[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 25 (Thursday, March 2, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H514-H521]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
KATRINA EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE ACT OF 2006
Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House of March
1, 2006, I call up the Senate bill (S. 1777) to provide relief for the
victims of Hurricane Katrina, and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the title of the Senate bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). Pursuant to the order of the
House of Wednesday, March 1, 2006, the Senate bill is considered read,
and the amendment placed at the desk is adopted.
The text of the Senate bill, as amended, is as follows:
S. 1777
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Katrina Emergency Assistance
Act of 2006''.
SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the case of
an individual eligible to receive unemployment assistance
under section 410(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5177(a)) as a
result of a disaster declaration made for Hurricane Katrina
or Hurricane Rita on or after August 29, 2005, the President
shall make such assistance available for 39 weeks after the
date of the disaster declaration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Shuster) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton)
each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
{time} 1030
General Leave
Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on S. 1777.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
[[Page H515]]
Mr. Speaker, S. 1777, as amended, extends the disaster unemployment
assistance for those affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Unfortunately, the economy in the gulf coast area remains devastated
and re-employment opportunities are greatly limited.
Currently, disaster unemployment assistance is only available for 26
weeks following a disaster declaration. March 4, 2006, is the current
deadline for program assistance as a result of Hurricane Katrina
disaster declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi. Unless we act,
unemployment benefits will expire this Saturday. This bill would extend
that period for an additional 13 weeks, making disaster unemployment
assistance available for 39 weeks total. This assistance is only
available to those persons who are not eligible for regular
unemployment assistance.
By extending these benefits, we are helping those most in need in the
gulf coast region as they continue to recover and rebuild. We extended
disaster unemployment assistance benefits after September 11 in the
same fashion as we are extending these benefits today. I support this
legislation and encourage my colleagues to do the same.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking Chairman Don Young,
Ranking Member Jim Oberstar, and, of course, my subcommittee chairman,
Bill Shuster, for their leadership in acting together to assure that
unemployment benefits are available to the many victims of Hurricane
Katrina and Hurricane Rita who want to work.
We are acting in virtual unison, though under the wire, to pass S.
1777, the Katrina Emergency Assistance Act of 2006, which extends
unemployment assistance under the Stafford Act, providing essential
unemployment benefits before they lapse on Saturday. This bill extends
the period that victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita would be
eligible for unemployment benefits to an additional 13 weeks, for a
total of 39 weeks.
Currently, the disaster unemployment assistance benefit period begins
the week following the disaster or the date thereafter that the
individual becomes unemployed and can extend up to 26 weeks after the
declaration or until the individual becomes reemployed. This bill means
39 more desperately needed weeks, in addition to the first 26 weeks.
The Department of Labor has the usual authority to administer the
program.
The extension of these benefits would help untold thousands of
workers who lost their jobs as a direct result of the unprecedented
storms that hit the gulf region late last summer but do not qualify for
regular unemployment assistance. The Labor Department reports that more
than 500,000 individuals have already filed new unemployment claims.
Unemployment at 12.5 percent for those who had returned in November
was more than twice the national rate; and for those still displaced
the rate was an amazing 27.5 percent, more than twice the rate for
those who had returned.
Unemployment benefits are available, of course, only for workers in
search of actual employment. These benefits may, nevertheless, of
course, be used wherever these workers are living today. However, the
benefits also may encourage needed workers to take the many risks
associated with returning to gulf cities and towns at a time when all
the basic ingredients of working communities, from housing to health
care, are at unprecedented low levels.
For example, relatively few workers have returned, despite a high
rate of job openings in New Orleans. With at least the guarantee of
unemployment benefits during the job hunt and much more rapid and
sensible job training and reconstruction policies, these benefits could
leverage new work opportunities for gulf residents that were
unavailable even before the storm, leave alone what the benefits could
do in helping the reconstruction of the region itself.
At the same time, I regret that a provision similar to the one
approved by the committee of jurisdiction in the other body to increase
unemployment benefits to 50 percent of the national average of
unemployment benefits had to be removed from the final bill to achieve
the rapid agreement needed. Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana have
the lowest unemployment benefits in the country. As a result, disaster
unemployment benefits for these States are as low as $87, $90 and $97
per week, respectively.
Fifty percent of the national average for unemployment benefit
amounts to $135 a week. In an area of the country that even before
Hurricane Katrina suffered long-term unemployment at record levels,
this increase could have made a major difference to families who need
much more assistance than the typical unemployed worker, because many
have lost everything, including their homes.
For the gulf victims, the job search that S. 1777 will afford is much
more than finding a job. This bill will help some victims return to the
gulf region to begin building their lives from scratch. Many who
qualify for these benefits were in the lowest wage categories and are
among the neediest for assistance. This extension will help them move
forward after experiencing the worst natural disaster in the Nation's
history. The American people would want us to take at least the step of
passing this urgently needed legislation today.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Neugebauer).
(Mr. NEUGEBAUER asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition today to S. 1777.
One of the things that I am concerned about is we are spending billions
of dollars every day on this Katrina emergency disaster, with very
small results. We have people filing lawsuits against the government to
keep them from being kicked out of apartments, while thousands of
trailers are idle just a few hundred miles away.
Certainly, our hearts and thoughts go with the people who experienced
this tremendous tragedy, but I think one of the things that I hear from
the people in the 19th District of Texas is that they see we are
spending billions and billions and billions of dollars, yet we are
getting reports of mismanagement almost at every level of government.
One of the things that I think we have to do, and it is the reason I
am going to encourage my colleagues today not to support this, is I
think we have to step back and look at where we are spending our money
today, the American taxpayers' money, by the way, and by the way, money
that we don't have. Every dollar we are spending right now for Katrina
relief is money that we are borrowing, and we are going to saddle our
future generations with that debt.
So I believe that what we have to do is begin to assess what are the
job creation opportunities going to be in that region. We are at a time
in our country today, quite honestly, where we have record low
unemployment, yet we are here today to extend unemployment benefits for
another 13 weeks.
The question I have is not whether these people need a job, but the
question is are we providing opportunities for them to get a job and
moving them away from an environment of entitlement to an environment
of empowerment, where we are investing dollars in those communities in
such a way that those communities will be able to create jobs for those
people that maybe lost their jobs because of this disaster that
happened.
So, Mr. Speaker, I would encourage my colleagues today, let's vote
this down. Let's sit back and assess where we are spending our
resources. I know that we have a $20 billion additional supplemental
coming to the floor of this House for debate, and I think as we keep
throwing money at this problem, what we hear on the national news every
day is the people living in these areas are saying they are not getting
any of the help. The way to make sure you have accountability is not to
give someone more money, but to bring in more accountability.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues not to support this.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
[[Page H516]]
I must say, Mr. Speaker, we thought of going forward with this bill
under unanimous consent because we did not think there was a single
Member of the House of Representatives who would want to deny to people
searching for a job after the worst disaster in American history the
funds that would enable them to live while they search for a job. So I
am amazed. I will be amazed that there is a single vote against the
bill.
But I think the chutzpah to stand on the floor and say we are
throwing money at a problem, when I have just recounted what these
benefits will mean in that part of the country, less than $100 a week
for families looking for work, is an amazing statement to make. We are
throwing money at a problem? We are giving unemployment benefits to
people looking for work who have no other means because Mother Nature
has taken their means from them. Moreover, may I remind this House that
twice after 9/11 we extended unemployment benefits.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms.
Jackson-Lee).
(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise
and extend her remarks.)
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished
gentlelady for her leadership, as well as Mr. Shuster. I also thank Mr.
Young, and certainly Mr. Oberstar.
Mr. Speaker, I represent the bulk of Texans, those of us who are now
hosting more than 200,000 Katrina survivors and Rita survivors. Might I
say to my good friend who lives a little further from the gulf that he
should recognize that this legislation also includes Hurricane Rita
survivors, who are all throughout the southern part of Texas.
But this is not an isolated whose-State-are-we-in type of
legislation. It is a legislative initiative. As a member of the
Homeland Security Committee, I see my ranking member has come who has
worked very hard on these issues, this is an answer to the cry of
Americans. For anyone to suggest this is frivolous or throwing good
money after bad is wrongly focused and misdirected.
Let me suggest to you the parameters, or at least the scene, that we
are now talking about. We already know that we have suggested that the
government in all of its power absolutely abysmally failed in its
ability to save the lives of those on the gulf coast, and they knew
that there was going to be a catastrophic event.
So what we are trying to do here on the floor of the House is, on the
backdrop of our failure, not to look back, we wish there was a 9/11-
type commission, but to go forward with solutions.
I want to applaud my colleagues for going forward. We are going
forward by providing assistance to those Katrina and Rita survivors,
who are scattered now through 44 States. I would like to ask my
colleague, when in the history of America did we scatter Americans
throughout 44 States? This is to help those States, because many of the
individuals who are there are layered on top of the citizens of Utah,
the citizens of Kentucky, the citizens of Georgia, who may be
themselves unemployed; and therefore it makes it difficult for them to
find jobs, even to be able to develop an income to be able to return
home to the gulf coast region.
Mr. Speaker, this provides a cushion for those who are scattered in
the 44 States. Then it helps additionally those who are in large urban
areas like Houston. Houston, of course, a percolating economy, still
has its unemployment. So for you to indict people, to suggest that they
are doing nothing to find work, you don't know the economy in America.
Let me also acknowledge that this particular provision will pay back
communities for buying soap and food for those who have been in our
community. It also provides for student scholars who are on visas,
whose visas may be expiring and they have no paperwork, so they will
not be deported, not because they are here illegally, but because they
cannot find the paperwork coming from that region.
This is an emergency. This is a life-saver. We will be in a
devastated condition this Saturday if this bill is not passed.
Let me say that the bulk of Texans, the majority of Texans, 90
percent of Texans, understand the value of this legislation; and they
want this bill to pass because we see firsthand those who are trying to
struggle to survive.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the
proposed legislation, S. 1777, the ``Katrina Emergency Assistance Act
of 2005.''
As the law stands, unemployment assistance to those affected by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is going to be running out. We urgently
need to act to extend unemployment assistance to the survivors of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
S. 1777 extends disaster unemployment assistance, DUA, to individuals
affected by Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita. It does so by
expanding FEMA's authority to help individuals affected by Hurricane
Katrina and Rita by allowing the President to waive the limitations on
direct and financial assistance and by providing 13 additional weeks of
unemployment benefits.
With merely days remaining before the unemployment benefits begin to
expire, the people displaced by Hurricane Katrina and Rita are facing a
dire crisis. The survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and from Hurricane
Rita, have faced tremendous stress over these past months. Not only
have these men and women lost their jobs, but their homes have been
razed to the ground, their beloved city swept away, and their
livelihoods destroyed. They have suffered through unspeakable
devastation, both to their mental and physical states. But, these proud
people have not lost hope. Thousands of people, many in my district of
Houston, are working hard to find jobs and rebuild their lives. It is
very difficult for them to integrate into their new community, and very
difficult for them to find a job.
In these most trying times, however, their government is threatening
to remove them from their temporary, emergency unemployment assistance.
Many of these people, their last options exhausted, will be left on the
streets. It is a moral, public safety and public health imperative that
this not be allowed to occur. I am making an urgent appeal to my
colleagues in the House to take the necessary steps to avert this
disaster and vote to provide disaster unemployment assistance for the
displaced persons.
Late last night I received an urgent call from a constituent of mine,
Dr. Ikili Graham. Dr. Graham explained that his friends and family were
affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Many had lost their homes and
their jobs, and were struggling to integrate in their new city of
Houston. Jobs were scarce, but progress was being made.
He called to urge me to support S. 1777, a bill that would provide
much needed help to those who are still unemployed as a result of
Hurricane Katrina and Rita. This bill would extend unemployment
assistance for just 13 additional weeks--hopefully enough time for
people to find new jobs and sources of income.
I would like to passionately thank the Minority Leader and the
Speaker of the House for their wisdom in bringing this necessary piece
of legislation to the floor. The survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita need our continued support.
Mr. Speaker, I strongly support the proposed resolution for the
foregoing reasons, and I urge my colleagues from both sides of the
aisle to follow suit.
{time} 1045
Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I want to respond to the comments of my
good friend from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer). I certainly understand his
concern about some of what has gone on in the gulf coast region, things
that have not been efficiently moved forward. There have been cases of
money being spent unwisely.
But on this bill, S. 1777, with the disaster unemployment assistance,
this is important, to go to people that do not get normal unemployment.
This goes out to people that are self-employed, small business owners.
It is critical to the recovery that they have income until they are
able to get their businesses back up, or if they are a professional, to
get their operations running again.
So again I understand the concern of my colleague, but this bill is
about disaster unemployment assistance. It is critical to get it back
on line. It expires on Saturday. So I would urge all of my colleagues
to support this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's comments. The kind of small
business owners, for example, that the gentleman was talking about, if
you are a hot dog vendor, those are some of
[[Page H517]]
the most industrious people in society. An example would be people who
are willing to work for themselves where they get no benefits of any
kind, but work harder than most of us.
I used the hot dog vendor, because that is fairly typical of the kind
of person we are talking about.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Washington (Mr. McDermott).
Mr. McDERMOTT. Thank God that the Speaker is taking a trip down to
New Orleans, because we have waited for a long time for this bill. Six
months ago I introduced legislation to extend unemployment benefits.
But the majority party has ignored the problem until today, a few days
before it is going to run out.
Now as a doctor and psychiatrist, I can tell you a couple of things:
When people suffer a catastrophic loss, they need comfort and
certainty, a helping hand. Instead, you have waited with unemployment
benefits until they were beginning to run out before you acted. You
have made matters worse for people who already have much damage to
their lives.
For 6 months this body functioned like that empty FEMA trailer when
it came to meeting the needs of the people devastated by the
hurricanes. The White House was in the driver's seat. No more need be
said.
But thankfully, at the urging of Ms. Pelosi from California,
Republicans are going to do what I said 6 months ago. We are going to
extend unemployment benefits to the people in the gulf coast. Later
today, we will go and visit the region and tell the people all the good
we are doing for them.
Now, the Republicans will take credit for acting. But there is no
credit for acting 6 months late. Six months ago I said we should be
protecting the children of the gulf coast. I ask today, are we doing
all we can to ensure vulnerable children are protected? Have we done
anything to ensure that parents receive counseling and children receive
the necessary social services to cope with the trauma in their lives?
The answer is ``no.''
We may have sent some money to the States, but we have done nothing
to ensure that Federal child welfare programs receive additional
resources to cope. Kids are not as important as workers. In fact,
Republicans refused to even hold a hearing, despite my repeated pleas
to the chairman.
We know child abuse spikes after natural disasters. We know that
foster families are living in FEMA trailers. They are living with four,
six and eight kids in a trailer, and the State is asking them to take
more because they do not have enough places for neglected and abused
kids. These trailers do not come close to passing the safety standards
that we would demand of an ordinary foster home.
We cannot keep pretending that the Federal Government is responding
to the gulf coast. FEMA and the White House knew the storms were
coming; we found that out yesterday. We knew they were going to
devastate the area, and they failed to prepare and respond. For the
last 6 months there has been nothing going on here.
We have got a chance today to follow the Golden Rule: Treat others as
we would be treated. I speak as someone representing Seattle. We know
that one day we will have another shaker, another earthquake. And
anybody who gets out on this floor and says, oh, well, we're throwing
money at Louisiana, don't you dare come near this floor asking for
money when it happens to you in California or anywhere else.
This is not a local problem, this is a national problem that the
Republicans refuse to respond to until it is at the last second. A day
late, a dollar short.
Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, responding to the gentleman, we are not a day late and a
dollar short. We are responding in a timely fashion. We certainly would
have liked to have done this a couple of weeks earlier, but we are here
on the floor today. We are going to respond to this situation in time.
I think it is important. As we move legislation forward in a
situation like this, I think the folks in the gulf coast know that
those of us in Congress are concerned about their situation; and that
is why we are acting in time for this to be extended. I don't believe
that responding 6 months prior to the need is something that is wise
policy.
Let's move forward, let's study the situation and when it gets to a
point where we have to extend, where we have to act, I think it is
prudent that we do that.
Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that I mentioned 9/11 because I think
there is a standard here, a kind of control group. I mentioned that we
had had to extend unemployment benefits twice during 9/11. This was a
terrorist attack, 3,000 people killed. Thank God, the entire City of
New York was not wiped out.
Compare, however, that disaster, as tragic as it was, with wiping out
an entire city, the whole city gone, all means of employment gone, now
being slowly revived. And I think we will have some appreciation for
the American heart.
We knew what to do on 9/11. We will be there for people as long as
you need us. And the wonderful thing about unemployment benefits is,
they go straight to the person. And, of course, what unemployment
benefits do, because the people who get them spend them for necessities
in their communities, so what unemployment does at the same time is, of
course, to help the community, the economy of the community where the
unemployment benefits are being spent.
This is very good money for very desperate people.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Kucinich).
Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, as I listen to the debate here, one of the
things that I keep hearing in this House is a question of what the role
of government is. One of the gentlemen who spoke earlier would insist
that all this is about is throwing money, good money, after bad.
I think there are people in this Congress who actually believe that
government does not have a benign role in the lives of the people,
except as an engine to redistribute the wealth of the Nation upwards.
This legislation proves otherwise. It proves that government does have
a responsibility to step up when people have a problem. It also
confirms the role of the Congress of the United States.
We see in today's news that the administration was warned on Katrina.
It didn't respond quickly enough. Well, the Congress of the United
States has an obligation to respond here. That is what we are doing
with this legislation today. That is why I support it. We know that so
much of the Federal response to the economic security of the Katrina
victims has been lacking.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, unemployment is a serious
problem for hurricane victims. But the evacuees who are still not back
in their homes, and they number 500,000 people, to them unemployment is
epidemic, one-quarter of Whites, one-half of African American evacuees
are still out of work.
The cause, Mr. Speaker, is not a lack of jobs. At the current time
there is a labor shortage in New Orleans. The cause is a lack of
housing near the job sites. The Economic Policy Institute found that
simply returning home from the Katrina Diaspora makes a dramatic
difference in those staggering unemployment figures.
Unemployment rates fall among Whites to 10.7 percent, among Blacks to
11.6 percent if people have a home to go to. But the unfortunately
indifferent Bush administration, through the now infamous FEMA, is
compounding the unemployment problems of the hurricane victims. The
Federal emergency housing effort located the largest temporary housing
facility for New Orleans evacuees in Baker, Louisiana, 91 miles away
from New Orleans. That is not a commute for anyone, especially low-
income workers.
On September 8, the President urged a proclamation to lower the wages
of all workers on a Federal contract to rebuild the hurricane-affected
region. He suspended Davis-Bacon, a 74-year-old law which requires that
companies receiving Federal contracts pay the average wage to employees
who are hired to perform those Federal contracts.
[[Page H518]]
He also suspended the requirement of having affirmative action plans.
Fortunately, some Members of Congress became involved in that and
offered a counterbalance.
That is what we are trying to do here today. We are trying to offer a
counterbalance to an administration that was not there when the
American people needed some guidance.
But today this bill will show that Congress has a role, and we have
to keep remembering it. Congress has a role in meeting the needs of the
American people and government has a role in the life of the American
people, has a positive, a powerful, a constructive role; and we have to
confirm that role over and over again with our work on the floor of the
House of Representatives.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support this bipartisan initiative to give
the people of the Katrina disaster area some additional relief. I think
we need to keep focusing on what is the appropriate role of government.
Let's help people in this country with the resources we have.
Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Ohio's support on this
piece of legislation today. But I want to remind my friends on the
other side that Congress does have a role. And we took it very
seriously when we set up the Katrina committee. It was the Democratic
leader who refused to appoint Members from the minority to the Katrina
committee.
But there were courageous Members on your side, I see Mr. Jefferson
here today, who defied the leadership and who came to the committee
hearings for the last 4 or 5 months. We did the hard work. We put forth
a document that pointed out some serious problems that we had. It was
critical of this administration. But the minority was MIA, missing in
action from the Katrina committee.
So Congress does have a role. We took it very seriously.
And once again I just want to applaud Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Taylor, Mr.
Melancon, Ms. McKinney. I hope I am not forgetting anybody. But as I
said, they defied their leadership and came to these important Katrina
committee hearings, and they were a big part of, I believe, the
hearings and had great input into what we produced.
Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the
gentleman from New Orleans (Mr. Jefferson), the city which suffered the
worst natural disaster of any big city in American history.
Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me
the time to speak on this legislation.
I want to thank the bipartisan group that has developed this
legislation. We, of course, had hoped for more from it. We were hoping
that we would get to $135 a week, as the Senate had proposed. And we,
of course, hoped for other provisions in the bill.
But, nonetheless, this is an important step forward, and an important
response to the needs of the people in our area. I regret that there is
objection to this legislation today, because I think it can only be
objected to because folks just do not understand. I will not say that
anyone is so callous as to not care, but I would have to say that you
cannot really understand the dimensions of this issue if one objects to
what we are doing here today.
In many ways, the district that I represent and the area that I
represent and the whole gulf region is frozen in time. Not a whole lot
has changed since August 29 in this aftermath, except that in our city
the water has been pumped out. But other than that, the city is largely
depopulated. Business has still not stood up. Hospitals are not
working. The school system is not working. Our city has no tax base.
People do not have jobs. Many have no place to come back to, even for
temporary housing.
And those few who are there, of those who are there now, some 16,000
of them who are there in temporary housing, other housing conditions
that are not ones that any of us would really like to have to put our
families into, 16,000 of them do not have jobs now and are seeking this
unemployment extension benefit.
{time} 1100
Across the Gulf there are 165,000 families who are either there or
displaced some other place around our country who do not have jobs, not
because they are not seeking them, not because they do not want to
work, but because the storm has displaced them and destroyed not only
where they live but where they worked as well.
So the things we have talked about on the committee that reviewed the
Katrina lawsuit, I do want to give some compliments to those who worked
on that issue, who helped to, I think, make some critical decisions
about it that I think will in the future portend better outcomes for
these disasters as they occur. We hope they do not occur to anybody
like they occurred to us; but if they do, I think we are in a far
better position to deal with them now.
I do want to say there is a great deal more to be done in our area.
And we are hoping that this Congress as a result of the trip that will
be taken in just a few hours down there to take some 35 or 40 Members
of Congress down to take a look at this, that people can continue to
develop an appreciation for the extent of this disaster. Many of us
have said it was not just a natural disaster that drowned our city.
There are also some man-made issues here about how our levees failed
and about how we could have done more to make sure that that did not
happen. Frankly, had the levees had not failed, our city would not have
drowned and we would not have had the 80 percent of our city under
water, and all of the untoward consequences I just talked to you about
would not have happened. We would have had a serious storm, a series of
brief clean-up, and people would be back in town, and we would not have
to be here talking about extending unemployment.
We are extending it today because this is a long-term set of issues
here. This is not the ordinary disaster. We will be living with this
for a very, very long time. It will take a lot of hard work on the part
of all of us to make this close to right down the road.
So I hope this Congress is prepared to stick with the people of the
region. I hope we will get a full understanding of exactly how folks
are suffering and how this approach is a Band-Aid approach to helping
people who are in the most dire circumstances, as I said, not because
of anything they have done or have failed to do, not because they are
not looking for work every day, but because they are displaced. They
are disconnected. Their jobs are destroyed. They have no place to go.
And they have no means of support for their families except this
Congress and this country come to their aid. And this is a small
measure to do that.
I am grateful to the committee for the work that it has done. I look
forward to our committee realizing that there may be more work to do in
this area. I hope we can make a rebound in this work as quickly as we
can. But the biggest thing now is how we can keep families together,
how we can give them a little support while they struggle to get back
to normalcy, and how at the end of the day we can give them the choice
to return to the place where they lived, where they have their cultural
connections, and where they have dedicated a part of their lives and
their influence and where they, frankly, want to return to.
All of us have someplace we call home around here; and for them, no
matter how dangerous we think it is, how difficult it is for them,
these people, all of our people, all of us want to have a way to come
back and reconnect to our home, at least to make a decision about
whether we want to make a reconnection or not.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this issue. I hope that
whatever objections there are they will be withdrawn because this ought
to be an issue on which we are all together, on which there is
bipartisan agreement.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, thank you once again for the kind
of bipartisan cooperation that I think truly reflects the spirit in
which this bill comes to the floor today.
Our country is so well known for disaster relief, generously and
spontaneously given to the rest of the world, that the rest of the
world actually came forward and offered relief to the United States
after Katrina occurred.
[[Page H519]]
In a real sense the standard we have set for ourselves in the rest of
the world sets the standard for what we do in our country. Will we be
known when this disaster has cleared for the generosity of the response
to Katrina?
Despite the sour note of one Member only at the beginning, I want to
say that I have seen anything but that in the workings of our
committee. It did make it necessary for us to make the case in a way we
thought would have been unnecessary. For example, when you talk about
throwing money at a problem, it makes me realize that some people do
not even understand what unemployment benefits are about. They do not
understand that you can only get unemployment benefits if you have had
a job so that we are by definition talking about working people. And
because many have not been unemployed, they may not understand what you
have to go through to keep getting your benefits, to report to the
office, to show evidence of having looked for a job.
In other words, we are talking here about people who worked, who have
every desire to work, and who need a meager benefit in order to keep
looking for work. That is why this bill is minimally reflective of
where most Members would be. I think the bill at its base reflects the
bipartisan spirit of this House when it comes to extending benefits
that would allow people who want to work to, in fact, do that work.
And, indeed, if we should be so fortunate that these benefits may
inspire some to go back home to places few of us would want to go
because of all the future comforts that are gone, to go back home with
meager benefits, with no housing, with insufficient health care, to go
back home to help rebuild their community, that is the America that we
all know.
Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman has 4\1/2\ minutes
remaining.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Waters).
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to come to the
floor today to speak on behalf of people of the gulf region of New
Orleans, of Mississippi, of Alabama who have in many ways been
dismissed, marginalized, even violated. I rise in strong support of the
passage of S. 1777.
Six months after Hurricane Katrina, life for Louisiana and
Mississippi residents remains an uphill battle. Houses have not been
rebuilt. Many are still without gas, electricity, and other needed
utility service; and those who once resided in the New Orleans ninth
ward are still unable to return home, and other areas also. Yes, some
help has been given; however, much more needs to be done.
There has been a lot of talk in the news about how America is not a
country that will cut and run. Yet that is what we are doing to
Hurricane Katrina survivors if we do not extend the services they so
desperately need. If passed, S. 1777 will extend the much-needed
unemployment assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The unemployment rate of the hurricane survivors has reached epidemic
proportions. This effect is compounded by the fact that the affected
areas had some of the country's highest unemployment rates prior to the
storm. Six months have already passed, although it seems the desperate
images of survivors was just yesterday. As a result, providing
unemployment assistance for survivors for up to 39 weeks is not only
desperately needed but it is the right thing to do.
S. 1777 will waive the $25,000.00 limitation faced by individuals and
household under existing law. As we have seen many individuals and
families have to rebuild their entire lives from nothing. A recent
media report chronicled the life of one woman whose sole possession
after Hurricane Katrina was one dining room chair. The amount of funds
these individuals receive needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case
basis.
Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased at the way the press has not closed up
shop and gone home after Katrina. Story after story continues to tell
us what is happening in the gulf region. We have just seen Mardi Gras
stories over and over again. I was pleased to see Mardi Gras celebrated
in the region.
The region is doing for itself what it can do. As I think about this
bill, I think that there are people who are on unemployment benefits
who got a job during Mardi Gras and who came back home who no longer
need unemployment benefits.
I want us to also remember that New Orleans, in particular, which is
known for its Mardi Gras gaiety, this is the oil producing, the energy
producing region of our country. We need it to get back on its feet.
This bill will help the region, the whole region, Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama, to do just that. We are helping the people,
and that is the way to help the region.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments about the press
talking about some positive stories coming out of Louisiana, but we
should not forget there are also positive stories in Mississippi. The
gentlewoman has traveled to the Gulf Coast on a couple of occasions,
and the people of Mississippi were devastated as well.
The gentleman from Louisiana talked about the hard work. There is a
lot of hard work left to do in rebuilding the Gulf Coast, but it is
important that we at the Federal level do it in a fiscally responsible
way in conjunction with the State and local governments in the Gulf
Coast. But we also have hard work ahead of us in fixing the emergency
management system, and that is something we are already starting to
engage in. And we are going to have, I think, a significant debate on
how we move forward.
This legislation today is important. The extension of the disaster
unemployment assistance, it is money that, as I said earlier, is going
to people that traditionally are not eligible for normal unemployment.
These are small business owners, many of them. I think the gentlewoman
from the District used the example of the hot dog stand owner, people
working hard, small businesses. They do not have any income, and this
is going to give them that income they need to get them back on their
feet.
I want to also remind my colleagues that there is not an additional
appropriation required for this. This has already been appropriated.
The funds are in the disaster relief funds and CBO has scored this as
no net increase in spending.
So as we move forward, I think it is responsible for us to do this. I
urge my colleagues to support this legislation. I also want to thank my
colleague from the District for the work she has put into it.
This has been a bipartisan effort. I also want to thank Chairman
Young and Ranking Member Oberstar. I also do not want to forget members
of the committee from the Gulf Coast, Mr. Boustany and Mr. Baker, for
their leadership, and Mr. Pickering for his leadership.
I want finally to thank the majority leader for working with us to
get this legislation on the floor today.
Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, before Katrina slammed into my city, we
had 2,100 hospital beds. Now we have 400 beds between Touro and
Children's. When Katrina struck, about 22 percent of Louisiana
residents and 23 percent of New Orleans residents were living in
poverty, $16,090 for a family of three. Over 900,000 people or 21
percent of all residents in Louisiana had no health insurance before
Katrina and after the storm 1.2 million were uninsured. Tied to these
poverty and uninsurance rates, Louisiana also had some of the poorest
health statistics in the country with high rates of infant mortality,
chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, and AIDS cases,
and lower than average childhood immunization rates.
To this end Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join Congresswoman Christensen
and a number of my congressional colleagues in introducing the first in
a series of healthcare bills that I will be introducing in the coming
weeks. The Katrina Health Access, Recovery, and Empowerment Act of 2006
or KHARE Act of 2006 has 4 main provision areas, each which addresses a
key component in rebuilding the health care infrastructure in the Gulf
Region, and meeting the unique health and health care needs of those
displaced by the hurricanes. They include the following:
Title I: Rebuilding the Health Care Infrastructure. This title will
meet the immediate
[[Page H520]]
and longer-term needs of the health care providers in the hurricane-
affected regions by directing the Department of Health and Human
Services in consultation to provide forgivable low-interest loans to
eligible small business concerns for the restoration of health care and
other services connected to health care.
This title will extend tax-credits for medical malpractice insurance
to health professionals whose primary place of employment is located in
the Hurricane Katrina-affected area and offer grants to eligible non-
profit hospitals and clinics to assist hospitals and clinics in
defraying qualified medical malpractice insurance expenditures.
In addition, this title will allow healthcare professionals whose
healthcare practice is located in the Hurricane Katrina-affected area
and is in a high risk specialty, will be allowed to deduct from gross
income an amount equal to 125 percent of the aggregate premiums paid
for medical liability insurance.
Title II: Rebuilding Pipelines of Providers in Medically-Needy and
Underserved Areas and Communities. This title offers support to health
care facilities in the hurricane-affected areas in order to expand
access to needed health and health care services for hurricane affected
individuals in medically needy and underserved areas and communities.
The title establishes a Healthcare Safety Net Infrastructure Trust
Fund. The Trust Fund will provide Federal guarantee of loan repayment,
including guarantees of repayment of refinancing loans, to non-Federal
lenders making loans to eligible healthcare facilities for healthcare
facility replacement (either by construction or acquisition),
modernization and renovation projects, and capital equipment
acquisition.
Title III: Providing Relief to Academic Institutions. This provision
provides support to academic institutions, with health and health care
related programs, in hurricane-affected areas in order to ensure that
they have the capacity to retain health and health care-related staff
and personnel, and continue to offer programs that are important to
bolstering the health and health care workforce in hurricane-affected
areas.
Title IV: Restoring Key Components of the Health Care Infrastructure
in Medically-Needy and Medically-Underserved Areas. This title provides
grants and technical assistance support to low-income communities with
noted health disparities in order to implement programs to improve
health and healthcare. It also provides disparity grants to
organizations and others in hurricane-affected areas to implement
programs to healthcare programs. Finally, this provision expands access
to care for low-income hurricane-affected residents by offering
disaster relief Medicaid.
Mr. Speaker, this bill codifies legislatively the framework needed to
implement sound public health and healthcare practices and this bill is
a start to a new direction for healthcare in the Gulf Coast region and
I urge my colleagues to support this bill, so that we do what is so
clearly needed to improve the health and health care for millions of
Americans.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 1777, as
amended. The bill provides much needed aid for individuals left
unemployed after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by extending the period of
disaster unemployment assistance from 26 weeks to 39 weeks from the
date of the disaster declarations. Without this extension, disaster
unemployment assistance for those left unemployed by Hurricane Katrina
would expire this Saturday, March 4, and unemployment assistance for
those left unemployed by Hurricane Rita would expire by the end of this
month. There is no doubt that the people of the Gulf Coast need this
assistance, and I strongly support this bill, and thank the Democratic
Leader, Ms. Pelosi, for joining me in urging its consideration in the
House today.
Let's be clear about what this bill does. It extends unemployment
benefits for those 165,000 workers left unemployed as a result of
Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita for an additional 13 weeks. People
in the Gulf Region are still struggling to reclaim their lives. It is
the right thing to do to extend these benefits--just as we did after
September 11--so that people can put food on their table. It is simply
shocking to me that some Members on the other side of the aisle have
stood up to oppose this bill. Where is the compassion for those who
have suffered most dearly over the past several months?
Mr. Speaker, I support this bill. Nevertheless, I believe that
Congress can do more, and should. Last December, the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure reported H.R. 4438, the Gulf Coast
Recovery Act, a bill that would have extended the period of eligibility
of disaster unemployment assistance for those left unemployed by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to 52 weeks from the date of the disasters.
Further, the bill provided a much-needed increase to the minimum amount
of assistance available to an individual. Right now, assistance
provided to individuals in the Gulf Coast is among the lowest in the
Nation. H.R. 4438 would have provided an increase in the amount of
assistance to 50 percent of the national average ($135 per week).
Currently, the minimum is set at one-half the state average
(approximately $100 per week in Louisiana).
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4438 also addresses other pressing needs of the
Gulf Region. It allows the President to provide assistance to
financially distressed state and local governments to cover base pay
and overtime expenses for essential response and recovery personnel for
six months--from January 2006 through June 2006. At Committee hearings,
and on a tour of the region, I have heard from Gulf Coast
representatives, including Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, that without
help from the Federal government they would have to continue to layoff
workers that are essential to the recovery, thereby adding to the
scores of unemployed in the region and substantially hindering the
recovery.
In addition, to help communities with limited resources, the bill
amends the Community Disaster Loan Act of 2005 to allow local
governments to receive loans up to 50 percent (an increase from the
current 25 percent limit) of the local government's budget.
Further, there is considerable confusion among local governments
regarding the cost of debris removal. H.R. 4438 provides clarity on
this issue by establishing a 100 percent Federal cost share of debris
removal for disaster declarations resulting from Hurricane Katrina or
Rita.
The bill also provides an increase in the Federal cost share of the
Hazard Mitigation Grant program (HMGP) to at least 75 percent for one
year. Many of the Gulf Coast communities simply do not have the ability
to meet the Federal cost share and that will severely limit their
ability to utilize cost-effective mitigation measures during the
recovery. Mitigation saves lives, reduces property damage, and saves
limited government funds. Congress should ensure that we have strong
mitigation programs that will help encourage communities to rebuild
safer and smarter.
H.R. 4438 also makes a permanent change to the Stafford Act and
restores the percentage used to calculate the availability of HMGP
funds following a disaster from 7.5 percent to 15 percent. This House
has previously approved this change in H.R. 3181, the Predisaster
Mitigation Program Reauthorization Act of 2003, in the 108th Congress.
This change will help improve the use of HMGP for any future disasters
in every part of the country.
Finally, the bill establishes a national program by which FEMA can
provide grants to state and local governments to purchase or improve
emergency interoperable communications equipment (including satellite
phone and satellite communications equipment); mobile equipment to
generate emergency power; and to train first responders and emergency
personnel on how to best use such equipment. The bill authorizes $200
million for each of fiscal years 2006, 2007, and 2008 for this program.
It is a sad fact that this Nation still does not have sufficient
interoperable and emergency communications equipment that can be relied
on in the event of a disaster. Since the Transportation Committee
reported H.R. 4438 in December, many of the recent government
investigations into what went wrong with the Federal Government's
response to Hurricane Katrina have concluded that having operational,
emergency communications equipment is essential to respond to any
disaster. The program authorized in H.R. 4438 will go a long way to
ensuring that emergency responders have this vital equipment by
providing states and localities much needed resources to purchase and
improve their equipment and also train emergency personnel on how to
use the equipment.
H.R. 4438 is an important component to rebuilding the Gulf region. It
should be scheduled for an up or down vote on the House Floor. The
people of the Gulf Coast deserve at least that much.
Given that the Republican Leadership has been unwilling to schedule
H.R. 4438 since the Committee reported the bill in December of last
year, we are faced with passing a simple extension of the unemployment
benefits for Hurricane Katrina and Rita survivors or facing the
prospect of 165,000 survivors losing their benefits.
Although Congress can and should do more, I urge my colleagues to
support this legislation to extend the hurricane survivors'
unemployment benefits, and I commit that I will continue to work to
ensure that the people of the Gulf Coast are not forgotten.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 1777, the Katrina
Emergency Assistance Act. This bill would extend jobless unemployment
benefits for 165,000 survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita for 13
weeks.
In August, 2005, Hurricane Katrina laid waste to our Gulf Coast
region, including the City of New Orleans, and devastated other
villages and towns in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The extent of
the devastation was unprecedented in our Nation's history. I have
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repeatedly expressed my outrage at the failure of our Federal
Government to adequately respond to this disaster.
Without this legislation, victims of the Hurricane Katrina disaster
will lose their unemployment assistance this Saturday. Under current
law, Federal emergency unemployment assistance expires 26 weeks after
the emergency occurs. Congress must act now to ensure that these
victims continue to receive our support as they attempt to rebuild
their lives and their communities.
While I support the legislation before us, this is only a first step
for Congress. Many of the Katrina survivors have also lost their homes
and belongings. They are continuing to look for employment in the
region.
Congress needs to take a bold step and enact a comprehensive approach
to help the people and the region recover from this natural disaster. I
have co-sponsored H.R. 4197, the Hurricane Katrina Recovery,
Reclamation, Restoration, Reconstruction and Reunion Act of 2005,
introduced by the Congressional Black Caucus. I urge the House
leadership to bring up this legislation immediately. This legislation
would take important steps toward fully restoring the Gulf Coast and
reuniting evacuees with their families. The bill addresses the needs of
evacuees in the areas of health, education, housing, community
rebuilding, voting rights, business, and financial services.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and again urge the
House leadership to immediately allow the House to vote on H.R. 4197,
the comprehensive Hurricane Katrina recovery legislation.
Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to the order of the House of Wednesday, March 1, 2006, the
previous question is ordered on the Senate bill, as amended.
The question is on the third reading of the Senate bill.
The Senate bill was ordered to be read a third time, was read the
third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the
table.
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