the people huddled in those shelters worried about
their future and what they have been through that we have met our
responsibility. I thank the Senator.
Mr. DORGAN. Let me make two additional points----
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota has 2 minutes,
15 seconds remaining.
Mr. DORGAN. Let me make two additional points before I propound the
unanimous-consent request. I ask unanimous consent for an additional 2
minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, let me read an editorial from this
morning's Fargo Forum, North Dakota's largest newspaper in the Red
River Valley. It is, in most cases, a conservative voice. Here is what
they say about what is going on, how they observe what is going on in
Congress:
The result [of all of this] is to aggravate the tragedy of
the flood by extending uncertainty about relief. Last week,
community leaders from Grand Forks and East Grand Forks,
Minnesota--many of them longtime, loyal Republicans--urged
Congress to quit fooling around with the lives of flood
victims. Clean up the disaster bill, they said, so the
president can sign it.
Their words were ignored. Instead, Republican congressional
leaders and the two governors tried to shift the blame for
delays on the president. In a callous display of partisan
arrogance, they said his veto would be the delay, not the
amendments.
It won't fly here in the Red River Valley--
The Fargo Forum says--
where people are trying to put their homes, businesses and
lives back together.
The president made it clear weeks ago: Unless the disaster
aid bill was clean, he would veto it. Nevertheless,
Republican leaders fouled up the legislation with unrelated
riders, knowing the president's veto was certain. So instead
of considering the crucial needs of valley flood victims,
they opted for a purely partisan agenda. The onus is on them.
Apologists for the GOP leadership insists adding unrelated
matters to popular bills is routine. Maybe so.
But the flood of this century in the valley is not routine.
A disaster of such magnitude is not routine. The pain and
destruction are not routine. The short construction season
for rebuilding is not routine. Surely, the least flood
victims can expect is for Congress to put aside its routine
nonsense when circumstances are this extraordinary.
This from the Fargo Forum, not a liberal newspaper, normally speaking
for conservatives.
Finally, this point. There are those here who say it doesn't matter
that we
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have messed around with this bill because there is money in the
pipeline; no one is being disadvantaged. I heard them spin that yarn
for weeks.
We kid people in our part of the country about whoppers. You know the
whoppers: Yes, I won this belt buckle in a rodeo riding bulls; my
pickup truck's paid for. Now I heard this other whopper: There's money
in the pipeline. Tell that to the folks in Grand Forks.
There is a woman living in a tent right now in Grand Forks with her
family. There was a woman in the newspaper yesterday, she and her
family are out of work and have been out of their home for 5 weeks
living in a camper trailer, and they don't know when they are going to
get back to their home and she doesn't know when she will have another
job. Tell it to them, that there is money in the pipeline.
Better yet, get on a plane and go out there and try to live on that
money in the pipeline. The money doesn't exist except in this bill, and
the bill must get passed and must be a clean bill so this aid goes to
disaster victims, and it ought to be done now. It can be done simply. I
introduced a bill yesterday, and I will call it up now by unanimous
consent, and if there is objection, it means the Congress will not
allow a clean disaster bill to pass. If not now, when?
Let me call up a clean disaster bill where we take out the census
issue and the Government shutdown issue and send this bill, as it was
written by the Congress, to the President for signature.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed to Calendar No. 18,
H.R. 581, and that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the
text of S. 851, the clean disaster bill, be substituted in lieu
thereof; that the bill be read a third time and passed; and that the
motion to reconsider be laid on the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. THOMAS. There is an objection. I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, the Senators both know there are
negotiations going on now. This performance on the floor does not help
at all. Our leaders are talking to your leaders. They are working
toward doing it. As a matter of fact, if you want to carry on this
thing, there may be some time where you can do it this evening. The
fact is, this is not the way to solve the issue. The leaders are
meeting, and I object to the request.
Several Senators addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I understand under a previous order that I
have 30 minutes under my control at this time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
Mr. HARKIN. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, first, I rise on another topic, but I want to say to
the Senator from North Dakota that I fully empathize and sympathize
with him on his position. The flood about which my colleague from
Illinois spoke a few minutes ago is the same flood that devastated Iowa
in 1993. This Congress and the President came to the assistance of the
people of Iowa in a very rapid measure. To this day, the people of Iowa
talk about how rapidly the funds got out there, the Government was
there to help. And the same thing should apply to any disaster
anywhere. And it should apply in North Dakota also.
I want to say to my colleague from North Dakota, he is right on the
mark. This legislation ought to get through. The money ought to be sent
out without all these other political ramifications. So I appreciate
the Senator from North Dakota. Again, his position is the correct one.
We ought to get the money through here. And we should not be loading it
down with political considerations.
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