[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5486-S5488]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  A VIGIL ON THE DISASTER RELIEF BILL

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, last evening a number of us were here, a 
good many Senators, as a matter of fact, were here almost all night 
holding a vigil on the issue of the disaster relief bill that seems 
ensnarled in, regrettably, politics as usual. We have done the only 
thing we can do, and that is to apply as much consistent pressure as is 
possible to the Congress to say, ``Do the right thing.'' And the right 
thing is to pass disaster relief for victims who have suffered natural 
disasters, especially the flood victims in the region of Minnesota, 
North Dakota, and South Dakota, and get them that aid as soon as is 
possible.
  I am not here to point fingers or to say that there is this side or 
that side. For me there is only one side and that is being on the side 
of victims of a natural disaster. I know there are a lot of things 
floating around here, back and forth, with extraneous amendments and so 
on. I am not interested in politics. I am only interested in progress, 
speaking on behalf of some people who were dealt a very serious blow, 
one they did not deserve but one that they now have to try to recover 
from, and one they will recover from when we reach out our hand of help 
to say, ``You are not alone. The rest of the country wants to offer you 
some help.''
  During this vigil we held last night--my time was from midnight to 3 
in the morning--I found myself at 2 in the morning talking on a 
nationwide radio talk show with ``The Trucking Bozo,'' I guess his show 
is called. I guess I didn't think, when I came to the Senate, that I 
would be, at 2 a.m., talking to the ``Trucking Bozo'' on a national 
radio program. But to the extent I had an opportunity to talk to 
truckers across this country who were hauling America's goods back and 
forth, I am glad I did. I hope they got the message as well, that most 
of us want what is right for this country, and what is right at this 
moment is for Congress to stop all the extraneous things that are going 
on and pass disaster relief.
  In the middle of all of these discussions, however, with the 
``Trucking

[[Page S5487]]

Bozo'' and a call-in radio station in New York and Denver and Boston 
and elsewhere across the country, we visited with many victims of the 
disaster. One of them last evening, among many who shed tears talking 
about their plight, was a man named Mark. Mark called from Grand Forks, 
ND. He has been out of his home now, I guess, for 5 or nearly 6 weeks. 
He has not seen his children, he said, for close to a month. They are 
with the grandparents. And his wife, he said, is in the hospital, dying 
of cancer, with a month or month and a half left to live.

  He, at 1 in the morning, was calling me to say, ``Somehow it's unfair 
for us to be held hostage here. For me, for my family, for our 
community, we desperately need to get the help that is in this bill to 
put our lives back together.''
  For this person to come, with all of the burdens in his life, to call 
in and urge, once again, the responsible thing be done, it really 
almost breaks your heart to know that all of these families, many of 
whom are now separated, some of whom last night said they are living in 
tents in their front yard because their home was destroyed and is 
uninhabitable, others living in camper trailers, others living in 
shelters, others living in neighboring towns with families split, 
having lived like that for weeks and now wondering, what about 
tomorrow? What about my home that was destroyed? What about my job, 
it's not there. What about my future and asking us, ``Can't you please 
do something?''
  I will not today and will not in the future say that one side is 
wrong and the other side is right. We are better and they are not. That 
is not what this is about. It is about Congress doing what it 
historically always has done on a disaster bill. The Congress is a 
unique institution. In a democracy, it is a wonderful institution, and 
I feel privileged every day to wake up and come and serve this country 
in the U.S. Senate. But we have rules, very few of which in the Senate 
prevent us from adding things to other bills. On almost any occasion, 
any day, any way, someone brings a bill to the floor of the Senate and 
someone adds an amendment that is totally extraneous--and they do it on 
all sides of the political aisle, and I understand that--but, generally 
speaking, on disaster bills, that has not been the case. Why? Because 
disaster relief bills are different. They represent an emergency 
response to people in need.
  This got caught up in some of those issues, and I say let's decide 
today to stop that. Let's take all of these extraneous issues off, pass 
this bill, get the President to sign it and get help to the people who 
desperately need it. I know, because I come from North Dakota and 
because that was perhaps the hardest hit area--North Dakota, Minnesota, 
South Dakota--in these disasters, that I have a very parochial interest 
in this. But I am telling you, if every Member of the Senate could 
visit with our constituents in our region and walk away not having a 
broken heart from what those people face and not have a feeling of 
enormous responsibility to help them in any way possible on an urgent 
basis, to help them right now to put their lives together, there isn't 
one Member of this body who can resist this.
  The Senators from Minnesota, Senator Grams and Senator Wellstone, the 
Senators from South Dakota, Senator Daschle and Senator Johnson, and 
the Senators from North Dakota, Senator Conrad and myself, all of us 
worked very hard to put the disaster package together. We had great 
cooperation from all sides of the political aisle in the Senate.
  I want to close with this point. While I am enormously gratified by 
the cooperation we have had and feel gratified with the work we did 
together, when those who now talk about scaling down this bill also 
talk about maybe diminishing the amount of disaster aid we have already 
agreed to and fought so hard to get, I say to them, that is not a way 
to solve that problem this afternoon or tomorrow, by scaling back the 
disaster aid those folks are waiting for. Let's instead scale back the 
extraneous provisions, scale back and eliminate the unrelated 
amendments, get rid of them and get on with the business of this 
Congress to pass a disaster bill, have the President sign it and say to 
Mark, whose wife is in the hospital and whose children are living with 
grandparents, that we care about you, we want to help you and we want 
to help you and thousands and thousands of others like you who this 
morning didn't wake up in their homes because they are destroyed; we 
want to help you make your lives whole again.
  That is part of the culture of this country. It is the best instincts 
of America to reach out and say, ``You're not alone, the rest of the 
American people are with you and want to help you in this time of 
crisis.''
  Let's try to do that today. This Congress can pass this bill today, 
and I intend to make a unanimous-consent request again to do that, as I 
did yesterday and the day before. I shall not do that at this moment. 
If we do it today, the President could sign it tonight and the aid 
would begin flowing tomorrow, and we would have helped many Americans 
get back on their feet.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota is recognized.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Chair. Madam President, I shall be brief 
today. Let me just build on the comments of my colleague from North 
Dakota.
  It is my fervent hope, and it is not an exaggeration to say prayer, 
that when I go home this weekend, back to Minnesota, I will be able to 
say to people, ``Congress has acted, and we have passed a disaster 
relief bill that will provide you with help so that you can begin the 
process of rebuilding your lives.'' That is what people are asking for. 
No more than that. All of us, if we had been flooded out or if we had 
been faced with some kind of disaster like this, would also be hoping 
to get the same kind of help.

  Madam President, I, too, last night had a chance to talk to people 
around the country on radio and television and whatnot. I think that 
the goal of yesterday and today, because the Senate is not going to 
really be back conducting business as usual until we get this disaster 
relief bill passed--that is our commitment, that is how we fight for 
people in our States--but I think really the goal is to just press and 
press and press and keep fighting for people, but more with the focus 
on what we can do as opposed to finger pointing and getting personal.
  I have talked to enough Republican colleagues on the majority side 
who, I believe, even if we don't agree on every issue, want to come 
together, and I hope it will happen. I think it should happen this 
week.
  I think that this particular form of gridlock is not working well for 
this Congress, and I don't think people around the country understand 
how it can be that on a bill which is to provide emergency assistance 
to people, you get all sorts of other measures dealing with how the 
Census Bureau does its work or dealing with debates about 
appropriations bills and the budget and all the rest. I think most 
people believe that when it comes to disaster relief, you should try 
and get it to people and keep off the extraneous measures that are so 
controversial.
  There are a lot of good people here on both sides of the aisle. I was 
asked last night many, many times, especially from Minnesota, ``Do you 
think there is going to be some agreement?'' And I said, ``I cannot 
believe there won't be.''
  I just think it is going to happen. It has to happen.
  The only appeal I would make to my colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle is that if, in fact, we are going to be talking about scaling 
back the disaster relief, I worry about it because we had a very clear 
definition of what it would take by way of emergency assistance--and I 
use those words carefully--to help people get back on their own two 
feet. This was really a good bipartisan effort. That is what we had. I 
really hope that my colleagues will understand that we are speaking and 
we are fighting and we are using our leverage as Senators in order to 
get the help to people back in our States. We are going to continue to 
do that until we, in fact, are able to get the job done.
  So my appeal to my colleagues is: Let's have an agreement; take the 
extraneous provisions off this bill. We can debate them separately. We 
can have an up-or-down vote, or if there is some alternative proposal 
that people have, great. Let's just try and get the

[[Page S5488]]

help to people, and let's not delay it any further.
  I was asked by somebody back in Minnesota whether I really liked last 
night. I was on the first shift. I said, ``Actually, not so much so. I 
would rather be doing it on the floor of the Senate. I would rather be 
in a markup in committee. But I, as a Senator, will do everything I can 
to fight hard for people in Minnesota.''
  I think from talking to colleagues in the majority party, we are 
going to reach agreement. I believe that, I say to my colleague from 
Minnesota, Senator Grams. There has to be an agreement. That is what we 
have. We have to make that happen so all of us can go back to our 
States and say to people, ``We wish this had not been delayed and 
delayed and delayed, but now, finally, a good bill is passed and we are 
going to get the help to you.'' That is the goal, that should be the 
result, and I hope that that happens this week. That is my appeal to my 
colleagues.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. THOMAS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming is recognized.

                          ____________________