[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 17, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8902-S8903]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            DISASTER RELIEF

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, yesterday I had the chance, once again, to 
tour the devastated area in my State of Texas caused by Hurricane Ike, 
this time with the President of the United States and the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services, Secretary Mike Levitt, along with David 
Paulson, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 
It had been 2 days before that, on Sunday, that I had done the same 
thing in southeast Texas, in the Beaumont area, talking to the mayors 
and county judges in that afflicted part of the State, as well as 
having been to Galveston. Those two places, particularly Orange County 
and Galveston County, in the southeast part of our State, took the 
brunt of Hurricane Ike.
  There are a lot of people hurting now in Texas. We have roughly 2 
million people without power. Many people have left their homes under 
evacuation orders and do not know what the condition of their home is 
and certainly are dying to get back so they can assess where they are--
whether they have been wiped out or whether there is something they 
will be able to rebuild, whether this is something from which they can 
recover.
  At the same time, we know there are people who are in evacuation 
shelters set up by the Red Cross with FEMA's help, and others, where 
they are getting the necessities of life--food, water, and shelter. But 
these are the very same people who are eager to get back to their homes 
to see whether their houses are still standing, to see whether they can 
rebuild, as I say, or whether they are going to have to start from 
scratch.
  The emergency response by the State of Texas, primarily the Governor 
and his team, as well as the leaders at the local level--county judges 
and the mayors--was about as good as I can imagine it could have been. 
Unfortunately, because of Hurricane Gustav, when it did not turn out to 
be as severe as many thought, and millions, literally, had evacuated, I 
don't think many people believed Ike was going to turn out to be as bad 
as it turned out to be. So many people hunkered down in place and did 
not take the advice of the local and State leadership to evacuate. 
Unfortunately, now they find themselves--roughly 2 million people--
without power.
  Yesterday, Mayor Thomas, in Galveston, pointed out that the toilets 
have not flushed since last Friday in Galveston. That not only presents 
an inconvenience and hardship, but it is also a public health hazard. 
We have many people who, yesterday, decided to give people a chance to 
look and leave. In other words, if they were worried about their home, 
give them a chance to come back on Galveston Island, check it out, and 
then leave because the air-conditioning, the refrigeration, the basic 
services provided by power were not available.
  Unfortunately, if you saw, as I did, the entry and exit into 
Galveston Island, it was jammed with people wanting to come back under 
that look-and-leave policy. But the mayor decided, and I think wisely 
so, to suspend that because of the logjam.
  In the worst of disasters, usually you find the greatest examples of 
the human spirit, neighbors helping neighbors. Faith-based 
organizations, for no other cause than serving their very basic 
mission, are out there making sure people are fed, making sure they are 
sheltered, doing everything they can to help people rebuild their 
lives.
  We were fortunate in one sense that the storm was not as bad as 
originally predicted. At one point, there was an estimate that 125,000 
homes would be lost; that the surge would reach up to 25 feet; that is, 
the water being pushed ahead of the storm would actually come all the 
way up the Houston Ship Channel and cause massive destruction and 
flooding and possibly loss of human life. While too many people did, in 
fact, lose their lives, fortunately it was not as bad as it could have 
been. Texans remember and history reminds us it was just 1900 when 
Galveston was hit by another hurricane where anywhere between 6,000 and 
8,000 people died. Fortunately, the numbers were in the single digits 
in Texas. That is because of not only the preparation but because of 
modern building codes which created stronger houses for people who did 
decide to hunker down, and also because of the search-and-rescue 
operation conducted by the State and Federal authorities working 
together to try to get people out who had been trapped, literally, 
without electricity, without power, without gasoline. We were able to 
get many people out to safety in the shelters.
  I think it is important for the people of this country to know that 
no matter who you are or where you live, we do have the systems in 
place both at the local and State level but also the Federal level to 
be of assistance to you if you need help. Of course, as I mentioned, 
many people are trapped, really, where they are. Maybe they went to a 
hotel. Maybe they went to a friend or relative's house.
  Yesterday, the President announced the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency, the Federal Emergency Response Agency, had authorized people to 
basically stay in the hotel or motel, if that is where they are 
located, for up to 30 days while the power gets restored and while 
cleanup is ongoing and maybe downed power lines are removed. That ought 
to give people some relief, that they are not going to have to look for 
money they do not have just to be able to pay the bill to stay in place 
if they are in a hotel or motel for the next 30 days, if they come from 
the affected counties.

  Because of the major disaster declaration that occurred, both public 
assistance in terms of helping to rebuild the affected areas in the 
State and also personal assistance is available through FEMA. We tried 
to announce the first step to the public yesterday. But, obviously, 
people do not have Internet access when their power is down. They do 
not have televisions to watch the announcements or maybe

[[Page S8903]]

even radios to be able to know what to do. But it is important for the 
public to know, and I think not just in the affected regions, that they 
need to register with FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 
for personal assistance. That is the first step to getting back to 
their houses, making sure any damages are appropriately assessed, and 
making sure the affected people get the help they are entitled to under 
the law.
  I would add, in addition to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's 
Web site and their 1-800 number, if my constituents will call any one 
of my offices, either here in Washington, DC, which we kept open 24-7 
during the storm, and also any of my regional offices in Tyler, Dallas, 
Houston, San Antonio, Harlingen, Lubbock, or Austin, we will reach them 
and get them the help they need and to which they are entitled.
  I have heard some rumors from the other side of the Capitol that 
Speaker Pelosi was talking about moving a stimulus package, a huge 
additional spending package of roughly $50 billion, and there were 
going to be some provisions in it for disaster recovery and wild fires 
and other things.
  I would welcome that with this caution: that we not allow politics 
and the opportunity to use this as a sort of Christmas tree for a bunch 
of bloated spending that is not necessary to restore people to their 
homes and to repair the damaged infrastructure; that this not be used 
as an occasion for politics. To me, the most cynical thing possibly 
that could happen in Congress is we look past the people in immediate 
need, and we look for political opportunities to perhaps spend the 
taxpayers' money on programs that would not otherwise pass because they 
are somehow bundled up with emergency spending for storm relief.
  There is one other thing I learned in this disaster that I think is 
very important as we look at dealing with our energy crisis generally, 
with the high price of gasoline, and high price of oil, which, perhaps, 
is the No. 1 economic concern of the American people today. The gulf 
coast is indeed a laboratory of energy that supplies the daily needs of 
our country. When a big hurricane comes in, like this one did, of the 
25 refineries--these are the places that actually make gasoline out of 
oil--representing more than one-quarter of the Nation's refining 
capacity, 17 of the 25 had to be taken offline because of the storm. In 
addition, nine different oil pipelines--these are the major oil 
pipelines that transmit oil from the gulf to various parts of the 
country--also had to be shut down because of Hurricane Ike. That is 
going to have an impact on America's oil and gas supply.
  Hopefully, the first indications are going to prove to be true, and 
there were no major environmental spills or problems associated with 
this hurricane. To me, it was just another reminder of how much 
Congress needs to remember that we cannot put all of the Nation's 
energy--or at least 25 percent of it--in one place. It is literally 
like putting all of our eggs in one basket. As the saying goes, if you 
put all your eggs in one basket, you better take care of that basket.
  The fact is, as we look forward to hopefully removing the moratorium 
on Outer Continental Shelf drilling and exploration and production of 
oil and building of refineries at home so we have to depend less on 
imported energy from the Middle East, that we will remember the lessons 
of Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Katrina and 
Hurricane Rita.
  Frankly, I think putting so much of our Nation's energy capacity in 
an area that is from time to time going to be affected by these natural 
disasters is something we ought to take note of and do something about. 
By producing the ability, or at least allowing the ability, for more 
exploration and development and building of pipelines, building of 
refineries in other parts of the country and, producing more at home, 
we, as we use less by conservation measures, can produce more American 
energy so we are less reliant on imported oil from the Middle East.
  There have been a lot of interesting proposals being made. I want to 
caution my colleagues against some of the proposals that claim to do 
more about drilling but which in fact create further obstacles to 
further American oil exploration and drilling. As a matter of fact, one 
of the initial proposals we saw--I know this was in good faith. I am 
not questioning the good faith of the proponents. But the effect of it 
would actually be to raise taxes and diminish domestic oil production 
and actually limit energy exploration.
  It is true, we would go from 85 to roughly 70 percent of the Outer 
Continental Shelf that would be available for drilling under this 
proposal, but what we would in effect be doing is putting a 60-vote 
barrier on going into that other 70 percent in the future. I do not 
know why, if we are willing to acknowledge the fact that modern 
drilling technology will allow for the exploration and production of 
oil in one place, such as the Outer Continental Shelf, why we would 
restrict it in other places on the Outer Continental Shelf, or 
developing the oil shale out West or perhaps even in the Arctic 
National Wildlife Refuge--in a 2,000-acre piece of frozen tundra in the 
middle of a 19 million-acre wildlife refuge--something that can be 
developed, I believe, in an environmentally responsible way.
  Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator has 6 minutes 
remaining.

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