[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 64 (Monday, May 22, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H2967-H2969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HURRICANE RELIEF EXTENSION ACT OF 2006

  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5354) to authorize the Secretary of Education to extend the 
period during which a State educational agency or local educational 
agency may obligate temporary emergency impact aid for elementary and 
secondary school students displaced by Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane 
Rita, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 5354

       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 ``Hurricane Relief Extension 
     Act of 2006''.

     SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF PERIOD FOR OBLIGATION OF TEMPORARY 
                   EMERGENCY IMPACT AID FOR DISPLACED STUDENTS.

       Notwithstanding sections 107(f) and 110 of title IV 
     (commonly known as the ``Hurricane Education Recovery Act'') 
     of Division B of the Department of Defense, Emergency 
     Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf 
     of Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006 (Public Law 109-
     148; 119 Stat. 2680), the Secretary of Education may extend 
     the period during which a State educational agency or local 
     educational agency may obligate funds received under section 
     107 of that title, except that such funds shall be used only 
     for expenses incurred during the 2005-2006 school year, as 
     required by section 107 of that title.

     SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       (a) Findings.--The Congress finds as follows:
       (1) According to the Department of Education, more than 
     370,000 students were unable to attend school in the weeks 
     following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
       (2) According to the Department of Education, 158,000 
     students remained displaced as of October 1, 2005, and are 
     eligible for impact aid.
       (3) The unprecedented nature of this crisis and the massive 
     dislocation of students prompted the Congress in 2005 to 
     approve the Hurricane Education Recovery Act to provide money 
     to reopen schools in the Gulf Coast region and an additional 
     $645 million for impact aid.
       (4) The Congress included stringent time lines in the 
     Hurricane Education Recovery Act to ensure the money would 
     quickly be sent to the local educational agencies to help the 
     schools in need.
       (5) The Department of Education accelerated the application 
     process in order to quickly release education-related relief.
       (6) A significant portion of the recovery aid, both restart 
     and impact aid, has yet to reach damaged schools and local 
     educational agencies.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--The Congress urges State 
     educational agencies to expeditiously distribute education 
     relief funds received under title IV (commonly known as the 
     ``Hurricane Education Recovery Act'') of Division B of the 
     Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations 
     to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic 
     Influenza Act, 2006 (Public Law 109-148; 119 Stat. 2680)) to 
     impacted schools and institutions.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Boustany) and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. 
Maloney) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
on H.R. 5354.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Louisiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5354, the Hurricane Relief Extension Act of 2006, 
amends the Hurricane Education Recovery Act to allow the Secretary of 
Education to extend, beyond the 2006 school year, the period during 
which a State educational agency or local educational agency may 
obligate temporary emergency impact aid for elementary and secondary 
schools that enroll students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita.
  In addition, the bill includes a sense of the Congress that urges 
State educational agencies to distribute expeditiously any education 
relief funds received under such act to impacted schools and 
institutions.
  I want to thank Chairman McKeon and the Education and the Workforce 
Committee staff for working with me on this legislation.
  Hurricanes Katrina and Rita created real and pressing educational 
needs in the gulf coast region. According to the U.S. Department of 
Education, more than 370,000 students were unable to attend school in 
the weeks following the hurricanes. About 158,000 students were still 
displaced as of October 1, 2005, and are eligible for impact aid. More 
than 1,100 schools, public, private, and parochial, were still closed 2 
weeks after the storms.
  In the immediate days after the hurricanes hit, I worked closely with 
my colleagues on the Education and the Workforce Committee to assess 
the damage caused by the storms and to move forward and send Federal 
aid to the highest need areas in the shortest amount of time possible. 
We supported an innovative electronic reimbursement proposal that would 
have enabled

[[Page H2968]]

parents and schools to bypass government bureaucracy and receive 
Federal aid more quickly.

                              {time}  1415

  Unfortunately, many of our colleagues opposed these efforts as a 
backdoor attempt to implement a voucher system. Let me be emphatic: 
That was not the case. This proposal would have prevented the delays we 
are now seeing in Federal support reaching our teachers and students 
who most need it.
  As an alternative, when Congress passed the Hurricane Education 
Recovery Act in December, we included stringent timelines to ensure the 
money would quickly be sent to local educational agencies to help 
schools in need. In addition, the U.S. Department of Education 
accelerated the application process for these funds in order to quickly 
release education-related relief. Yet, Federal education aid is still 
not reaching the ground in many Gulf States, including my home State of 
Louisiana.
  I recently visited Johnson Bayou High School in my congressional 
district in Cameron Parish hit directly by Hurricane Rita, and school 
officials had yet to receive one penny in Federal assistance. This was 
only 3 to 4 weeks ago. A headline last month in the Baton Rouge 
Advocate read, ``East Baton Rouge Schools Await Hurricane Funds.'' At 
an April 26 Education and Workforce Committee hearing, education 
leaders from throughout the gulf coast testified that Federal aid had 
yet to make its way to the local level.
  This bill allows the Secretary to set a date to obligate the funds 
for displaced students that is beyond the end of the school year 
because several districts have indicated the difficulty in meeting the 
current statutory July 31 date. The extension of this date will give 
the districts the extra time needed to ensure the funds are obligated 
toward the allowable expenditures from the 2005-2006 school year.
  The bill makes certain that the funds can only be used for expenses 
from the 2005-2006 school year and that the funds will not be extended 
into the 2006-2007 school year. These funds are desperately needed by 
the districts to help with the costs associated with educating the 
displaced students.
  Districts should not have to return the funds because they were not 
able to obligate them by the July 31 deadline. Mr. Speaker, schools 
should not be penalized because bureaucratic red tape has delayed the 
process on the State level, which, to me, is very unacceptable.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5354, the 
Hurricane Relief Extension Act of 2006.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5354, the Hurricane 
Relief Extension Act, and thank Mr. Boustany for introducing this very 
important measure.
  Mr. Speaker, in March of this year, Democrats from the House 
Committee on Education and the Workforce traveled to New Orleans and 
surrounding areas to survey and see firsthand the damage left by 
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The members of the delegation were clear 
in their assessment: Until you see the damage firsthand, it is very, 
very difficult to understand the magnitude of these storms and what the 
devastation that they left behind is.
  The school systems in the gulf coast were hit particularly hard. The 
wind tore off roofs of schools, and storm surges brought additional 
water into classrooms, sometimes reaching over 10 feet. These school 
systems, both public and private, lost books, computers and desks. 
Teachers, principals and students lost their homes to the storms.
  At the time of the delegation's visit, families had started to return 
to the area, and due to the leadership of local superintendents, 
principals and teachers, students were returning to the classrooms. 
Across the country, school systems in nearly every State opened their 
doors to enroll displaced students. They continued to educate these 
children, expending their own resources to meet the increased 
enrollments.
  In spite of the pressures on schools to reopen and enroll displaced 
students, it was not until December, nearly 5 months after the levees 
broke, that Congress designated funds to assist schools along the gulf 
coast and the schools that had taken in displaced students. And it 
appears Congress did not live up to its own promise. The funds provided 
were less than what was promised, nearly one-third less.
  H.R. 5354 does not fix the funding problem, nor does it address the 
challenges these same schools will have next year, particularly those 
in New Orleans, which expect their enrollment to double in the fall. 
H.R. 5354 will, however, resolve an immediate issue by extending the 
time in which funds are to be obligated for the current school year.
  H.R. 5354 also addresses a concern heard by the delegation during its 
visits to schools that State educational agencies were delaying the 
distribution of these funds to local school systems. As such, H.R. 5354 
includes a sense of the Congress that urges States to expedite the 
release of these funds to local school districts.
  Families are eager to return to their communities, but will only do 
so if they can be assured that their children can attend school. H.R. 
5354 will assist schools in their efforts to educate displaced students 
and reopen schools.
  Again, I want to thank the gentleman on the other side of the aisle, 
Mr. Boustany, for bringing this bill to the floor, and urge my 
colleagues to support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am 
prepared to close at this time. I want to thank my colleague, the 
gentlelady from New York, for her support, and for all the support of 
my colleagues across the aisle. I think this is an important piece of 
legislation, because much of the money that we have obligated has not 
reached where it needs to go, to those students and schools in need.
  When I was back home just about 2 months ago, I was at a school in 
Erath, a small town that was devastated by flooding, and they were 
rebuilding the school. In fact, they had just reopened some of the 
classrooms there. One of the teachers showed me her bright new shining 
classroom, freshly painted with a new bookshelf, and she had actually 
spent $1,600 of her own money to do that, because the Federal money 
that we had obligated had not reached the ground level. So I am urging 
the States to release the money that we have sent down so that we can 
get the money where it needs to be to take care of those students in 
need and get those schools up and running.
  With that, I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5354.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5354, the 
Hurricane Relief Extension Act. I thank my Education and the Workforce 
Committee colleague, Mr. Boustany, for his work on this measure--and 
for his efforts on behalf of his constituents in the wake of last 
fall's hurricanes.
  Last year, the Gulf Coast endured one of the worst series of 
hurricanes in our nation's history. Students, workers, retirees, and 
families from the region were impacted in ways seemingly 
incomprehensible before the storms struck.
  The Education and the Workforce Committee and this Congress have been 
active in driving legislation to provide resources to schools and 
families as part of the recovery effort. Last year, led by Mr. Boustany 
and his Louisiana colleague, Representative Jindal, we passed 
legislation to reimburse public, including charter, and private schools 
that have enrolled displaced students and to help those schools get 
supplies and equipment to help educate those students.
  Now, as the academic year during which Katrina and Rita struck draws 
to a close, we want to ensure that available money will be used by the 
schools and districts. The bill before us today will allow the U.S. 
Secretary of Education to extend the date by which these funds must be 
obligated to beyond the end of this school year. While the funds must 
still be used on expenses for the 2005/2006 school year, by extending 
the obligation date, the districts and schools will be able to make 
sure that funds are used on appropriate expenses and do not have to be 
returned to the federal government. It is not just a necessary move--
but an appropriate one as well.
  Last month, the Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing 
highlighted by educators from across the Gulf Coast region. We listened 
as they discussed the challenges faced and successes achieved by Gulf 
Coast schools in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and

[[Page H2969]]

Rita. And we heard them provide their unique insights into what we have 
done well with regard to education in the Gulf Coast region, as well as 
what obstacles we still face.
  Unfortunately, some officials testified that they have yet to receive 
their full, expected sum of federal impact aid dollars. And as we 
consider this legislation today, I am especially hopeful that some of 
the bureaucratic problems we've witnessed in the past several months 
will end--and end soon.
  Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is this: as educators, joined by parents 
and students from the region, work to rebuild an academic way of life, 
they ought to have all of the necessary tools at their disposal. The 
measure we are considering today takes a major step toward providing 
just that. And I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it.
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5354.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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