[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 111 (Thursday, September 8, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S9861]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, tomorrow, the Senate will resume 
consideration of a very important bill, the Commerce-Justice-Science 
appropriations bill, a large bill and a bill on which we have a number 
of amendments to be considered and a bill that does have a direct 
application to our disaster response to Katrina.
  Although there will be no rollcall votes tomorrow, the managers will 
be here ready to continue with the amendment process and expedite 
consideration of the bill. We now have a limited number of first-degree 
amendments in order, and I encourage Senators to come to the floor 
tomorrow, as well as Monday, so that we can complete action on this 
bill early next week.
  Monday evening, we will have an hour of debate followed by a vote on 
the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 20, a resolution of disapproval. 
That vote will occur at 6:30 p.m., and additional votes are possible 
into the evening.
  Mr. President, in closing, this has been a challenging week for the 
entire country and, indeed, for the Senate as we have responded in an 
expeditious way to this natural disaster that the Nation has witnessed 
unfolding. We approached our response in the Senate at three different 
levels or three different phases or three different elements.
  The first is this immediate action for relief and recovery, immediate 
response, quick action, considering legislation brought to the floor 
and setting other business aside to address that important immediate 
response.
  We will continue to do that over the course of the next week and the 
week after that to make sure we address the needs that must be 
addressed at the Federal level through this body to facilitate the 
response to the disaster, focusing, of course, first and foremost on 
the safety and welfare of the victims.
  Other immediate action was the $10.5 billion that we passed last 
Thursday night and then the $51.8 billion that we passed tonight, which 
will be signed here shortly and signed by the President within the next 
hour or so.
  Another example is the Federal courts relief bill that we passed so 
that Louisiana Federal courts could be up and running with appropriate 
sites.
  The second phase that is ongoing is the consideration of rebuilding, 
reconstruction, and this involves consideration of a whole range of 
issues through not all but most of our committees, in terms of 
redevelopment with strong economic incentives to capture the dynamism 
and the power of the private sector in partnership with the public 
sector.
  It is going to take the strength of the public and the private sector 
working together to accomplish that successful rebuilding and 
reconstruction of a part of the country that can return and will return 
with a much more modern and revitalized future, a future that is 
actually very exciting as we look to the rebuilding and reconstruction, 
something to which the Governor, local officials, and the Federal 
Government are committed.
  The third phase is analyzing very carefully what went right but 
probably even more importantly what went wrong in our response--meaning 
our generic response, everyone's response--to this natural disaster. 
Things did not go as well as anyone would like, Americans deserve 
answers, and we will get to the bottom of that.
  We have established a bicameral, bipartisan committee with the House 
and the Senate working together to carry out that analysis. In 
addition, we have designated in this body the Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs Committee as the lead committee in oversight.
  I mention these three elements because with so much activity, it is 
important for both our colleagues and the American people to know that 
we are working on each of these three elements with immediate action 
which requires expeditious consideration on the floor of the Senate; 
secondly, rebuilding and reconstruction to an even more modern and 
revitalized and very exciting future for the Gulf States; and thirdly, 
to investigate and analyze what went wrong.
  We will continue with all of that over the course of the evening and 
tomorrow and through the weekend, and everybody will keep pulling 
together and acting in the best interest of the American people, with 
our thoughts and prayers going out to those people who have been so 
dramatically affected, along with the States, and who are now spread 
all over the United States of America.

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