[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 107 (Thursday, June 26, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6267-S6269]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, we passed, by an overwhelming margin, a
supplemental emergency spending bill that will fund our ongoing
operations in Iraq and in other parts of the world and will send some
money stateside.
In the view of this Senator, we have shortchanged, even with our good
effort that was just made, shortchanged some real ongoing serious
emergencies here at home.
As far as the gulf coast is concerned, I voted for the bill because I
have always believed that half a loaf is better than none.
In the bill, in large measure because of the work of Members on both
sides of the aisle, we have a significant amount of money toward the
construction of levees that failed and put a great city and region and
regions throughout the gulf coast at risk, particularly the New Orleans
metropolitan area. I know people get tired of reviewing the details,
but less than 3 years ago, several significant levees along the great
port system in the city of New Orleans, levees that should have held
collapsed, and 80 percent of the city went under water. The water is
long gone, but the pain is still there. The rebuilding is still going
on. The anxiety of homeowners, renters, small business owners and large
business owners, and industrial investors is still there, questioning
whether the Federal Government's commitment to not only fix the levees,
restore the levees and bring them up to the standards that were
promised decades ago, if that promise is going to be kept.
This bill gets us part of the way there, but we still have an awfully
long way to go. In the underlying bill we passed, in large measure
crafted by House leadership--and I am disappointed in this view of the
House leadership--they put in only a portion of the very critical levee
funding that is needed for us to go forward, to restore these levees to
100-year flood protection. I don't know how to explain this, but 100-
year flood protection is the bare minimum for the United States. There
are a few areas that are enjoying 200- and 300-year flood protection in
this country, but very few. Most do not have, as you can tell by the
flooding going on now in States such as Missouri and Iowa and parts of
Illinois, most places don't have the 100-year protection.
For a reference point, I wish to impress upon my colleagues that this
is a minimum standard. The country of the Netherlands, which is so
small it could fit inside of Louisiana, a powerful economy but a small
nation, has flood protection for its people against storms that happen
once every 10,000 years. We, the United States of America, cannot claim
that we have flood protection for 99 percent of our people against
floods once every 100 years. I am going to say again, as I have said
100 times on this floor, incremental funding, nickles and dimes, a few
hundred million here or there, is not going to get the job done. In the
long run, it is going to cost the American taxpayer billions and
billions of dollars more.
So here we go again, after the flood, after the storm, after the
promises, after the speeches, after the lights, after the photographs,
the bill is passed, but we do not have the whole amount of money
necessary to reconstruct the levees as promised by the President and as
spoken to on numerous occasions by many Members of the House and
Senate. We do have $5.8 billion in this bill, $1.16 billion for the
Lake Pontchartrain vicinity which is a long, ongoing project, I think
started back in the 1960s. We do have $920 million in for west bank
levee which was started back in the 1960s. We have $967 million in the
southeast Louisiana flood control project that was started in the
1990s. We have $2.9 billion of flood control and emergency projects,
modifying drainage canals, installing pumps, armoring levees, improving
protection at the inner harbor canal, federalizing certain non-Federal
levees in Plaquemine Parish, the long parish that sits at the toe of
the boot in Louisiana, reinforces and replaces floodwalls, repairs and
restores floodwalls. The problem is the match that is required because
of the House action. The Senate reduced the match required by the State
of Louisiana and extended our payment terms. Instead of requiring the
State of Louisiana to pay a higher level of 35 percent, the
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Senate had suggested, I think wisely, that we revert back to the
historic share, which is 25 percent. No one in Louisiana thinks we have
to get these projects for free. Everyone in Louisiana understands we
have to step up and pay our share. No one is objecting. What we simply
asked for was a reasonable share, a historic share, not 35 percent but
something like 20 or 25 percent. And most importantly, we had asked
that we be allowed to pay it over 30 years.
But, no, under the House version that was very ill-conceived and very
poorly thought out, the terms are tougher than historical standards and
will require the State to come up with a greater match, 35 percent, and
require us to pay it over 3 years.
I submit for the Record a letter from the president of Jefferson
Parish, Aaron Broussard, a parish now of a half million people, as well
as a letter from Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana. I ask
unanimous consent that these letters be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana,
Jefferson, LA, June 23, 2008.
Hon. Mary Landrieu,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Landrieu: We are concerned that language
contained in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill,
as passed by the House of Representatives last week, creates
an unfair and unacceptable new cost share on the citizens of
Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish and creates a new
financial burden that will unduly delay the SELA project and
impose significant new risks to Southeast Louisiana.
As you know, the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control
Project, SELA, was authorized by WRDA of 1996 to provide for
urban flood control in Southeast Louisiana on an expedited
basis. The SELA Project has been a true partnership between
local governments and the Army Corps of Engineers for over a
decade. A major and very important feature of SELA has been a
cost share of 75/25. The non-Federal sponsors of SELA have
sought and received the approval of the electorate for the
revenues needed to meet this 75/25 cost sharing requirement.
Now, without the benefit of legislative hearing or
committee oversight, the House of Representatives has
unilaterally changed the traditional cost share for the
project. This fundamental change in the SELA project will
create unprecedented delay in the delivery of the benefits of
SELA Project. Specifically:
The change in the cost sharing for SELA from the presently
authorized 75/25 to 65/35 equates to an additional $121M in
payments for the SELA sponsors.
This increase will have an impact on the economic recovery
of Jefferson Parish as $50M in new revenue sources must be
approved and/or revenues now slated for other recovery work
will have to be diverted to SELA.
The impact on Orleans Parish will be even greater as their
share of the SELA work will increase by approximately $70M.
All of these increases are on top of the $331M that
Jefferson Parish has agreed to pay under the presently
authorized 75/25 cost sharing.
It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to maintain
our construction schedule as the Administration will
undoubtedly request that a new Project Cost Agreement be
executed to reflect the higher cost sharing formula. This
will in turn, require that Jefferson Parish submit a new
financing plan showing adequate capability to meet these
increased obligations. We may be forced to seek revenue
bonding or seek new revenue sources, such as additional taxes
from our citizens. This could further delay the completion of
the SELA Project and the delivery of its benefits.
Senator Landrieu, I believe you will agree that the House
of Representatives should not be allowed to unilaterally
change the cost sharing authorized by WRDA '96 in an
Emergency Supplemental Bill without the benefit of hearing,
senate committee oversight or conference committee
negotiations. In fact, as you know, the Senate Bill had
language that maintained the historic cost sharing and
directed the Secretary of the Army to use a 30 year pay out
so that we could maintain the rapid pace of our recovery from
Katrina. Now in light of the House actions, long term
financing of the new cost share is the least that will be
needed to address this unprecedented new cost share
obligation.
I implore the Senate leadership and the Energy and Water
Appropriations Sub-committee to retain its language on the
Emergency Appropriations Bill and send the amended bill back
to the House of Representatives for final passage.
Sincerely,
Aaron Broussard,
Parish President.
____
State of Louisiana,
Office of the Governor,
Baton Rouge, LA, June 25, 2008.
Hon. Harry Reid,
Senate Majority Leader, The Capitol, Washington, DC.
Hon. Robert Byrd,
Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, The Capitol,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Mitch McConnell,
Senate Republican Leader, The Capitol, Washington, DC.
Hon. Thad Cochran,
Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations, The Capitol,
Washington, DC.
Dear Leader Reid, Leader McConnell, Chairman Byrd and
Ranking Member Cochran: Our state appreciates the strong
support that you have demonstrated for the Gulf Coast victims
of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The emergency supplemental
appropriations bill soon to be considered by the U.S. Senate
attempts to fulfill an important commitment to Louisiana--the
restoration of the 100-year level of hurricane protection by
2011. I support the inclusion of these funds in the final
bill; however. I remain concerned that the goal of the
funding is jeopardized by the unprecedented cost share
required under the legislation.
As proposed in the House bill, the State of Louisiana would
be faced with a $1.8 billion cost share over the next three
years for hurricane protection. This would result in a 4000
percent increase over the state's pre-Katrina contribution
toward hurricane protection efforts. As we understand,
Louisiana could be faced with paying up to $1.1 billion in
2010 alone. This is nearly one-third of the state's
discretionary budget. Burdening Louisiana with an
unprecedented cost share in this compressed time frame will
cause irreparable harm to our ongoing recovery efforts and
stall our coastal restoration efforts.
The emergency supplemental bill also proposes to increase
the overall percentage of funds provided by the state. Under
the House proposal, Louisiana's cost share responsibilities
would actually increase by over $200 million above the cost
share required under current law. Considering the
extraordinary impact the 2005 hurricanes and the various
aspects of recovery ongoing, it is alarming that Congress
would choose to require a higher cost share at this time.
As you know, the Senate version of the emergency
supplemental allowed Louisiana the opportunity to pay its
share of these important hurricane protection efforts over a
longer period of time as allowed under current law. The
Senate bill also used the traditional cost share requirements
that reflect current law.
The Senate is right. Placing this extraordinary burden upon
the backs of Louisiana citizens would set back our recovery
for years. The large cuts to budgets, services and programs
required to make $1.8 billion available for levees would have
a profound impact on Louisiana families across our state.
To be clear, Louisiana is willing to partner with the
federal government on these important protection efforts. We
are not asking for a waiver. The Senate bill requires our
state to pay its share for hurricane protection under
reasonable terms and in compliance with current law. I
strongly urge you to support our Congressional delegation's
efforts to retain the Senate provisions related to hurricane
protection. If not possible to include this language in the
supplemental, I encourage you to adopt this legislation on
its own or through another legislative instrument.
Sincerely,
Bobby Jindal,
Governor.
Ms. LANDRIEU. I wish to read part of the Governor's letter:
As proposed in the House bill, the State of Louisiana would
be faced with a $1.8 billion cost share over the next three
years for hurricane protection. This would result in a 4000
percent increase [not 4, not 40, not 400] over the state's
pre-Katrina contribution toward hurricane protection efforts.
I know it is not the intention of the chairman of the House
Appropriations Committee or the Speaker of the House or the majority
and minority leaders in the House to make Louisiana pay 4,000 percent
more than we were paying before the storm, when we are in an economic
situation that is far more challenging than we were before the city and
many of our parishes went under water and 1 million people were
displaced in the southern part of our State, but that is exactly what
they did.
I am going to leave here, along with my colleagues, but I am going to
come back and find a way, with the goodwill on the floor of this
Senate, working with Republicans and Democrats, to come to some
reasonable terms for the people of Louisiana so we can pay a reasonable
share and have a longer period to pay it back.
I know we are one Nation and we all have to support each other's
projects, but to put this in perspective, many of us here have funded
over the last maybe 15 years a project that is rather famous and well
known called the big dig in Boston. That project is an eight-lane
highway under the city of Boston that extends for 3.5 miles. We all
spent money to do it. It cost $14.8 billion for the big dig. I asked in
this supplemental for $8 billion to help build 200 miles of levee to
protect up to 2 million, roughly, people from losing everything they
have worked for and their
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parents and their grandparents have worked for, because when those
levees break, nothing is saved, and insurance does not even begin to
cover the cost of what people have lost. We had to be told in this
supplemental discussion that we weren't a priority or we needed to
wait. It couldn't fit in this bill. Sorry, we couldn't do it. Sorry, we
couldn't find the appropriate cost share.
I am happy for projects like the big dig and other projects around
the country. I know some people think I am wearing out my welcome, but
it is my job to represent the people of my State. I intend to do it as
fairly as I can. I have to say, the President was the one who came to
Jackson Square. I didn't go to Jackson Square and turn the lights on
and make a promise to the American people that these levees would be
rebuilt. He did. Then many Members of Congress came down, Republicans
and Democrats, and took shots with a lot of people and said they would
rebuild these levees. We want to rebuild our levees. We are willing to
put up our share. But the people of Louisiana, under no circumstance,
can pay a 4,000-percent increase. Under no circumstance can our State
come up with $1.8 billion every year for the next 3 years out of our
general fund.
I want to make one more point about the levees. The people on the
other side of the levee are not in high-rise condominiums. They are not
lying on the beach sunbathing, and they are not frolicking in 2 feet of
water for recreational purposes. The people on the other side of these
levees are running the greatest port system in North America. They are
engaged in fisheries and transportation and oil and gas. They are the
men and women who unload the ships that come from all over the world to
support the economy of this Nation.
We have work to do when we get back here. I am going to go home for a
week. Then I am going to come back, and we are going to work on finding
a better way for us to reduce the cost share and extend the time for us
to repay our portion so we can get these levees built and give comfort
and keep our promise to the people before we have to mark the third
anniversary of Katrina, which will be August 29.
We have time, but we don't have a lot of it. It is almost July. The
third anniversary will be August 29. I want to put the Senate on notice
that I am going to do everything in my power not to allow us to go home
for August until some provisions have been made. There are two options.
The President can, by executive order, do this. I am asking him to. I
am sending him a letter tomorrow asking him to do it. If he doesn't,
then every bill that comes to this floor will be subject to an
objection by me until this situation is corrected. It is as if you did
not give us any levee money, because without us being able to put up a
match, the project can't go forward. Some provision will have to be
made. I wanted to go on the record tonight saying I am willing to work
toward any compromise that will be reasonable and look forward to doing
that when we return.
In addition, there were provisions that the Senate graciously, under
Senator Byrd's leadership, had put in this bill to continue to help us
with other elements of our recovery. The criminal justice provision was
stripped out by the House. The health care provision was stripped out
by the House. These amounted to literally a few hundred million dollars
in the scheme of things.
It is not a great deal of money, as these bills go, that are hundreds
of billions of dollars. But it was important money to the city of New
Orleans and the region and to hospitals that have never closed from the
time that hurricane swept through and destroyed so much in its path.
Oschner Hospital stayed open. West Jeff and East Jeff opened very soon,
as soon as they could, and have continued to provide indigent care,
losing millions and millions and millions of dollars, and yet cannot
get the proper reimbursement necessary because of what they did.
FEMA only provides help to public entities. Oschner is technically
not a public entity, but it was the only hospital that stayed open, and
the doctors and the nurses did the right thing. All they have been--
since doing the right thing--is punished because their board has lost
money, money, money, month after month after month. I have pleaded
their case on any number of occasions. Senator Leahy, Senator Harkin,
and others have been very gracious to try to include help. But it seems
as though at certain points it always gets stripped out.
So we are going to come back, and I am going to ask again for some
health care funding and some criminal justice funding and work with
Senator Grassley, Senator Harkin, Senator McCaskill, and others to
fashion better remedies for the thousands of homeowners in other parts
of this country who have also been disappointed by levee systems that
should have held and failed, by Federal bureaucracies that promised
help and did not show up.
I know only too well the pain that is going on right now in other
parts of the country. I have lived this nightmare for 3 years in south
Louisiana and in Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. So we do have some
work to do when we get back, and I look forward to working with you and
others to accomplish that.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 2 minutes to extend my
remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Thank you, Mr. President.
____________________