[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 167 (Wednesday, December 21, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14333-S14334]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU:
  S. 2172. A bill to provide for response to Hurricane Katrina by 
establishing a Louisiana Recovery Corporation, providing for housing 
and community rebuilding, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I will speak just for a moment about 
each of these important measures. Before I do, I know today has been a 
long day, and it has been complicated by many procedural votes and a 
series of bills that we just passed out of here, many important bills. 
Of course, the Defense appropriations, Defense authorization bill, two 
of the major bills that Congress works on throughout the year, and it 
is important we get them through.
  On the Defense appropriations bill, as it was amended, there was a 
very important piece for the gulf coast, $29 billion direct relief 
package. I will speak just for a moment about that because it has 
bearing on what we are going to do in the future when we are faced with 
catastrophic events.
  Senator Vitter and I, my colleague from Louisiana, returned to the 
Congress over 4 months ago to try to describe to our colleagues the 
devastation that occurred with not one but two hurricanes and then 
multiple levee breaks which have devastated a major American city and a 
region, the southern part of Louisiana and Mississippi.
  I have said now on many occasions that FEMA, on its best day, is not 
adequate to address the emergency and enormous needs of the people who 
have been affected: their need for housing, their need for employment, 
their need for capital, their need for emotional security, their need 
for public infrastructure, their need for police, their need for 
firefighters, their need for health care, their need for education.
  I cannot even describe the tremendous angst, anxiety, and despair 
setting in on many communities in the gulf coast region because help 
has been slow in coming. And when it has been offered, it has been 
inadequate to address the situation we find ourselves in.
  I do not know if we have ever considered what needs to be done when 
we have a catastrophic incident such as we had. So we are going to come 
back after the recess and I hope talk about how FEMA can be 
restructured, how it can be made to be more efficient, how it can be 
made to be more accountable, how it can be made to act more quickly. 
But we are also going to need some additional tools.
  That is what the two bills address I have introduced tonight as a 
companion to a House bill that was introduced and has been worked on 
very diligently by my colleague Congressman Richard Baker from Baton 
Rouge, who is the ranking member on the Banking Committee in the House. 
He has done some excellent work on this bill and has moved it out of 
the House committee. It establishes a brand new corporation that can 
step in. It would be established by appointment by the President and by 
the Governor, with seven members, to establish a corporation that could 
then access the capital markets by issuing bonds, to step up and into 
the gulf coast area to work with our local officials, to work with the 
officials at the city level, at the parish level, to provide 
opportunities, to provide equity for homeowners who find themselves 
with homes that are uninhabitable, with mortgages that need to be paid 
and no possible way to sell their property because it is of 
questionable value, given the situation.
  We are very fortunate in America that we have not had to face these 
tragedies very often, and this is the first time we faced a tragedy of 
this magnitude. Mr. President, 275,000 homes destroyed, 10 times the 
amount of homes destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Mr. President, 
28,000 homes were destroyed in the worst disaster before we faced Rita 
and Katrina. But with 275,000 homes destroyed, clearly, we have to do 
more than send money through FEMA.
  Money is not the only answer for the challenges before us. So we need 
new tools. That is why I have come to the Senate tonight to introduce, 
after a long day, a bill that was crafted in the House by Congressman 
Baker, amended through input from a variety of his colleagues in the 
House, input from myself and some Senators in anticipation of the bill 
moving over here, and have had a verbal commitment from Senator Shelby, 
the chairman of the Banking Committee, and very positive comments from 
Democrats on the Banking Committee that we could have an expedited 
hearing on this bill when we return.
  Because even with the $29 billion in direct aid that is included in 
the Defense appropriations bill, I can promise my colleagues, to stand 
up the great city of New Orleans and the region and the gulf coast is 
going to take more than FEMA, more than direct aid through community 
development block grants and aid to our schools and universities and 
hospitals. It is going to take some new tools we are going to have to 
invent, we are going to have to place into a toolbox and then give out 
to local elected officials, to business leaders, to community 
organizations, to rebuild this great community.
  But the great opportunity is, if we can invent these tools, and we 
can design them appropriately, they will then be available for us in 
the event a catastrophe such as this or something similar strikes 
again, whether it is an earthquake in San Francisco, massive tornadoes 
in the Midwest or, God forbid, a terror strike that would decimate or 
destroy a population or vast area such as we are experiencing from a 
hurricane and levee breaks in New Orleans.
  There is all this work we can do on this housing corporation bill 
when we get back. I urge my colleagues' involvement because of the 
extraordinary need, as outlined and expressed so beautifully by Senator 
Stevens' remarks toward the end of this evening about how he was so 
emotionally taken aback by what he saw in New Orleans. I can most 
certainly understand it. Senator Vitter and I have been living that as 
we have moved through New Orleans and the region and all through south 
Louisiana, and share his view that more has to be done.

  So these two bills that I introduce--one is a companion bill to 
Congressman Baker's bill with some important, I think, improvements or 
important amendments. One is to ensure a strong local input through 
local advisory committees, appointed by parish governments and 
municipalities. Also there is an underlining or emphasis, if you will, 
that the corporation must comply with State and local planning 
ordinances and direction.
  This Senate version will also increase the potential equity recovery 
from 60 percent to 80 percent and will increase the potential cap of 
recovery from $500,000 to $750,000. We also put something in this bill 
to try to give corporate or commercial property owners some relief.
  So between the Baker bill in the House, which needs to continue to 
move through the process, and this bill which will get, hopefully, some 
expedited hearings when we return, hopefully, we can quickly put into 
the hands of our communities, our large cities, our suburban areas, our 
rural areas, and individual property owners--who have seen in the last 
4 months everything they have worked for in their life, perhaps even a 
little bit they were able to inherit, and all they hoped to pass on to 
their children or their grandchildren gone, without a whole lot of 
options for recovery--assistance.
  We have every intention to rebuild our city and to rebuild our 
region. Just as if there were an earthquake in San Francisco, I don't 
think Congress would suggest that the millions of people who live there 
should simply pick up and move to New York and abandon the city of San 
Francisco, we have no intention of abandoning the city of New Orleans. 
We may lie 5 feet below sea level, but let me assure you, there are 
places in this world that are as or more productive than this region 
that lie 20 feet below sea level and manage their water properly and 
invest in their civil works properly in a way we could model ourselves 
after and do very well.
  The city of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana have contributed 
billions of dollars to the economy of this Nation and to the general 
fund of

[[Page S14334]]

this Nation, and we want to continue to do so. We are not asking for a 
handout but a hand up. We are not asking for charity. We are asking for 
a portion of the taxes we pay, a portion of the money we send to the 
national Government, to be redirected, to give us the security for our 
coast and our hurricane protection that we warrant and the industries 
this infrastructure protects warrant for the benefit of not just the 
4.5 million people who live in the State of Louisiana, and the 3 
million-plus people who live in Mississippi, but which protect and 
support the almost 300 million people who live in the United States of 
America.
  So these two bills are very important. I look forward to working on 
them when we get back.
  The second bill is a bill where we picked up an idea from the New 
York situation, 9/11--a terrible situation that is still seared into 
our memory and our collective conscience.
  There were some real problems with housing following the destruction 
of that neighborhood. This second bill I have introduced would allow 
FEMA to extend some of their rental and housing programs to give some 
immediate help to families who find themselves unable to recover their 
equity for whatever reason out of the houses they have that are 
uninhabitable but who have to find a decent place to live so they can 
rebuild and regroup. That bill will address that situation.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
that will help ensure beneficiaries who are eligible for both Medicare 
and Medicaid, the so-called ``dual-eligibles,'' make a smooth and 
successful transition from Medicaid prescription drug coverage to 
Medicare Part D.
  The 6.4 million seniors and disabled Americans who are dually 
eligible are the most vulnerable members of an already vulnerable 
population. They are the poorest of the elderly, with incomes of less 
than $10,000 per year. And they are the sickest of the elderly, with 
approximately 25 percent residing in a long-term care facility. They 
have significant health care needs, have often been diagnosed with 
multiple chronic conditions, and are in greatest danger of being 
affected by poor implementation of Medicare's new prescription drug 
benefit.
  On November 15, beneficiaries began signing up for Medicare Part D 
prescription drug plans, and on January 1, the drug benefit actually 
begins. But this date does not only mark the beginning of a new 
Medicare drug benefit. For the 6.4 million dual eligibles, January 1 is 
also the day that they stop receiving a Medicaid drug benefit.
  I voted against the Medicare bill when it was before the Senate in 
2003 and we are all well aware of the many flaws and shortcomings: the 
insurance company slush fund, the ``donut hole,'' the prohibition on 
the Government negotiating for lower drug costs and on the safe 
importation of prescription medications, among others.
  But the short timeframe in which dual eligibles have to complete this 
transition is one of the most worrisome.
  There are only 6 weeks between the time when seniors began signing up 
for the new drug plans, and the date when Medicaid coverage ceases. 
That means that dual eligibles--the poorest and sickest portion of the 
Medicare population--have very little time in which to accurately 
balance the benefits and drawbacks of their prescription drug plan 
choices.
  We're giving most seniors 6 months to consider their options of a 
prescription drug plan, but we're giving the most vulnerable only 6 
weeks.
  While it would be my preference that the existence of a Medicaid drug 
benefit be extended beyond January 1 to provide adequate time for the 
transition, Republicans in Congress have blocked legislation that would 
do this, leaving these individuals without coverage if their transition 
from Medicaid to Medicare doesn't happen before the end of the year.
  In response to the concern over the short implementation period, CMS 
announced that it will automatically enroll dual eligibles in a 
randomly chosen prescription drug plan by January 1, 2006.
  CMS reports that at the end of November they had automatically 
enrolled over 5 million of the 6.4 million dually eligible 
beneficiaries in a Medicare Part D plan. But this leaves more than 1 
million of our poorest and sickest vulnerable to falling through the 
cracks if they are not enrolled in a Medicare Part D plan in the next 
several weeks.
  CMS Administrator Mark McClellan has himself said that some dual 
eligibles may not be auto-enrolled before January 1, when their 
Medicaid drug benefit ceases to exist. In fact, if CMS is able to auto-
enroll 95 percent of all dual eligibles, more than 300,000 would still 
be left without prescription drug coverage and access to critical 
medications. At 98 percent enrollment, almost 130,000 would be left 
without coverage. These are unacceptable numbers.
  In light of growing concern that some dual eligible beneficiaries 
will arrive at their pharmacy counter on January 1 without coverage, 
CMS has announced a procedure to allow pharmacies to fill the 
prescription and a contractor to follow up with the beneficiary to 
facilitate enrollment in a Part D plan.
  While I am glad that CMS has taken this step, I am concerned that 
pharmacies will not be aware of this option and some beneficiaries will 
still fall through the cracks.
  In addition, pharmacies will be charged a transaction fee if they use 
this procedure and electronically inquire about the status of a 
beneficiary that comes to their pharmacy counter and isn't sure what 
coverage they have or if they have coverage at all.
  The legislation I am introducing today aims to address this problem. 
The Medicare Dual Eligible Identification and Enrollment Facilitation 
Act would require outreach and education to pharmacies, particularly 
independent pharmacies, and a hold harmless provision for transaction 
fees that pharmacies incur when they use this procedure.
  It is critical that we do everything we can to ensure that our most 
vulnerable seniors do not fall through the cracks and the pharmacies 
across the country are now our last line of defense. Helping them help 
these beneficiaries and eliminating fees they incur for doing so are 
simple but critical steps we should take to ensure that not a single 
dual eligible beneficiary is left without prescription drug coverage.
  I urge speedy passage of the Medicare Dual Eligible Identification 
and Enrollment Facilitation Act.
                                 ______