[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 87 (Monday, June 27, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7446-S7447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RED TIDE EMERGENCY RELIEF ACT OF 2005
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1316 introduced earlier
today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1316) to authorize the Small Business
Administration to provide emergency relief to shellfish
growers affected by toxic red tide losses.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, today Senator Snowe and I have introduced a
bill to help a group of nearly 300 fishermen, known as aquaculturists,
who are falling through the cracks of the Government's disaster
assistance programs. Right now these businesses are prohibited from
receiving SBA disaster loans, and they are eligible for USDA disaster
loans only under limited circumstances.
To our dismay, we have learned that SBA has come across this dilemma
many times in the past, most recently last year in Connecticut, and yet
no one at that agency has ever tried to coordinate with the Department
of Agriculture. To make matters worse, the SBA waited two weeks to let
us know that they wouldn't be able to serve all our small businesses.
So even in those cases in which these harmed small businesses would be
eligible for loans from the USDA, hundreds of small businesses are left
waiting for the Secretary of Agriculture to go through the same hoops
to certify a disaster and make that agency's disaster loans available.
I appreciate all the Farm Service Agency has done to expedite the
process, and compliment their staff for being so responsive. However,
this isn't right.
Our State has been hit by the worst case of red tide in more than 30
years. These small business owners have seen their income disappear
because they can't sell their inventory. With no income they can't pay
their bills, invest in seeds to plant future crops, and they can't
afford to maintain their current crops. They need access to these low-
cost loans to help them makes ends meet until the Government opens the
shores and declares shellfish once again safe to eat.
Businesses in trouble can't, and shouldn't have to, wait for this
redtape to be resolved. To make sure this doesn't happen in the future,
I am joining Senator Snowe to make it possible for aquaculturists to be
eligible for SBA economic injury disaster loans. This will complement
what the Department of Agriculture's Farm Services Agency can offer in
disaster loans. I want to also assure my colleagues that businesses are
only eligible for loans through the SBA or Farm Service Agency but not
both. This is already prohibited by law, and the agencies have in place
procedures to protect against misuse. I than Senator Snowe for working
with me to help our fishermen hurting from red tide.
I ask unanimous consent that an article on this problem be printed in
the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Shellfish Growers Feel Snubbed by ``Red Tide'' Loan Program
(By Michael Kunzelman)
Boston.--Shellfish grower Barbara Austin has been out of
work, just like hundreds of shellfishermen, ever since a
toxic ``red tide'' closed shellfishing areas across the state
earlier this month.
The difference is that she and nearly 300 other
aquaculturists aren't eligible for the same low-interest
loans to help them weather the financial storm.
Austin, of Wellfleet, pursued a loan from the Small
Business Administration before learning they're reserved for
the state's roughly 1,500 shellfishermen. The state's 287
licensed aquaculturists, who plant and harvest shellfish,
aren't eligible because the SBA considers them farmers, not
fishermen.
Austin said the rule was ``kind of a slap in the face.''
``If they're going to make offers like this, they should
have been clear about what they're really offering,'' she
said Tuesday.
In response, members of the state's congressional
delegation Tuesday sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary
Mike Johanns, urging him to make emergency financial
assistance available to aquaculturists and fish farmers in
eight Massachusetts counties.
Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who also spearheaded a
letter to Federal Emergency Management Agency Director
Michael Brown asking him to meet with the delegation, said
FEMA should coordinate the federal disaster relief for those
affected by the red tide.
The shellfishermen, said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.,
``shouldn't be blocked from receiving low interest loans
because of bureaucratic red tape.''
The SBA's enforcement of an ``obscure rule'' was a
surprise, said Mark Forest, district director for U.S. Rep.
William Delahunt, D-Mass.
``Obviously, we are not pleased,'' Forest said. ``We're
working to get the problem fixed quickly.''
Efforts to reach SBA regional director William Leggerio
weren't immediately successful Tuesday.
On June 9, Gov. Mitt Romney declared a state of emergency
and asked the SBA for disaster assistance for the
shellfishing industry, which is losing an estimated $3
million a week. Less than a week later, the SBA announced
that it would offer loans of up to $1.5 million with a 4
percent interest rate.
Other forms of financial assistance could be available
soon. The state also is asking for disaster aid from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In the meantime, most of the shellfish beds shut down along
the coast of Massachusetts will remain closed for at least
four to five more weeks, state shellfish biologist Michael
Hickey said Tuesday.
Hickey said the size and intensity of the toxic algae bloom
is dropping in the waters off the North Shore and Cape Cod,
but it could take two more weeks for the bloom to completely
disappear. After that, he added, it would take two to three
more weeks before shellfish beds can reopen.
``The good news is that areas we do have open are safe. The
shellfish on the market is safe. The beaches are safe,''
Hickey said. ``The bad news is, it's not over. (The bloom) is
not going to be over for another couple of weeks.''
The red tide algae contaminates shellfish such as clams and
mussels, making them unsafe for people and animals to eat.
The outbreak is the region's worst since 1972.
[[Page S7447]]
Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time
and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any
statements be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (S. 1316) was read the third time and passed, as follows:
S. 1316
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Red Tide Emergency Relief
Act of 2005''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) shellfish growers, known as ``aquaculturists'', from
the Schoodic Peninsula in Maine to Buzzards Bay in
Massachusetts have suffered substantial economic injury due
to the worst occurrence of toxic algae bloom, known as ``Red
Tide'', along the New England Coast since 1972;
(2) toxins produced by the Red Tide algae contaminate
shellfish like clams and mussels, making them unsafe for
people and animals to eat, forcing the extended closure of
shellfish beds along contaminated areas.
(3) hundreds of shellfish growers have been affected by the
Red Tide, and losses industrywide are estimated at $3 million
a week; and
(4) shellfish growers are currently considered to be
agricultural enterprises, and are therefore ineligible for
economic injury disaster loans available to other small
business concerns through the Small Business Administration;
(5) shellfish growers are only eligible for emergency loans
through the Farm Service Agency of the Department of
Agriculture under limited circumstances;
(6) the Small Business Act should be amended to make
shellfish growers eligible for emergency small business
assistance, as a complement to assistance otherwise offered
through Federal programs.
SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE DISASTER ASSISTANCE TO
AQUACULTURE ENTERPRISES.
Section 18(b)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
647(b)(1)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``aquaculture,''; and
(2) by inserting before the semicolon at the end ``, other
than aquaculture''.
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