[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 156 (Monday, November 8, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H11685-H11686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       NEW SENSE OF HOPE AND RENEWAL TO EASTERN NORTH CAROLINIANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I will leave a response to that very 
comical presentation to a later time.
  I have a more serious and also a very jovial and happy announcement 
to make, and that is to thank Members of Congress and to thank their 
staffs in particular for joining with 11 Members of Congress going to 
my district and participating in real work and giving a sense of hope 
and renewal to the people of eastern North Carolina.
  I have pictures here that show us indeed some of the scenes wherein 
we were flooded. Now that we are not with the water, somehow it is 
forgotten that our citizens are still dealing with this. If my 
colleagues could begin to think of the area which was devastated, they 
might think of a State about the size of Maryland, because we are 
involved in some 66 counties, but 33 of them have serious flooding.
  The devastation in farm life is almost unimaginable. We have $1.7 
billion that has been lost in the erosion of land, the loss of 
wildlife, the loss of various livestock, whether it be cows or pigs or 
chickens. In fact, 2.5 million chickens were lost, 120,000 hogs, 
900,000 turkeys were lost. The loss was just devastating.
  The housing will be our greatest problem. In eastern North Carolina 
we had a housing problem before Hurricane Floyd, and then with the 
housing being devastated by the rains, we now have even a more severe 
problem. Forty-six homes have either been damaged or completely 
destroyed. Ten thousand must be destroyed because they are either in 
harm's way, they are in the floodplain, or they have been completely 
destroyed.
  Many of these people are older citizens. The home ownership is high 
there, because many of them bought their homes years ago and they are 
senior citizens and their income is not as robust as the economy would 
suggest in other areas, so we really have an area of great devastation.
  So this was reason that we wanted to bring people who would bring 
hope and renewal, and I just want to thank Members of Congress for 
encouraging their staff and thank those staff members for doing this. 
This was actually the Congressional Black Caucus, under the leadership 
of the chairman, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), who 
thought it was a good way of showing we wanted to be the conscience of 
Congress by organizing this. But this really became a congressional 
response. It was a bipartisan response. We had many Members from the 
Republican side in the House who sent their staff, if their staff 
wanted to go, and we had members, at least three or four, of the 
offices from the Senate. So it was bicameral as well.
  And I just wanted to thank the Members who came. They came back with 
different experiences, but I can tell all my colleagues what the 
objective was. The objective was to allow Members of Congress and their 
staff to see firsthand the devastation so they could be advocates as 
the TVs left our scenes and we no longer saw the water, as we see here; 
or we no longer could see the scenes from this second one, the houses 
in Tarboro, which is East Tarboro, which was flooded, or the fact that 
Princeton, the first historical black town to be in America was 
completely flooded, or Trenton, North Carolina, was completed flooded; 
Greenville, East Carolina University, 12,000 students had to be 
relocated because of the flood.
  Well, the objectives of this was simply to put a face onto this; that 
we can look at the human beings that were suffering and see their pain, 
their anguish, but also their hope. So it was to raise the sensitivity 
and the awareness and the knowledge of staff members and Members of 
Congress so they would be advocates so they could help us respond to 
this in a meaningful way.

                              {time}  1945

  The second objective was to bring hope itself, to bring hope and 
renewal to the people who are now suffering. You go through stages in 
this. The first people are so grateful that they have survived the 
flood and their adrenaline is flowing with the outpouring of generosity 
there. But later on despair sets in and anger and confusion and 
frustration, and that is where many of them are.
  But on Saturday, those who came from Washington, at least for a day, 
brought hope and renewal. For they were actually cleaning up various 
homes, removing the debris, cleaning up a business or cleaning out a 
church or cleaning out a senior citizen facility. They went to six 
different counties and 13 different sites, including a farm, removing 
debris from a farm.
  We thought we would have 10 buses. We ended up with 12 buses. More 
than 550 individuals came from the capital to be engaged with the 
people in eastern North Carolina, and I just want to

[[Page H11686]]

thank them. I think it gives a new face for the capital. It says that 
people do care.
  Mr. Speaker, I think we do best as Americans when we respond to 
others to show that we are neighbors. Yes, we are legislators, but also 
we are human beings in America.

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