[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

[[Page H521]]

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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