[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 155 (Tuesday, December 6, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H11079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       100 DAYS OF EMPTY PROMISES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, today marks the 100th day 
since Hurricane Katrina came ashore in south Mississippi. Since that 
time, we have had a mixture of incredible support from the people of 
this Nation; but also, quite frankly, there have been a lot of promises 
made by the President of the United States that have yet to be 
fulfilled.
  In 100 days since the storm, numerous regrets by me, Senator Lott, 
Mr. Pickering and others to try to help those people who found 
themselves in the horrible situation of having a home that never 
flooded, or a piece of land that had never flooded since the Europeans 
settled in Mississippi in 1699, who thought they were properly covered 
by having wind insurance, who thought they had taken adequate 
precautions to secure their home in the event of a storm, who found 
that their homes had flooded.
  And now for 100 days, I, Senator Lott, Mr. Pickering and others have 
asked to try to do something to help those people. After all, every aid 
package the President talks about talks about tax breaks for the fat 
cats. Well, the fat cats are going to do just fine after the storm. 
They always do. They have got the money; they know how to invest it; 
they know how to make more money. They do not need tax breaks. The 
people who need help in south Mississippi are the average-Joe 
homeowners: the kid who coaches the Little League team, the guy or lady 
who sings in the choir, who find themselves now at the end of 90 days 
that their mortgage is due, they have lost their job, their house has 
been either destroyed or horribly damaged and they are looking for help 
from their Nation.
  This is an extremely patriotic part of the country, and an extremely 
high percentage of those people have served in the Armed Forces or are 
presently serving, and all they are asking from you, Mr. President, is 
a little bit of consideration.
  After 100 days, we had taken care of the people of New York after 9/
11. After 100 days, we had taken care of the people of San Francisco. 
Tonight in south Mississippi, people will crawl into two and three-man 
tents because 12,000 families are still waiting for a FEMA trailer.
  The company you gave the contract to, Bechtel Incorporated, has 
donated tens of thousands of dollars to your campaign and to the 
Republican majority. You are obviously friends. I think you can pick up 
the phone to the Bechtel family and ask them to finish the job.
  After 100 days, only two-thirds of the people who have asked for a 
trailer since their home has been destroyed have received one. I did 
not promise those folks a trailer. You did, Mr. President. After 100 
days, it has turned cold. A shower with a garden hose in August feels 
pretty good; a shower with a garden hose when it is 33 degrees outside 
is a pretty crummy experience.
  The contracts for debris removal were let on a per-cubic-yard basis. 
Therefore, the people who did that had an incentive to work quickly 
because the more they did the more they got paid. The contracts to 
deliver FEMA trailers was paid by the month. If you pay anyone to do 
something by the hour as opposed to the job, it is human nature they 
are going to do it slower. The people of south Mississippi have waited 
long.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time to call your friends at Bechtel and tell them 
to finish the job. Folks had to live in a pup tent for Thanksgiving and 
their patience has worn thin.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, I remember when the promise was made that 
you could cut taxes, increase spending, and pay down the debt. I 
thought that was a bunch of malarkey at the time, and it has turned out 
to be $2.4 trillion wrong.
  But to come to south Mississippi and to promise the people in south 
Mississippi that you are going to get them a trailer, and not fulfill 
that promise or drag your feet on that promise, that is something 
people see every day. It is something I see every time I go home, and 
that is every weekend.
  Mr. President, it is time for you and the people at Bechtel to do the 
job: to deliver the trailers that are sitting in places like Hope, 
Arkansas, where there are thousands of trailers sitting on the runway. 
Or Purvis, Mississippi, where there are over 1,200 trailers sitting on 
the ground, or the staging area in De Lisle or the staging area in 
Hancock County. They are not doing anyone any good sitting in the 
staging areas.
  If you have to void the contract with Bechtel, by all means do so. If 
the Bechtel family has any respect for their good family name, I am 
asking them as a Member of Congress representing south Mississippi to 
replace the management you have in south Mississippi and get the job 
done because the people of south Mississippi and the people of this 
Nation who are paying for this deserve better.

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