[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5493-S5494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE ALL-NIGHT DISASTER VIGIL

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I want to take a couple of minutes of the 
time allotted to thank so many of our colleagues from both sides of the 
Congress for their participation in our all-night vigil last night.
  We began at 6 o'clock yesterday evening and worked through until 9 
o'clock this morning, nonstop. We had about 25 Senators who 
participated, Senators from all over the country, and some Senators 
from States that were not affected by the disaster, not included in the 
supplemental legislation. We had Members of the House of 
Representatives who participated and came all the way over to express 
their concern and to participate. I am told we had close to 50 Members 
of Congress who participated throughout the night. Many of them stayed 
up all night. I myself had the opportunity to get a couple hours of 
sleep.
  Especially, I want to thank all of the leadership committee staff for 
the tremendous job that they did, the DTCC staff, the DPC staff, 
certainly the steering coordination people, and my staff in the 
leadership office. They deserve our commendation and a heartfelt thanks 
for all of the work they did in bringing this about. We had the 
opportunity, as some of my colleagues have already noted, to talk to 
people around the country and express to them our sincere hope that 
they know how hard it is sometimes to get this legislation back on 
track, but also recognize how desirous we are of making that happen 
soon.

  I have had the opportunity to talk to Senator Lott this morning. I am 
hopeful that as a result of our conversation and the conversations that 
I know he is having with other Members, especially on the House side, 
that we might actually find some way to reach an agreement sometime 
before the end of the day. I think that is possible. I think there 
still has to be a lot of good discussion and good-faith effort to try 
to find a compromise procedurally. But I certainly am hopeful that can 
be done today.
  Last night we talked to people who simply said that they cannot wait 
any longer, and there are those who said that the problem they are 
concerned about now is the very short timeframe that we have within 
which to do any real construction work in the Dakotas and Minnesota. We 
have no more than 120 to 125 days. In some cases it is less than 100 
days depending on the kind of construction project they are 
considering. So the bottom line is that if you do not get started soon, 
you miss an entire construction period in the northern part of our 
country.
  That is why it is imperative that these people know exactly how much 
money they can expect so they can budget for purposes of letting 
contracts and making plans on infrastructure. There are going to be 
projects that are going to require more than 1 year. The mayor of 
Watertown said she felt that it is going to take 2 to 3 years to deal 
with all the infrastructure problems that are out there.
  So there is no doubt that we are not going to be able to deal with 
all of the problems we have right now. But we are going to be able to 
prioritize as soon as we know what the budget is. We are going to be 
able to let contracts. We are going to be able to address these needs 
one by one and make some effort at trying to resolve the most difficult 
priorities first--the most contentious and problematic issues that many 
of these people have to deal with.
  So, Mr. President, I think it is so critical that we get on with this 
legislation, that we pass it, and that we take out the extraneous 
legislation.
  I indicated that we would be more than happy--and I will repeat it 
again this morning--to work with leadership on both sides of the 
Congress and with our Republican colleagues in particular to design a 
way in which to have a time certain to consider these provisions with 
even an amount of time to be debated. We could even perhaps consider 
limitations on amendments--I am not suggesting that today--but perhaps 
even an amendment limitation in an effort to expedite consideration of 
these extraneous matters. The two most contentious, of course, are the 
census and the continuing resolution. They are the ones that we would 
want to find a way in which there could be a separate debate, a date, 
and a time certain for consideration and ultimately a vote. Let's do 
that. We can do it simultaneously with the passage of the disaster 
bill. But that would allow us the opportunity to move forward even this 
afternoon.
  So I am hopeful that we can accomplish that. I am hopeful that 
perhaps now in the last 24 or 48 hours there can be a growing 
appreciation of the need to do something like that. I remain ready to 
sit down and discuss the matter with anybody who has another idea. 
Until that time, I think it is important that we begin working on this 
effort.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DORGAN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, how much time remains on the amount of 
time allocated to the leader?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Ten minutes twenty seconds.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, let me follow on his remarks just for a 
few minutes and read a couple of letters from some folks because, after 
all, this is not some theory or some debate about policy. It is a 
discussion about how this issue impacts the lives of citizens. I 
thought it would be useful to read a couple of the letters that we have 
received.

  This is a letter from a fellow in Grand Forks, ND, who writes, ``The 
people here have no homes, no jobs, no other homes to go to. They have 
no toys, no bikes, no clothes, nor anything else, for that matter, for 
their children.''
  And he says, ``You go home and take a break for Memorial Day 
recess,'' addressing that to the Congress. He said, ``I am very angry 
at the way people are playing with the disaster relief bill and the 
lives of the people who need help now. They have no right to delay this 
bill or add to this bill. They want to add things, add more money. We 
will not have enough money even with this bill to repair our lives.''
  This is a letter from someone named Tim, who is a disaster victim. 
``I am a victim of the flood of 1997, as well as my family and friends 
and businesses who are victims of the flood. As you know, we have 
suffered a great deal, and as long as you continue to stall on the 
legislation for disaster relief our pain and suffering is prolonged. 
Perhaps you should visit here and see and feel the pain and 
devastation. Spend 3 days here and you will soon understand why people 
are depressed and why the anxiety level is extreme.'' He said, ``We 
strive to help each other out in this country in times of need. 
Americans like to spread the burden of disaster among everyone. That is 
what it means and that is why it makes us a great country, and we need 
your help now. On behalf of my family, my wife, our two daughters, we 
need your support.''
  Rodney and Judy wrote this letter to the Congress and to the 
President. ``We were evacuated from our homes on the 19th of April 
1997. It sat under water for a period of 10 to 12 days with 56 inches 
of sewer and flood water on the main floor of our home. Currently the 
house is sitting empty because we are waiting on a bill to be passed by 
Congress providing flood relief. I am a staff sergeant in the Air 
Force. My wife and my child also happen to be from Grand Forks, North 
Dakota. We are proud of our community, and we hate to see it wasted as 
it is. Right now, even through all of the mess, I have my bags packed 
and am ready to go at a moment's notice to fight and possibly die for 
our country. That is our calling in the Air Force. But what Congress is 
doing to us really hurts. I still make a house payment for a home that 
sits empty.'' He said, ``The home is getting worse day after day. I 
can't do anything but wait. Do you think this is fair? How did you 
enjoy your vacation

[[Page S5494]]

over the Memorial Day weekend? I spent mine fixing up, repairing, and 
helping my neighbors so that their homes can be lived in once again. I 
think you should come out here and spend a few days in the stink and 
the mud and the junk on the curbs and the streets. All we want is 
answers. Why is this taking so long? Stop playing games with the 
disaster bill and get it passed. We are tired of waiting for an issue 
that should have been taken care of long ago.''
  I mentioned earlier today of a call last evening when I was part of 
the vigil last night from midnight until 3 in the morning, a call from 
a man named Mark from Grand Forks, ND, whose wife is dying, whose home 
was flooded, whose family was separated, and who now, like thousands of 
others in Grand Forks, ND, waits for an answer. Mark is dealing with 
his wife's illness, with a family that is separated, with a natural 
disaster, and now he needs to deal with answers to the questions he 
has. ``What about my future? What is going to happen to my community? 
How can I put my family and my life back together again?'' And the 
answers are in this piece of legislation.
  We still have people here who, as of last night, are making the case 
that this doesn't matter. ``Nothing is being held up. It doesn't 
matter.'' FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, they say, has 
money in the pipeline. ``Money is flowing. What are people complaining 
about?''
  Anyone who asks that question has a responsibility to go to Grand 
Forks, ND, and peek through the tent flap of a tent on the front of a 
yard of a home that is destroyed where the family is now living, or 
knock on the door of a camper trailer that is parked in the yard of a 
home that is destroyed where a family is now living, or go to a shelter 
where a family now still lives, and ask them, ``What is the hurry? Why 
are you so anxious?'' Anyone who believes that there is money in the 
pipeline to do that needs to go talk to those folks, has a 
responsibility to go to talk to those folks, and then come back and 
stand on the floor of the Senate or the House and say, ``There is no 
emergency here.'' And, if they do that, then they will not be telling 
the truth because they will have known better. They will have known 
differently.

  This is urgent. The thousands of people this morning who woke up not 
in their own bed, not in their own homes, know it is urgent. They woke 
up somewhere else--another town, another home, living with a relative, 
in a shelter, in a motel, in a camper trailer, and, yes, a tent. They 
know it is urgent. Yet, day after day we continue to hear people in and 
around this Capitol justifying the stalling on the disaster bill by 
saying, ``Well, it is not urgent. There is nothing in this bill that 
will provide urgently needed relief. This is for long-term relief.'' It 
is fundamentally false; wrong.
  Will Rogers said--I quoted him the other day--about someone, ``You 
know, it is not what he knows that bothers me so much. It is what he 
says he knows for sure that just ain't so.'' We have people who 
apparently say they know for sure this aid isn't urgent, and they ought 
to know it ain't so. If they do not know that, they have a 
responsibility to become informed.
  As long as I serve in this Congress I will never attach a 
controversial unrelated amendment to a disaster bill because it is 
unfair to do it. I will not do that. And I hope others will not do it 
in the future either.
  In fact, I think we ought to change the rules of the Senate, and I 
will intend to propose such a change. I expect it will be hard to get 
adopted. But I think we ought to change the rules of the Senate and say 
that on bills that are disaster bills, or emergency bills, you ought 
not be able to offer extraneous or unrelated or nongermane amendments. 
Will that be hard to get passed in this body? Of course, it will. But 
shouldn't there be some category of legislation that is an emergency 
that represents a response to a disaster that at least ought to be held 
aside and say, ``All right, this is different. This is urgent, and you 
don't add extraneous controversial amendments to this''?
  I think we ought to have a rule change to require that with respect 
to those select categories of legislation that represent urgent 
disaster or urgent emergency disaster relief.
  I hope maybe today, after now nearly 3 additional weeks of delay, 
that we might be able to provide an answer to the victims of these 
disasters and that the answer would be that the generous amount of 
relief that has been worked on by both sides but now which has been 
locked up by the maneuvering of some, that generous amount of relief 
will now be made available to people to help them put their lives back 
together. If it is done now, if it is done in the next couple of hours, 
it can be signed into law this evening and the disaster aid will be 
available immediately.
  If it is not done today, will it be done tomorrow? If not tomorrow, 
will it be next week, or next month? How long do disaster victims have 
to wait? How long do they have to wait and how many letters do we have 
to read? How many phone calls do we have to recount about people's 
lives which are being interrupted, families split, homes destroyed and 
lives in chaos because Congress has not done its job?
  Let's hope this is resolved today.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I make a point of order that a quorum is not present.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Allard). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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