[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 165 (Monday, December 19, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S13989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            HURRICANE RELIEF

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I commend the distinguished Senator from 
Louisiana for his eloquent statement about the importance of this 
legislation. He has been a true leader in this effort to craft a bill 
that will provide money now, needed desperately by the victims of these 
disasters in the Gulf Coast States. He and his colleague, Ms. Landrieu, 
have been very active, as all Senators know, in describing in detail 
the dilemma that is faced by local governments, municipal governments, 
and county and parish governments in the region. Our State governments 
have been stressed beyond imagination in terms of trying to make 
resources available to help save lives, to help rescue victims, to help 
communities that are struggling to repair and replace damaged and 
destroyed infrastructure such as water and sewer systems, highways and 
roads and bridges. The list is almost endless of the challenges that 
have been faced by the people of this region.
  But the Senator from Louisiana has been, more than anybody I know, on 
a daily basis working his heart out and trying his best to be sure that 
we respond in the way that we should as a Federal Government, to 
provide the assistance needed for a full and real recovery from these 
disasters.
  I also think about my colleague, Senator Lott from Mississippi, and 
Congressman Taylor in the House, who both lost their houses and 
suffered real, serious personal losses as a result of Hurricane 
Katrina. They have been tirelessly and constantly in touch with the 
situation as victims of this disaster but at the same time lending 
their energies, their imagination, their know-how, their leadership to 
provide guidance and suggestions all along the way.
  This is not the last bill we are going to see on the subject of 
disaster assistance, but it is the most important because it provides 
real money at once. It is made available immediately upon passage for 
distribution to those who need the help the most. And it is urgent.

  If we delay and get tangled up in a lot of parliamentary maneuvering, 
criticism, second-guessing, and partisan infighting, whatever kind of 
resistance to this important appropriations bill, it will be a 
disgrace. It will be a disgrace to the Congress and an injustice to the 
victims of this disaster.
  There are a lot of people we could talk about this morning--State 
government leaders. Our Governor, Haley Barbour, has been up here for 
days answering questions, providing information, making suggestions of 
alternatives that would be appropriate for the Federal Government to 
undertake to help the recovery, and identifying ways State governments 
can share in the responsibility. The Community Development Block Grant 
Program is one of the suggestions Governor Barbour made as a conduit 
for funds to help rebuild communities and help landowners who have been 
harmed and who were outside the flood plain, didn't have flood 
insurance, yet they were flooded and didn't have coverage to pay for 
those losses and those damages. He is looking for ways to help 
everybody who needs help and who deserves help from their Government.
  This bill provides this substantial amount of money and commitment 
from our Government at a time when it is truly needed. I am hopeful the 
Senate will act with dispatch and send this conference report to the 
President for his signature.
  Leadership in the House and in the Appropriations Committee, the 
Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has also been very important and 
crucial to this undertaking. The Speaker of the House, personally, and 
the whip, Roy Blunt from Missouri, have been personally engaged in 
trying to find ways to reach an accommodation with the Senate and with 
the States affected. They have done a wonderful job. It has culminated 
in the presentation of this conference report.
  The Congressman from California, Jerry Lewis, chairman of the full 
committee in the other body, and Congressman Bill Young from Florida, 
who has had experiences with other disasters in the past, have been 
very helpful in remembering how we responded to past challenges--
Hurricane Dennis, I recall--and there are others that Florida has 
experienced. But everybody coming together and doing their best to sort 
through the challenges, identify ways to help, has culminated in the 
presentation to the Senate of this conference report. I am hopeful we 
will respond.
  As Senator Vitter said, everybody has an opportunity to vote to help 
us recover. We hope you will. It is a bipartisan effort. Democrats and 
Republicans have both been involved, from both sides of the aisle here 
in the Senate and in the House as well.
  We hope we will act quickly in response to the suggestions made by 
leadership here in the Senate and approve this conference report. We 
are deeply grateful to all who have been helpful, who have come up 
here, stayed and talked and explained what the facts are, who testified 
before committees.
  We have reviewed all the facts. We know what the situation is. Now it 
is time to act, and act is what the Senate should do now.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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