[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 111 (Thursday, September 8, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H7777-H7786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SECOND EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT TO MEET IMMEDIATE
NEEDS ARISING FROM THE CONSEQUENCES OF HURRICANE KATRINA, 2005
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 3673) making further emergency supplemental
appropriations to meet immediate needs arising from the consequences of
Hurricane Katrina, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and
for other purposes.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 3673
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the
following sums are appropriated, out of any money in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2005, namely:
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE--MILITARY
Operation and Maintenance
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE, DEFENSE-WIDE
(INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS)
For an additional amount for ``Operation and Maintenance,
Defense-Wide'', $1,400,000,000 for emergency hurricane
expenses, to support costs of evacuation, emergency repairs,
deployment of personnel, and other costs resulting from
immediate relief efforts, to remain available until September
30, 2006: Provided, That the Secretary of Defense may
transfer these funds to appropriations for military
personnel, operation and maintenance, procurement, family
housing, Defense Health Program, and working capital funds:
Provided further, That not to exceed $6,000,000 may be
transferred to ``Armed Forces Retirement Home'' for emergency
hurricane expenses: Provided further, That funds transferred
shall be merged with and be available for the same purposes
and for the same time period as the appropriation or fund to
which transferred: Provided further, That this transfer
authority is in addition to any other transfer authority
available to the Department of Defense: Provided further,
That upon a determination that all or part of the funds
transferred from this appropriation are not necessary for the
purposes provided herein, such amounts may be transferred
back to this appropriation: Provided further, That the
Secretary of Defense shall, not more than 5 days after making
transfers from this appropriation, notify the Committees on
Appropriations in writing of any such transfer: Provided
further, That the amounts provided herein are designated as
an emergency requirement pursuant to section 402 of H. Con.
Res. 95 (l09th Congress).
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE-CIVIL
Department of the Army
CORPS OF ENGINEERS-CIVIL
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE
For an additional amount for ``Operation and Maintenance''
for emergency expenses for repair of storm damage to
authorized projects in the Gulf states affected by Hurricane
Katrina, $200,000,000, to remain available until expended:
Provided, That the Chief of Engineers, acting through the
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, shall
provide, at a minimum, a weekly report to the Committees on
Appropriations detailing the allocation and obligation of
these funds, beginning not later than September 15, 2005:
Provided further, That the amount provided herein is
designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section
402 of H. Con. Res. 95 (l09th Congress).
FLOOD CONTROL AND COASTAL EMERGENCIES
For an additional amount for ``Flood Control and Coastal
Emergencies'', as authorized by section 5 of the Flood
Control Act of August 16, 1941 (33 D.S.C. 701), for emergency
expenses for repair of damage to flood control and hurricane
shore protection projects in the Gulf states caused by
Hurricane Katrina, $200,000,000, to remain available until
expended: Provided, That the Chief of Engineers, acting
through the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works,
shall provide, at a minimum, a weekly report to the
Committees on Appropriations detailing the allocation and
obligation of these funds, beginning not later than September
15, 2005: Provided further, That the amount provided herein
is designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section
402 of H. Con. Res. 95 (109th Congress).
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Emergency Preparedness and Response
DISASTER RELIEF
(INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS)
For an additional amount for ``Disaster Relief'',
$50,000,000,000, to remain available until expended:
Provided, That up to $100,000,000 may be transferred to and
merged with ``Emergency Preparedness and Response--Public
Health Programs'' for the National Disaster Medical System to
support medical care as authorized by the Public Health
Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of
2002 (42 U.S.C. 300hh-11): Provided further, That $15,000,000
shall be transferred to and merged with ``Departmental
Management and Operations--Office of Inspector General'' for
necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General for
audits and investigations as authorized by law for Hurricane
Katrina response and recovery activities: Provided further,
That the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide, at a
minimum, a weekly report to the Committees on Appropriations
detailing the allocation and obligation of these funds,
beginning not later than September 15, 2005: Provided
further, That the amounts provided herein are designated as
an emergency requirement pursuant to section 402 of H. Con.
Res. 95 (109th Congress).
GENERAL PROVISION
Sec. 101. For procurements of property or services
determined by the head of an executive agency to be used in
support of Hurricane Katrina rescue and relief operations--
[[Page H7778]]
(1) the emergency procurement authority in subsection
32A(c) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41
U.S.C. 428a(c)) may be used; and
(2) the amount specified in subsections (c), (d) and (f) of
section 32 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act
(41 U.S.C. 428) shall be $250,000.
This Act may be cited as the ``Second Emergency
Supplemental Appropriations Act to Meet Immediate Needs
Arising From the Consequences of Hurricane Katrina, 2005''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Lewis) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis).
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, it was less than 1 week ago that Congress approved $10.5
billion in disaster aid to begin providing immediate assistance to the
people of the gulf coast. That emergency supplemental bill was the
first of what will likely be several supplementals addressing the
urgent needs of our citizens affected by Hurricane Katrina.
I plan to be very brief in my remarks.
The human needs in the gulf region are all too apparent. The
President has promised an unprecedented level of assistance and, once
again, Congress is backing that promise with the funding and resources
to keep the aid flowing.
This is a straightforward supplemental providing $51.8 billion for
emergency response and recovery needs associated with this disaster.
Our effort today will ensure that there is no disruption in funding for
needed relief efforts. We fully expect to be approving still more
assistance once we have an assessment of the full scope and costs of
this disaster.
It is important for our Members to know that we are insisting on
proper oversight for those appropriated dollars to ensure that funds
are being spent wisely. Specifically, we have added a provision
allowing the transfer of up to $15 million from FEMA's Disaster Relief
Fund to the Homeland Security inspector general. Congress also will
provide that every dollar needed is spent to rebuild, but we will
require accountability for every dollar that is spent.
The destruction along the gulf coast will require months and even
years of intense effort to recover and rebuild. Congress and the Bush
administration are fully committed to the rebuilding process.
One final thought in closing. I recall vividly the scene of
Republicans and Democrats standing on the steps of the Capitol singing
``God Bless America'' on the evening of September 11, 2001. We stood
not as partisans or political opponents, but as American citizens
united in our grief and resolve. We would all do well to follow that
model of comity and civility. Our success in rebuilding in the wake of
this natural disaster demands that we tone down our political rhetoric
and weigh our words and actions carefully.
The lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people are at
stake. The temptation to point fingers is great in the aftermath of a
tragedy of this magnitude. Regardless of party affiliation, we must all
resist this temptation to point fingers when our citizens are suffering
and in need. There will be plenty of time to assess how and why this
disaster occurred, but not today, not now. We must stand together as we
did on 9/11, united as Americans, to assist our citizens in need.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 4 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, 19 times this year the majority party has asked me as
the ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations to help them with
procedural waivers of House rules so they could accelerate the passage
of their appropriations bills, and we provided that cooperation.
Today, under consideration of this bill we on the minority side asked
for three things. We asked, first of all, that since the last money
that was provided to the hurricane region was provided with virtually
no real debate, we asked that this bill be brought to the floor under
an open rule so that Members could offer amendments trying to increase
the efficiency of the money which is going to be delivered to the
stricken area. The majority party said ``no.''
The majority party then insisted on bringing this bill up under
suspension despite the fact that their own caucus rules indicate that
no bill should be brought to the floor under suspension, which means no
Member has a right to amend. Their own rules say that they should not
be brought to the House floor unless the bill is under $100 million.
This is a $50 billion bill.
Thirdly, because we had 17 Members who wanted to comment or ask
questions about it, we asked if they were going to consider it under a
closed rule that they give each side of House 1 hour to discuss the
matter. We have been turned down.
Lastly, we asked the majority to provide for us an opportunity for at
least one amendment so that we can correct the fact that right now FEMA
has been used as a political dumping ground for patronage by the White
House, and as a result we have a dysfunctional and chaotic agency. We
were not even allowed to offer that amendment.
So I simply want to put the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) on
notice. He need not bother me asking me for any further procedural
considerations for the rest of the session. If the gentleman wants to
stick to the rules, we are going to stick to the rules.
I agree with the gentleman that it would be nice if we could follow
on the model of 9/11 when we had bipartisan consideration of these
matters. The reason we had bipartisanship is because the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Young) and I worked together. We were consulted equally.
We met in the Speaker's office and the minority had some opportunity
for input in the product.
We have been given no such opportunity by the White House, by your
leadership, or by you yourself under those circumstances. I think the
gentleman needs to expect to receive the same kind of cooperation which
he has extended.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Alexander).
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for
yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, I want to personally thank all of the Members of the
House for the help that they have given us, for their kindness, for
their prayers for the State of Louisiana.
What I am going to ask of Members today is if Members cannot vote for
this measure, find a reason other than the Governor of Louisiana. I
served with the lady 20 years ago in the State legislature. She had
some criticism for me when I changed parties last year, but I
understand that. But she is a decent lady and does not deserve to have
her name mentioned in the same column with the word ``corruption.''
I would appreciate it if Members would refrain from throwing stones
at this particular time. We have some devastation down there and a lot
of hurt people, but please, if Members would find another reason other
than that.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany).
Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me
time.
Mr. Speaker, we are now entering a new phase of this recovery effort.
Although my Louisiana district did not suffer significant damage from
the hurricane, we now face the enormous challenge of sheltering and
supporting numerous evacuees now in southwest Louisiana.
In Lake Charles, Louisiana, a small community, we have an estimated
25,000 evacuees in need. In Lafayette, my hometown, there are an
estimated 40,000 evacuees. We basically doubled our population. Funding
appropriated in this installment today is critically needed to begin
the transition from emergency shelter to a more permanent solution for
housing of families of the gulf coast that are affected by this
disaster.
The resources of local communities providing for these evacuees are
being stretched ever so thinly now. The Cajundome in Lafayette, my
hometown, continues to house nearly 5,000 individuals at a cost of
nearly $60,000
[[Page H7779]]
per day. In a mere 30 days we will deplete the budget allocated for
that facility for the entire year, so we need help.
Local community organizations are stepping up to help, but have
limited resources. The recovery process will be long and expensive. The
Federal Government must continue to step in and bring its full
resources to the effort and Congress must provide proper oversight.
The visual images of all of this have been just horrific and the
human stories are unbelievable to hear. And I have been frustrated with
some of the delays, but we must get the job done.
This is not the time to point fingers. This is not the time to cast
blame. This is the time to get to work. We have an enormous amount of
work to do in front of us, and it has to be done in a bipartisan
fashion. I ask Members on both sides to use restraint in the debate.
Accountability will come as we move forward.
I know Congress will look into the disaster, and I urge my colleagues
to rise above the vicious rhetoric that does not provide for the
thousands of children in my district who need school supplies and
uniforms.
Displaced small businesses with help to get back on their feet;
opportunities for families to reunite; housing for those without, or,
seniors with medical care and comfort.
This emergency supplemental is the next installment in the long road
to establishing the industries and communities of the Gulf Coast. I
would like to thank the House leadership and my colleagues for their
continued support.
Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the supplemental.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk), a member of our committee.
Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation. I also want to
point out that the chairman and ranking minority member have quite
wisely repeated a precedent that we set in previous large supplementals
of enhancing the capabilities of the Inspector General's office with
new resources and new investigators to make sure that the assistance
reaches those who are in need.
This legislation that we are considering is three times larger than
any previous domestic disaster assistance legislation that we have
considered. We were advised last night by OMB that the Federal
Government is spending at the rate of $2 billion a day, and that rate
will likely continue for some time. In spending the taxpayers'
resources that quickly, we want to make sure that we are still reaching
those in need. We have seen in previous large supplementals, enhancing
the Inspector General's Office creates a positive environment of making
sure everybody knows that they are just in the office next door and if
something uncareful is done, they could face consequences.
This legislation has that protection in it for the taxpayers.
{time} 1430
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from
Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy).
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, we have talked a lot about
making sure that we not overlook those who have been affected by this
terrible tragedy. Today, Mr. Speaker, I rise to support this bill, but
also just to say we should make sure that we do not overlook those
significant numbers of people that have been traumatized by this
terrible event.
The mental health impact of this horrifying event, it cannot be
measured in dollars. If trauma can disable even those who are trained
for battle, we have seen police officers commit suicide already because
of what they have witnessed, who can begin to even calculate the
fallout on those who are most vulnerable, those who suffered trauma in
the past, those who deal with mental illness every single day?
In addition, there is an extreme need for those with mental illnesses
who have become evacuees themselves. Untreated, their diseases can be
debilitating or even fatal under extreme stress. I know that efforts
are under way by SAMPHSA and FEMA and many private organizations to
meet the mental health needs today and in the future, but I also know
that there are never enough resources when it comes to mental health,
even in the best of times.
So I look forward to working with the committee to make sure that
these and other needs are met in this bill.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bonner).
Mr. BONNER. Mr. Speaker, the events we have witnessed during the past
2 weeks on the gulf coast have been nothing short of tragic. Never in
my life could I have imagined the scale of devastation which has come
to pass in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana as a result of Hurricane
Katrina.
The endless stream of video on national television networks and cable
stations has provided us with images that until recently we had only
seen in devastated Third World countries in other parts of the world.
My district in south Alabama was severely impacted by this monstrous
storm. In some areas, such as Bayou La Batre and Dauphin Island, entire
neighborhoods and businesses have simply been washed away. As horrific
as this impact has been on my constituents, it is only a small part of
the overwhelming destruction covering 90,000 square miles along
America's gulf coast.
Ninety thousand square miles. To put that in perspective, in the area
commonly known as Ground Zero in New York City affected by the
terrorists on September 11, it totaled just 16 acres.
As everyone in this Chamber is aware, particularly our friends in
Louisiana and Mississippi, the recovery time facing us will be long and
difficult. It will require determination, strength of mind, spirit and
body; and it will require a sense of unity.
In the days since the storm, we have seen all of these qualities in
great abundance, in the people doing such large things as providing
housing, jobs and hot meals for displaced families, and those doing
such small things as providing a hug to someone in need.
But this recovery will also require one other thing. It will require
a tremendous amount of funding. The emergency supplemental measure
under consideration here today will provide much-needed funding from
local, State, and Federal agencies to continue the seemingly
insurmountable task of rebuilding lives, communities, and States.
It is difficult to know what the final cost will be in rebuilding
after Hurricane Katrina. However, the $10.5 billion in emergency
funding approved by this body last week was a good start, and the $51.8
billion measure we are considering today will provide even more vital
funding for the rebuilding of America's gulf coast.
I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) for his leadership
in this very difficult, yet important, matter. On behalf of my home
State of Alabama, I want to especially thank President Bush for his
assistance to the impacted region and for his tremendous display of
support to those affected by this storm. I am also most grateful to the
leadership of this House for responding so rapidly to the great
challenges that this emergency funding will help address.
Let me close by urging my colleagues to support this measure and, in
so doing, show their support and compassion for the millions of women,
men and children impacted in countless ways, both great and small, by
this storm. Hope is something Americans should never lose. Let us, by
both our words and actions, continue to provide that hope.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Sabo), the ranking member on the
Subcommittee on Homeland Security.
Mr. SABO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time,
and I rise in strong support for this bill and this supplemental
appropriation. The Congress clearly needs to pass it as quickly as we
can, but let me make just a few random comments.
I think it is obvious to most of us, or at least to me and some
others, that the Federal Government probably would have responded more
quickly and in a more professional manner to this crisis if FEMA
existed as it existed before the creation of the Department of Homeland
Security, and I think that is an issue at some point we have to deal
with.
Secondly, I think it is appropriate that we deal with this bill
quickly and as a supplemental appropriation today and do it quickly so
we can meet real
[[Page H7780]]
urgent, current needs. However, at some point, as this need and the
need for a supplemental grows, at some point we should follow regular
order and have the administration respond to our committees and respond
to questions and to build their case for what their plans are on what I
expect will be a significantly larger amount of money that is being
spent.
So while we proceed today, clearly we should plan, I would hope, the
next time we face a bill, at least some committee hearings where
Members can ask questions and the administration is required to provide
some more detailed plans.
Thirdly, clearly the administration, we and everyone is guessing at
what some of the needs are going to be, but one concern I have, what is
lacking and that I have heard no discussion of, is we have dealt with
kids in college, but we have thousands of kids in elementary and
secondary education who have been uprooted from their homes, been
uprooted from where they were planning to go to school a very short
time ago and scattered throughout the country. They are going to have
some very unique problems, and I have heard no discussion by the
Department of Education of providing any additional funding for these
kids in whatever school districts they end up around the country.
I think that clearly should be the responsibility of the Federal
Government. I think they are going to have unique needs in terms of
counseling, and it is going to put additional burdens for additional
students on school districts; but if there are any plans for doing it,
they have escaped me. So I would hope the administration, the
Department of Education would move very quickly to develop some
realistic plans on how we deal with kids who are going through great
turmoil and are going to face the uncertainty of being in schools that
they were not planning on.
So we need to pass this bill, but we have got lots more work to do.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Rogers), the chairman of the Subcommittee
on Homeland Security.
Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for
yielding time and, more importantly, for the work that he has been
doing these past several days trying to come to the aid of colleagues
in the South.
One year ago, this Congress responded to an unprecedented event, four
hurricanes striking a State within 2 months in Florida. Little did we
know that a year later this Nation would be tested beyond what we saw
in Florida. Not quite 2 weeks ago now, we saw the fury and destruction
that Mother Nature can unleash; and we all watched as not just homes
and communities were destroyed but entire cities.
The images on television were horrific. I do not know a single heart
in America that is not breaking as we watch hundreds of thousands of
our fellow citizens become victims to the worst natural disaster in the
Nation's history.
There has been much debate, finger-pointing in the press about who is
to blame for problems with relief efforts, about who allowed such a
human disaster to happen. This is an important question and one to
which we must find answers, but at the appropriate time. Right now, it
is time to finish the job of rescuing human beings from harm's way, to
comfort those that have lost all of their possessions, and to help them
find a sense of comfort and normalcy.
This bill will provide the beginnings to do just that. We do not know
yet what the total disaster costs will be, but we want to assure the
victims and the Nation that we will do everything in our power to help
them recover.
Just an idea, Mr. Speaker, in World War I we had a thing called
Liberty Bonds. I think it is time we thought about perhaps having
Katrina Bonds. A lot of people are wanting to help across the Nation.
This would be a way for every individual, if they chose, to find a way
to help the victims of this great, horrible disaster. So I recommend
that we think of that, establishment of K savings bonds.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Melancon). We have seen him in his
efforts in his own district after this disaster.
Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Speaker, after a week and a half of difficult days,
today is one of the toughest for me.
This morning I had to leave the devastation and overwhelming need of
the people that were affected by Katrina to come to the House to do my
duty as a Member of Congress, to see that they are taken care of in the
near term and in the long term. I hope we can bring some real help to
Louisiana and the gulf region.
First, we can make a difference in the form of today's supplemental
appropriations to provide immediate relief for all that have suffered
directly in this tragedy.
Second, we can commit today that the problems that plagued the
Katrina response will never happen again in future disasters.
Beginning today, we can start a tough and honest assessment of our
emergency response capability and how we deal with disasters like
Katrina. With new legislation I have introduced, I am calling for
creation of the Katrina Commission, an independent and bipartisan
commission that will cut through the partisan finger-pointing and give
us some real answers.
We all need answers, Mr. Speaker. Louisianans, and my district in
particular, need answers to what went wrong; and the rest of America
needs answers to how we are going to better be prepared in the future
in the case disaster hits them.
We need to know why, when New Orleans was a nightmare, we sat and
watched instead of helping the places we could help. I can tell my
colleagues, because I have been there, that some of the hardest hit
places were ignored and abandoned and even now are not getting the
attention they need.
There is a sense in my district, in places like St. Bernard and
Plaquemines Parishes, that the Federal Government, our government, Mr.
Speaker, has completely failed them. It is this point I have a lot of
trouble telling them that they are wrong.
As their Congressman, it is painfully ironic that the help I have
been able to give them has not been from the Federal Government at all.
I have had to work around the system, identifying needs and
coordinating resources myself, much of it from private and unofficial
sources.
The system was broken long before Katrina hit, and just because we
can turn on the television today and no longer see thousands of people
in immediate peril does not mean we have somehow fixed it.
As we move forward, we must remember that there are success stories
in all of this, and there is much to be proud of. First responders,
charitable groups, thousands of volunteers have given more than we
could have ever asked.
Local officials like State Senator Walter Boasso of St. Bernard
Parish and the Plaquemines Parish sheriff and parish president worked
together as a team on the ground to deliver for their people and
protect their property. Why on their own? Because for days there was no
help coming from the Federal Government.
In the last week, Louisiana has had help and had support from all
over the country. We have been grateful for law enforcement from New
York, food and clothing donations from Phoenix, and so much more from
everywhere else in this country.
{time} 1445
We also owe a debt of gratitude to the States and cities that have
opened their doors to hundreds of thousands of Louisiana citizens who
have had to flee their homes. Your generosity is a testament to the
strength of our American spirit, and your support has allowed us to
continue on when we were not sure we could.
I thank America, and I particularly thank this body for the support
that I have received from its Members through calls and shipments.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\3/4\ minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the minority whip.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time.
Mr. Speaker, hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens in our gulf
coast
[[Page H7781]]
region have been devastated and displaced by the worst natural disaster
in our Nation's history. The needs of the survivors and affected
communities are great and our willingness to respond must match the
challenge. This great Nation must respond in a manner that the American
people expect and demand.
I have every expectation that every Member of this House will vote
today for this emergency supplemental appropriation because our
paramount concern must be to assist the victims of this catastrophe,
our brothers and sisters in the gulf States. But it pains me to say,
Mr. Speaker, that once again we have abrogated our obligation to
conduct real, meaningful, effective legislative oversight of the
executive branch. We want to help, but we have an obligation to assure
ourselves that the help is going where it is needed.
Ten and one-half billion dollars by unanimous consent; I was for
that. Fifty-two billion, plus; I am for that. No hearings, no
oversight, no questions. No examination of when and how and where and
who will spend the money and who will get it. As I understand it,
neither the chairman nor the ranking member of the Committee on
Appropriations was consulted in the drafting of this legislation.
The unfortunate truth is, Mr. Speaker, this compliant Congress has
acted more like an adjunct to this administration than the co-equal
branch that the Constitution demands we be.
Now, more than ever, the American people deserve honest answers to
hard questions about the inadequate Federal response to this disaster.
For example, why did Federal agencies and officials fail to appreciate
the magnitude of this disaster, even as they were being warned by
hurricane experts of the potential devastation? We all watched it on
television being reported to us. Why was the Federal response too slow
and initially too inadequate?
As the columnist David Broder wrote on Sunday, ``The majority of
Republicans see themselves first and foremost as Members of the Bush
team and do not want to make trouble by asking hard questions.''
I close, Mr. Speaker, by simply saying that, of course, we are going
to support this, but, Mr. Speaker, I urge us to have oversight. Fifty-
two billion dollars is a lot of money, and we are going to spend
whatever is needed, but let us make sure we spend it right and let us
make sure the right people get the money.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume to mention, as I did in my opening statement, that we have
changed this a bit by adding $15 million to make sure our inspector
general is assisting us in making sure that every dollar that will be
spent, and it is necessary to help those people who have been affected
by this tragedy, that indeed it is our intention to ensure to the
American public that every dollar is spent well.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\3/4\ minutes to the gentleman from
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).
(Mr. OBERSTAR asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time.
My colleague from Minnesota (Mr. Sabo) a moment ago cited the plight
of elementary and secondary schoolchildren and the need to invest in
education requirements to help them through this traumatic period. My
area in our Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is the
highways, the bridges, the water and sewer systems, the port
facilities, the Coast Guard and, indeed, FEMA itself. We should
understand, as I said last Friday on passage of the first increment,
that this is a down payment. That $10.5 billion was a down payment.
This $52 billion is a down payment on the needs of the gulf, the need
for restoration of the wetlands, the buffers that slow the advance of
storms, that prevent the erosion of the coastline.
But there is also a need to restore the buoys in the harbor, to
replot the sandbars and the channels in the harbor and the riverway.
There is a need to invest more in the Corps of Engineers to reevaluate
the levees and the protective systems, the riprap along the coast of
the river banks of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.
The causeway is under severe difficulty. The roadways throughout the
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama gulf areas are in serious
difficulty. The storm surge has taken those out. We are going to need a
huge investment in highways, bridges, water and sewer and sewage
treatment facilities in the city of New Orleans and in other
communities.
Our committee stands ready to address those issues, but we will need
a comprehensive plan to address these issues, and I urge the Committee
on Appropriations and the Office of Management and Budget to address
that very issue of laying out a plan, so we think constructively into
the future.
Parallel to the tragedy of human and physical disruption in the
aftermath of Katrina, is the obvious disarray of the Federal
Government's response. FEMA should have been in charge--but they didn't
seem to be. For a long while, no Federal agency appeared to be in
charge, coordinating the recovery efforts.
I predicted that this would happen when the Department of Homeland
Security was created, with FEMA included in it. I argued against the
inclusion of FEMA and offered an amendment to delete FEMA from the
proposed new department during floor consideration of the DOHS bill.
I include at this point in the Record my remarks from the Record of
July 25, 2002, in support of my amendment.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of
my time.
Mr. Chairman, the Brookings Institution studied this
proposal for a Department of Homeland Security and reached
the same conclusion as former FEMA Director James Lee With
with this observation:
``There is very little day-to-day synergy between the
preventive and protective functions of the border and
transportation security entities in the Department and the
emergency preparedness and response functions a consolidated
FEMA contributes. There is, therefore, little to be gained in
bringing these very different entities under the same
organizational roof. And the costs are not insignificant.
``FEMA,'' the report says, ``would likely become less
effective in performing its current mission in case of
natural disasters, as time, effort, and attention are
inevitably diverted to other tasks within the larger
organization.''
Prior to the time when we enacted the Stafford Act which
statutorily established FEMA in 1979, after we had shed its
disaster, civil defense role, the Federal Government had had
no coordinated or effective response to natural disasters,
but FEMA became that response agency.
Now, if we move this really effective agency into a big
bureaucracy, we know what happens. We all know in this
Chamber what happens when a small agency gets into a big
department and the big appetite for more money to be shuffled
around with fungible dollars that can go from one agency to
the next and suddenly, FEMA's will just dissipate and fritter
away.
Mr. Chairman, I am in the enviable position of rising in
support of the unanimous position of the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure in reporting out our
responsibilities toward homeland security, and that is the
committee reported out recommendation to keep FEMA as an
independent agency.
All right. This is July 2002. Let us fast forward to July
2003. The majority has prevailed. FEMA is a box in the
mammoth bureaucracy of the Department of Homeland Security.
Flood waters are swirling around your city. You call for
help. You get the Department of Homeland Security. The
switchboard sends your call to the Under Secretary's office
which looks up ``disaster'' on their organizational chart and
sends you to the Congressional Liaison Office, which then
promises to get a message back to you in 24 hours.
Eventually, they find FEMA, by which time you are stranded on
the roof of your house waving a white handkerchief and
screaming for help. FEMA, the word comes back, sorry, is
looking for suspected terrorists some place in the hinterland
of America and will get back to you as soon as we can.
This Department of Homeland Security is a bureaucracy in
search of a mission. Do not give them FEMA's mission. It is
too important to waste on this misguided department. There is
that old barnyard saying, ``if it ain't broke, don't fix
it.'' FEMA ain't broke. Don't fix it by ruining it and
sending it into the Department of Homeland Sccurity. It is
nimble, quick, lean, effective as an independent agency
today. Keep it that way. Help your city, help your State,
help yourself, help your firefighter by keeping FEMA as an
independent. agency where it belongs and has been effective.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo).
Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3673, but as
chairman of the Committee on Small Business I want to raise an issue of
potential concern regarding one provision included in the bill that
raises the micropurchase threshold from $2,500 to $250,000
[[Page H7782]]
for goods and services used in support of Hurricane Katrina rescue and
relief.
We understand the need for giving relief and aid to the victims as
quickly as possible. I also understand that was the reason the
administration requested inclusion of this provision in the
supplemental.
While the provision in the bill only deals with the immediate rescue
and relief operations, I am concerned that, moving forward, we ensure
that small businesses, particularly those in the impacted gulf areas,
are able to play a significant role in the recovery.
I would ask the chairman if he would be willing to work with me and
the administration to ensure that our small businesses are fully
utilized and that we maintain appropriate controls over contracting.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. MANZULLO. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I first want to say that I
appreciate the gentleman bringing this to our attention, as chairman of
the Committee on Small Business. Indeed, I will be happy to continue
working with the gentleman over time regarding this matter, and I look
forward to that effort.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, we have all seen the damage done when FEMA is run by
incompetence and when FEMA itself is a disabled agency. We must
depoliticize and professionalize the leadership at FEMA, and I hope we
will have an opportunity to do that very soon, because until we do,
this money is being spent by a disabled agency.
One other point. The news media has talked often about those who were
left behind in New Orleans. They are easy to see because the cameras
are there and we can see the dead bodies floating in the water. But
there are millions of other Americans in and outside of the region who
are also being left behind in our schools. They are being left behind
in health care. They are being left behind on Medicaid.
I would hope that this Congress would have the decency to set aside
its plans to provide billions of dollars in additional tax cuts for the
most wealthy and the most prosperous and comfortable among us while the
needs of so many are so apparent and while so many Americans are indeed
still being left behind in the affected area and in other regions of
our country.
Mr. Speaker, I would also hope that we could come to an agreement
that in a matter this serious, the most serious disaster that has ever
affected this country, this Congress would find a way to deal with
these issues in a bipartisan and consultive fashion. If you want
cooperation, you need to extend cooperation. This is too important for
this business to be handled any other way.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jefferson).
Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me
this time, and I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) for
his fine gesture and for the work they have done on this appropriations
matter.
We have all seen the devastation in the news of my home district and
my State of Louisiana and the gulf coast, but that is only a pale
reflection of the destruction my constituents have experienced.
Hundreds of thousands of my constituents have been uprooted from their
homes. More than 100,000 businesses have been shuttered. And hundreds,
possibly thousands, of lives have been lost due to the ravages of
Hurricane Katrina. So words do not describe the damage.
Just last week, this House convened in emergency session and
appropriated $10.5 billion to begin the recovery from this natural
disaster. And, remarkably, less than a week later, most of that has
been spent or committed. Accordingly, we come together today for
another $50 billion or so to continue what is a long, hard recovery
throughout the gulf coast, but particularly in my hometown of New
Orleans.
With the passage of this supplemental appropriation bill, we have
committed almost $63 billion to the recovery and reconstruction
efforts. But I want to sound the alarm today, lest the House become the
victim of Hurricane recovery fatigue.
In normal circumstances, $63 billion would be a lot of money for
recovery and reconstruction. But Hurricane Katrina was no normal
hurricane, and her effects are unprecedented. So I want to make sure
that this House and this Congress understand that these monies are just
the beginning, what the President has called a down payment on the
long-term commitment to the recovery and revival of the areas decimated
by Hurricane Katrina.
Reliable economic estimates suggest that the total Federal cost of
the reconstruction and recovery of the affected areas will be in the
neighborhood of $225 billion, with $100 billion required to clean up,
reconstruct, resettle and revive my hometown of New Orleans. In other
words, the almost $52 billion we are allocating today, while needed and
wonderful, and we are grateful that we are doing it, and I appreciate
everything that is being done here, it is just a down payment.
I wanted to say one other thing today that concerns me, and I hope we
can fix it up later. The bill, as it is presently set up, raises the
cap on government emergency micropurchases from $15 million to $250
million. This may work to the detriment of small businesses and prevent
them from participating in this program. This is something we cannot
let happen, and I hope we will fix this up as the bill moves along.
But I am grateful to the House for its quick action on this matter.
Our people need it.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), a member of the committee.
Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the fact that Americans
have, through their private contributions, given more in terms of
responding to this disaster than any other disaster in the country's
history, well over $500 million to date.
{time} 1500
I recognize the sobering work of our committee in coming to grips
with this supplemental and putting forth tens of billions of dollars to
respond to this crisis. I agree with my colleague from Louisiana that
there will be a need for us to do more, and I, for one, know that our
committee is prepared to stand and to respond to this crisis.
It is unfortunate that our response was not as it should have been.
As the President said, the results were inadequate. But I think it is
appropriate that the Congress today take this action, and I want to
thank the chairman and the ranking member for their ability to work
together to bring this bill to the floor and to move it so
expeditiously in this process.
Even though imperfect, I hope it will be made more perfect as we go
forward.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield for the purpose of
making a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr.
Gingrey).
(Mr. GINGREY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker,
I rise today to express my serious concerns for the process, let me
repeat, the process under which these supplemental appropriations are
being considered.
First, I want to emphatically express my full support for aiding
those lives and those cities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Having
been to Baton Rouge, having physically worked with the victims, there
is no doubt in my mind that these people need our help.
However, Mr. Speaker, we should help them in a responsible and
thoughtful manner. There is no question that time is of the essence,
but we are not talking about pocket change, $50 billion is not pocket
change, Mr. Speaker, and fellow members of this body, we have a
Constitutional duty to spend the people's money very carefully and with
deliberate consideration. Even in times of crisis, a blank check does
not guarantee results and can often lead to wasteful spending. Wasteful
spending will not save one life. Wasteful spending will not rebuild one
destroyed house, will not clear one single road, and will not feed one
starving child.
Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in both this House and
especially in the Senate to refrain from tacking on any pork. This
supplemental should not be a gravy train for any special or individual
interests.
Every member of this body should condition their support of this
supplemental upon strict oversight and follow up with sound policy
[[Page H7783]]
changes. We cannot just throw billions of dollars at this catastrophe
or any catastrophe for that matter.
Mr. Speaker, we need to follow-up these dollars with thorough
oversight and investigation to make sure that every penny, I repeat,
every penny goes to help the victims. And, we need to cut down every
unnecessary piece of red tape in the process, such as suspending the
requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act to help the reconstruction of this
devastated area. Let's untie the hands of those who are ready to help
and rebuild. We have enough obstacles to overcome as it is. We don't
need any kind of bureaucratic surcharge on saving lives.
Mr. Speaker, I want to again caution my colleagues. Let's get help to
the people in need but let's do so in a responsible and sound manner.
The American people expect no less of us, and we owe them no less.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the distinguished minority
leader.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bass). The gentlewoman from California
is recognized for 1 minute.
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, this is indeed a solemn occasion for
Congress, when we come together to help people in our country who have
suffered greatly in a way that will take a very long time to repair.
What they expect of us is for us to perform our Federal role in a
manner that would honor the social compact between the Federal
Government and the people in need in our country.
I just heard on the news, and it is very sobering, that about 14
bodies were found at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans. Last night we
heard that 30 bodies were found at the nursing home there as well.
These, and many, many other deaths, are a sad tragedy for our country,
for those people, of course, and for their families. So it would be my
hope that we could send out the best possible message to the people of
our country, that the Congress is coming together in the manner that we
did after 9/11 to work in a nonpartisan way, a bipartisan way, to help
meet their needs.
We had an opportunity to do that today. Sadly, it was a missed
opportunity, because there was not a chance for amendment to the
legislation that is on the floor now. The opportunity would have been
there to subject FEMA to the scrutiny that it should be subjected to
and to take action to correct the situation.
FEMA is the link between the Federal Government and the American
people and the social compact. Unfortunately, this time it was a weak
link. But there is something that can be done about it. It can be moved
from the Department of Homeland Security to be an independent agency,
as it was before; and it could have the proper leadership running FEMA.
I call upon the President to remove Michael Brown, the current
director, and put in there a person of capability and credentials,
perhaps someone from the military who knows organization and
leadership, not someone who has absolutely no credentials for the job.
This is important. It is not a question of criticizing, it is a
question of changing the situation so that we can better meet the needs
of the people who are suffering out there, and to do it before we have
more unnecessary suffering.
I believe that we had two disasters: one, a natural one; the second
one, a man-made disaster, a disaster made by the mistakes of FEMA
following Hurricane Katrina.
This is something we can do immediately. This is something we can do
immediately because here we are on the floor of Congress appropriating
$50 billion to an agency which has a record of poor performance and a
leadership without qualifications for the job. If you need any further
evidence of the lack of performance, you need only look to last week.
So why could we not have had legislation come to the committee of
jurisdiction, the committee of the gentleman from California (Mr.
Lewis), and the ranking member, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr.
Obey), where the considerable talent on both sides of the aisle could
have subjected this request to scrutiny, how is this money being sent,
what is the accountability of it?
This is $50 billion on top of $10.5 billion last week, which was
brought to the floor with 5 minutes of debate on each side. That is all
that was allowed before the bill was voted on. What are we afraid of?
What are we afraid of? What is this Congress afraid of, that we will
not allow our congressional committees to review the request, to
establish accountability, to bring its expertise to bear on it?
So, obviously we are all going to vote for this. It is very, very
important for people to understand that whatever our differences on how
the money gets to them that those differences do not stand in the way
of probably what will be a unanimous vote in this House. But it is a
lot of money, and it is not the end. We will be having more requests
from the administration, I am sure, and when we do, I hope that they
will have the confidence in their request to send their request to the
committee of jurisdiction, so that there can be appropriate
congressional review, public comment and, again, the accountability and
oversight that Congress has the responsibility to perform.
This is a democracy, the United States of America, the greatest
democracy in the history of the world, and we are being governed by
decree. The President decides on a figure, he sends it over, we do not
even get a chance to look at it much before we are called upon to vote
on it, again bypassing the committees of jurisdiction. I cannot imagine
that is okay with the Committee on Appropriations. As a long-time
member of the committee, I certainly hope it is not.
But the bigger issue, the bigger issue, is how we do the job for the
American people. In order to do that job, there are so many people who
are so much more important than Members of Congress in all of this:
public employees, firefighters, police officers, health care
professionals, public and private sector people out there, who are
great heroes, great heroes. They saved lives, and some of them gave
their lives to help others.
Responding to the Gospel of this past Sunday, the 23rd Sunday after
Easter, the Gospel of Matthew about the commandment where Matthew says,
``the greatest of these is love, to love thy neighbor as thyself.'' We
will be tested on these as we go ahead to see if we are smart enough to
help people in a way that enables them to take control of their lives
as soon as possible.
We have proposals the Democrats would have liked to offer today to
cut the red tape, to improve the performance of FEMA, for there to be
job creation in the region, to stop price gouging at the pump for
gasoline and to have qualified, qualified, leadership in the roles.
So this is all a question of our judgment. Is the performance that we
saw last week up to standard for us? I do not think so, because it did
not meet the needs of the American people.
When we are little, I think it was high school, but now it is
probably grade school, that children are reading John Donne, ``No Man
is an Island,'' ``For Whom the Bell Tolls.'' But I thought of it so
much as we see these lasting impressions of Mississippi, just
obliterated on its coastline, and New Orleans inundated and Alabama so
affected, and even parts of Florida, and the incredible generosity of
all of the States receiving evacuees as guests in their State.
I think the optimism, the goodness, the compassion of the American
people is the greatest force for good in our country, and God bless
them for their goodness.
But, again, for whom the bell tolls, as we look at the tragedy in the
gulf coast States, it is clear that we are seeing a mirror of our
country; and if ever there was an occasion where the bell was tolling
and we would ask the question for whom the bell tolls, it does toll for
each and every one of us, because every one of those deaths does
diminish, as the poem goes, every one of us.
So I hope the families in America know that the staggering numbers
are just appalling to us, but we think of them one family at a time and
want to make decisions that address their needs one family at a time.
Mr. Speaker, with that, I will vote for this. I would hope, again,
that future appropriations requests for Katrina will be presented in a
timely fashion that will enable us to review them, to have some
accountability from FEMA on how this money is spent, so that we can
honor our oath of office that we take to protect and defend the
Constitution, yes, but to provide for the safety of the American
people.
[[Page H7784]]
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, as I go about introducing my final speaker, I was very
impressed by the gentlewoman's comments and her willingness to work in
a bipartisan way regarding the challenge ahead of us.
I wanted to mention to her we have been looking very seriously at the
problems in the region of the gulf for a long time. In the last 5
years, the Congress has appropriated some $1.9 billion for flood
control in Louisiana. I might mention only $1.4 billion has been
appropriated for all of California, seven times the population. So we
have been truly focusing upon that region.
Just last Friday, as you know, we passed a $10.5 billion package for
this immediate crisis, and today we have over a $50 billion package
before us. So the Congress is attempting to focus upon this very real
challenge.
I am very happy that the gentlewoman recognizes that we do need to
work together in terms of finding the why of all of this, but right now
it is most important to respond to the challenges and needs of the
American people in danger.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
DeLay), the majority leader of the House.
Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time,
and I appreciate him and the gentleman from Wisconsin working together
on this package and bringing it to the floor. It is incredibly
important to a lot of people that are suffering.
I have to begin my remarks by telling a little bit about myself and
what I have been doing, to give you an idea that I know from what I
speak. I was raised on the gulf coast. I have been through many
hurricanes. I have watched responses to many hurricanes. I have watched
the ability to respond to many hurricanes. I understand what the
response is supposed to be.
I also in this particular case come from Houston, Texas, and I am
incredibly proud of my fellow citizens in the Houston-Galveston region
in opening their arms and their compassion and wallets and resources
and homes to those that are in need, especially our brothers and
sisters from Louisiana.
But we also consider that the third disaster. The first disaster was
the hurricane, the second disaster was the floods in New Orleans, and
the third disaster was what do you do with over 2 million people in a
very short period of time? And in just days, Houston put together a
virtual city for 60,000 people.
Then I went through the same frustrations that many of those on the
ground in New Orleans and Mississippi and Louisiana and Alabama went
through, because you are dealing with the same things; you are dealing
with the same people, FEMA, the Federal Government, State government,
city government, all governments, and you run into the same
frustrations.
So, as is normal about me, I decided to do something about these
frustrations, and I went to Baton Rouge where the control center was. I
wanted to see the organization, the system, how was it working, what
was going on on the ground.
{time} 1515
I get into Baton Rouge, and I quickly realize that Baton Rouge was
the biggest brunt of the third disaster because Baton Rouge, which I
think is a city of about 500,000 people, all of a sudden saw within one
day their population double. Double. And yet they were able to handle
it. Sure, there were problems. Sure, there was suffering. But Baton
Rouge citizens opened their arms and brought these people in. That was
the first place that people could come, coming out of New Orleans.
Then from there they went to Lafayette, and they received another big
brunt of the third disaster, and they handled it. Sure, there were
frustrations all over the place and there was, frankly, a breakdown in
the system.
The system is designed, if it works properly, from the bottom up. The
system depends on the local government, whether it be mayor or county,
dealing with whatever disaster problem they have; and when they find
out they cannot deal with it, they go to the next level of government,
to the Governor and to the State to help them out. And then when
neither the State nor the locals can deal with it, they come to the
Federal Government.
That is how the system is supposed to work. That is how it is set up.
And when that breaks down, everything breaks down because we have to
realize that every hour is absolutely precious after a disaster. I have
seen this my entire life. Every hour certain things have to happen. But
when we have a situation where people will not make a decision, we have
lost that hour and we are into the next hour, and then we have to
circle around and come back into the first hour to clean up the mess
while we are trying to handle and catch up to the other hours. And then
when it really starts breaking down, entire chaos happens. And in this
case, it was not entire chaos. I would describe it as organized chaos.
It was pretty messy.
Now, you can look at this disaster two different ways. You can offer
nothing constructive except blaming when people need services at the
moment and you spend your time and your caring time pointing fingers or
making assumptions or calling for complete changes in government, and
you spend all your time and energy focused on that.
Or you can understand that there are problems when we have 2 million
people or we have three States in dire need as if they were at war and
deal with the problems and the frustrations at that time that we find
them and find answers immediately and move forward and find ways to fix
them and find ways to take care of these people, find them the clothes,
the shoes, the diapers, the food, the water, find them the cots that
they need, find them the health care system that they need, find them a
military officer or a wonderful soldier to go down and pull them out of
a house, find them the Coast Guard helicopter to go and pull them off
the top of the house, find the wherewithal in just a day or so to plug
up the levees. I mean, you can either point your finger or you can see
what happened.
The mirror of America that I saw was the most incredible outpouring
of America that I have seen in my lifetime. All over this country, all
over this country, people immediately got trucks and filled them up and
drove 2,000 miles. One of our own Members did that from Nevada. Two
thousand miles. This happened all over the country. Bringing supplies,
bringing their hearts, bringing themselves and putting themselves in
harm's way, especially in the case of New Orleans. I mean, it was
unbelievable.
Our first responders from all over the Nation are down in Mississippi
and Louisiana and Alabama. People are opening their doors to the people
that need it. Can the Members imagine, and I do not know exactly what
the total population of the disaster is, but I would imagine it is
around 4 million people, 4 or 5 million people, but this country
absorbed 4 to 5 million people overnight. That is an incredible
accomplishment. And we ought to be proud of that. And what are we doing
in Washington? We are pointing fingers. We are talking about process.
We are doing the things that, frankly, disgust people when they see it
on television.
Now, we have chosen to push that all aside because there is plenty of
time for that later. What is important right now, I mean we are not
even out of the save-the-life phase. We still have people in New
Orleans that we are finding and pulling out of these houses.
The next phase is called the recovery phase, and we are sort of in
that in certain parts of the country, especially in Mississippi and in
Alabama. We ought to be focused on that. These people are out in these
shelters. Can the Members imagine, in the Astrodome. Look at your
television. There are 10,000 people or more on the floor of the
Astrodome living next to each other. That is unsustainable. We have to
do something with these people. We have to give them hope for the rest
of their lives. They are asking the question, What do I do tomorrow?
And we have to give them that answer. What do I do next week? What do I
do a month from now? How do I get my kids in school? Where do I find my
wife? In some cases, where do I find my pet, my dog? What do I do
tomorrow? I have no money. My bank is closed. This hit me at the end of
the month, and I am out of money. What do I do?
We have got the answer because we are focused on answering those
questions. We are focused on giving them
[[Page H7785]]
the relief that they need. We have to give them the relief they need so
that they can start planning their lives. One does not sit around after
a disaster and not have some way of knowing how they are going to get
back into a house, how they are going to be able to have a little
privacy.
They are living on the floor of the Astrodome with 16,000 other
people. There is no privacy on the floor of the Astrodome. They have
got to have some way of knowing what is going to happen to them
tomorrow. We have focused on that. And bringing this bill to the floor
pays for a lot of it.
I know the American people, some of them, are worrying about all this
money. Mr. Speaker, 5 million people, 5 million Americans, deserve our
finding a way to make them whole. We are not even asking to make them
whole. That was a misstatement. What we are asking is to give them a
little hope over the next few weeks so that we can take care of their
needs and get them back up and running again.
Now, some would say we need to take over their lives and dictate to
them and tell them what to do and put them back. That is not what we
are talking about here. We are talking about the very essentials that
we need for the recovery process and the beginning of the rebuilding
process. And it is expensive because there are a lot of people, and
there was an incredible amount of damage.
We are not just writing a blank check. We have got some safeguards.
We have got safeguards built into this bill, and we have got safeguards
built into the law that already exists so that they can only spend
money on things that should be spent on and not be frivolous about it
and throw it away. Sure, there is going to be wasted money. We cannot
deal with 5 million people and not waste some money. But the bulk of
the money is going to go to the people and the process and the property
that deserve it to get back on their feet.
This is incredibly important, and it is too important to play
politics with. It is too important to point fingers at. It is too
important to second-guess. It is easy to be a Monday morning
quarterback, but you should have been in that control room where those
people were making life and death decisions, people that stayed up and
got no sleep and very little food for 5 to 6 days straight trying to
make the right decisions to save people.
And what happens when we come up here? They point the finger. You did
not make the right decision here. You did not take care of needs there.
You did not do this; you did not do that. The point is if we look at
the big picture, it is a phenomenal accomplishment by everybody
involved. It is unbelievable. I am constantly struck by where we are
today, just a little over a week from the worst catastrophe that this
country has seen, I guess, certainly in recent history. We ought to be
proud about that; and, most importantly, we should be proud of
ourselves. We should be proud of our American brothers and sisters.
Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Thornberry). The question is on the
motion offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) that the
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3673.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, this 15-minute vote on H.R. 3673
will be followed by 5-minute votes on H.R. 3669, H.R. 3668, H. Res.
428, and H. Res. 427, all by the yeas and nays.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 410,
nays 11, not voting 12, as follows:
[Roll No. 460]
YEAS--410
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Allen
Andrews
Baca
Bachus
Baird
Baldwin
Barrett (SC)
Barrow
Bartlett (MD)
Bass
Bean
Beauprez
Becerra
Berman
Berry
Biggert
Bilirakis
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bonner
Bono
Boozman
Boren
Boswell
Boucher
Boustany
Boyd
Bradley (NH)
Brady (PA)
Brown (OH)
Brown (SC)
Brown, Corrine
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Buyer
Calvert
Camp
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Capps
Capuano
Cardin
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carson
Carter
Case
Castle
Chabot
Chandler
Chocola
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Coble
Cole (OK)
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Cramer
Crenshaw
Crowley
Cubin
Cuellar
Culberson
Cummings
Cunningham
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
Davis (KY)
Davis (TN)
Davis, Jo Ann
Davis, Tom
Deal (GA)
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
DeLay
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Doolittle
Doyle
Drake
Dreier
Duncan
Edwards
Ehlers
Emanuel
Emerson
Engel
English (PA)
Eshoo
Etheridge
Evans
Farr
Fattah
Feeney
Ferguson
Filner
Fitzpatrick (PA)
Foley
Forbes
Ford
Fortenberry
Fossella
Frank (MA)
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Gerlach
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gingrey
Gohmert
Gonzalez
Goode
Goodlatte
Gordon
Granger
Graves
Green (WI)
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall
Harman
Harris
Hart
Hastings (FL)
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Hefley
Hensarling
Herger
Herseth
Higgins
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hobson
Hoekstra
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Hulshof
Hunter
Hyde
Inglis (SC)
Inslee
Israel
Issa
Istook
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Jenkins
Jindal
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Jones (OH)
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Keller
Kelly
Kennedy (MN)
Kennedy (RI)
Kildee
Kilpatrick (MI)
Kind
King (NY)
Kingston
Kirk
Kline
Knollenberg
Kolbe
Kucinich
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Latham
LaTourette
Leach
Lee
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lucas
Lungren, Daniel E.
Lynch
Mack
Manzullo
Marchant
Markey
Marshall
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy
McCaul (TX)
McCollum (MN)
McCotter
McDermott
McGovern
McHenry
McHugh
McIntyre
McKeon
McKinney
McMorris
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Menendez
Mica
Michaud
Millender-McDonald
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller (NC)
Miller, Gary
Miller, George
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (KS)
Moran (VA)
Murphy
Murtha
Musgrave
Myrick
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Neugebauer
Ney
Northup
Norwood
Nunes
Nussle
Oberstar
Obey
Ortiz
Osborne
Owens
Oxley
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pearce
Pelosi
Pence
Peterson (MN)
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pitts
Platts
Poe
Pombo
Pomeroy
Porter
Price (GA)
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Regula
Rehberg
Reichert
Renzi
Reyes
Reynolds
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Ross
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Ryan (WI)
Ryun (KS)
Sabo
Salazar
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanders
Saxton
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schmidt
Schwartz (PA)
Schwarz (MI)
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Sherwood
Shimkus
Shuster
Simmons
Simpson
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Sodrel
Solis
Souder
Spratt
Stark
Stearns
Strickland
Stupak
Sullivan
Sweeney
Tanner
Tauscher
Taylor (NC)
Terry
Thomas
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Tierney
Towns
Turner
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walden (OR)
Walsh
Wamp
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Wexler
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn
Young (FL)
NAYS--11
Barton (TX)
Flake
Foxx
Garrett (NJ)
Hostettler
King (IA)
Otter
Paul
Sensenbrenner
Tancredo
Westmoreland
NOT VOTING--12
Baker
Berkley
Brady (TX)
Butterfield
Conaway
Everett
Maloney
McCrery
Olver
Sanchez, Loretta
Taylor (MS)
Young (AK)
[[Page H7786]]
{time} 1547
Mr. NADLER and Mr. GILCHREST changed their vote from ``nay'' to
``yea.''
So (two-thirds having voted in favor thereof) the rules were
suspended and the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________