[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 172 (Wednesday, November 7, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S14044]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 UNANIMOUS-CONSENT AGREEMENT--H.R. 1495

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Wednesday, 
November 7, when the President's veto message on H.R. 1495 is received, 
it be considered as having been read, spread in full in the Journal, 
and printed in the Record; that there then be 3 hours of debate on the 
message with the time divided as follows: 45 minutes each for Senators 
Boxer and Inhofe, 90 minutes under the control of the Republican leader 
or his designee; that upon the use or yielding back of time today, the 
message be set aside to occur following morning business tomorrow 
morning, Thursday, November 8, at which time there be a total of 30 
minutes remaining for debate, with 7\1/2\ minutes each for Senators 
Boxer and Inhofe and 15 minutes for the Republican leader or his 
designee; that upon the use or yielding back of time, with no further 
intervening action, the Senate proceed to vote passage of the bill, the 
objections of the President notwithstanding.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Louisiana.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I come to the floor to urge my 
colleagues to override the President's veto of this important bill. 
There are many colleagues who want to speak tonight on the subject of 
WRDA, because this has been a team effort. Senator Boxer, the chairman 
of the committee, along with Senator Inhofe, ranking member, have 
worked hard and diligently to put a bill together which the vast 
majority of us support, and many colleagues are here tonight to speak. 
I will be very brief.
  I want to speak about this bill because it is so critical to 
Louisiana. It is critical for us to give a green light to the people of 
south Louisiana and to the gulf coast who are still struggling to 
rebuild and put the pieces of their shattered lives back together 
because of the unprecedented two-punch storm--Katrina and Rita--and the 
breaking of the Federal levee system that should have held but didn't. 
We saw 285,000 homes destroyed. Because of the fires in California, as 
horrific as they were, screaming out of the mountains with the Santa 
Ana winds and scorching homes and neighborhoods, 1,600 homes were lost. 
Thousands of families were displaced and some businesses destroyed. But 
compared to Katrina and Rita, which is now 2 years in the past but is 
very close in the memory and hearts of the people still living there, 
we have to continue to remind ourselves and the Nation, it was 285,000 
homes destroyed, unprecedented in the history of this Nation.
  This bill in place lays a foundation for us to build on. It lays a 
foundation for security and prosperity. Frankly, without it, our long-
term recovery is in jeopardy. This bill will authorize, not fund, about 
$7 billion in critical water infrastructure projects, the first real 
piece of Louisiana coastal restoration effort, the closing of a 
shipping channel that was literally devastating to the parish in which 
it lies, St. Bernard Parish. Every home was destroyed in that parish; 
67,000 people who lived there saw their lives and businesses destroyed 
when the levees supporting this commercial channel failed. There were 
levees throughout the metropolitan area that failed. This bill begins 
to lay a foundation for coastal restoration, to restore levees, to 
close the Mississippi Gulf outlet channel we refer to as Mr. Go, 
establishing for the first time hurricane protection along some 
southern parishes, Lafourche and Terrebonne, which we don't hear very 
much about because everybody focuses on New Orleans. We don't hear 
about Lafourche and Terrebonne and Iberia and Cameron. These are 
parishes that have hundreds of thousands of people who live there and 
support the commerce of this Nation disproportionate to their number. 
This is where the pipelines are. This is where much of the energy 
infrastructure is for the Nation. It is these places we want to 
preserve for the future.
  That is why Senator Inhofe and Senator Boxer and the members of their 
committee--Senator Vitter represents us on this authorizing committee--
have done an outstanding job in pulling together these projects. I 
don't know why the President chose this bill to try to reassume the 
mantle of fiscal responsibility, but he picked the wrong bill. As my 
colleagues will explain, it is fiscally responsible to pass a 
framework, a guideline, a limit on these projects. That is what WRDA 
does.
  For the Nation it is important we invest in critical infrastructure. 
I don't like to make these comparisons on everything, but it is worth 
noting that we are now spending $120 billion this year in Iraq. We are 
spending $2.3 billion a week. It is hard for me to go home to Louisiana 
and explain why we can't come up with $7 billion in authorizations for 
projects that are going to last over the next 20 or 30 years. We still 
have to go back and get the funding, but without authorization, we 
can't get started.
  I hope my colleagues will join me in a strong override. The House did 
so last night. I look forward to the Senate overriding the President's 
veto of this important bill.
  I retain the remainder of my time.

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