[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 17, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8906-S8907]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             HURRICANE IKE

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the 
devastation inflicted by Hurricane Ike. It is the worst hurricane to 
hit Texas in almost 50 years and probably the fourth costliest 
hurricane of all time.
  Last week, when Hurricane Ike entered the Gulf of Mexico and started 
moving toward Texas, State, local, and Federal officials came together 
and moved into action. We had reason to fear the worst. In the year 
1900, the island of Galveston was destroyed by a hurricane that claimed 
over 6,000 lives, the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. I was 
born on Galveston Island. I was raised in Galveston County. When I was 
growing up, I heard stories about 1900. There have been books written 
about that hurricane of 1900. And we also faced on a yearly basis 
hurricane warnings. Of course, some of them hit.
  While preparing for this storm, the people of Texas had fresh 
memories from Hurricane Rita, another violent hurricane that came 
ashore around Sabine Pass in 2005. While Hurricane Rita only caused 
seven direct fatalities, the evacuation and recovery efforts along the 
gulf coast were not without difficulties, and for that reason, everyone 
who could possibly be helpful in this wanted to improve the emergency 
preparedness in advance of the next storm.
  So in the days leading up to Hurricane Ike, Texas was prepared. Over 
1 million Texans successfully evacuated from their homes. However, when 
the skies cleared on Saturday afternoon, it was clear that Hurricane 
Ike had caused an appalling amount of property damage. From the early 
estimates, the cost of Hurricane Ike could reach almost $30 billion. 
Forty-nine people are now confirmed dead. That number will surely rise. 
Thousands are homeless. Many communities remain under water and are 
completely inaccessible due to the significant amount of debris. 
Yesterday, 2.2 million Texans still lacked electricity. Emergency 
workers are struggling to distribute food, water, and ice. Offshore oil 
platforms are damaged and many refineries are without electricity. So 
it is likely that before the region's oil and gas industry return to 
capacity, we will see some shortages in gasoline and, therefore, some 
higher prices.
  Gulf refineries and ports are the source of 50 percent of the fuel 
and crude used in the eastern half of the United States. Disruption of 
that infrastructure underscores the urgent need for us to expand 
refinery capacity. Indeed, we need to expand our entire energy supply 
so that America's economy is never undermined by acts of nature or 
foreign adversaries.
  On Sunday, I joined with Senator John Cornyn, my colleague, and the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, and many members of 
our congressional delegation to survey the hardest-hit regions. We came 
to listen to the concerns raised by the mayors and the county judges, 
after we had been on the telephone with them for the 4 days before, 
trying to determine that people were as prepared as they could be in an 
instance such as this and, of course, we wanted to try to correct any 
concerns that had been raised. Some were raised. I will say that the 
mayors of our cities and the county judges have done a terrific job of 
representing their constituents at the local level. I met with Mayor 
Bill White of Houston, Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas from Galveston, Harris 
County Judge Ed Emmett, I talked on the phone with the mayor of Port 
Arthur, Beaumont, the county judge of Orange County, trying to help in 
every way we could from the Federal level.
  Yesterday, I joined with the members of the Texas delegation who were 
here. Many were still in Houston touring with the President to see the 
damage and determine what more could be done. I talked to Senator 
Landrieu and Senator Vitter yesterday about their concerns about 
Hurricane Ike which hit them very hard. We all know Louisiana has 
suffered so much in the last few years with Hurricanes Katrina and 
Rita. Texas joined them in suffering from the evacuees in Katrina and 
then

[[Page S8907]]

Rita, and now we have Ike. We jointly must have the support of all of 
our colleagues in Congress to help our constituents. We are working 
together--our Texas delegation, our Louisiana delegation--to have a 
supplemental appropriation so that FEMA will be fully funded to address 
the concerns.
  The Corps of Engineers will have repairs to make throughout the gulf 
coast. There are shelters that are going to be needed for families who 
have nothing to go back to. As I passed over Bolivar Peninsula and I 
saw what used to be a wonderful group of homes on stilts, today they 
are stilts. The homes are completely gone--completely gone--as if there 
was never anything there but sticks. It was amazing to me because I 
have been there so many times and seen these communities. So we are 
going to come together and we are going to help the people who have 
been afflicted.
  I wish to speak for a moment about the people of Texas. We are known, 
I guess, around the country for being a hearty bunch and usually a 
happy bunch and always resilient. We have a great spirit in Texas. I 
never have seen it any more so than right now. Colleagues in Galveston 
and Bolivar Peninsula, Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange, Harris County, 
Houston, many are down because they have not been able to get back in 
to see their homes. On Galveston Island the health conditions are so 
bad that they are not letting people come back on the island, so people 
have not even seen their homes. They are very frustrated.
  But the generous spirit of Texans is surrounding those who are 
afflicted. The spirit, the pride, the resilience is there. I have seen 
our citizens do everything they can on a personal level. One of my 
regional directors of Harris County, Jason Fuller, has 12 Texans living 
with him right now, including three new dogs and a cat. He is doing his 
part on a personal level. He is also going out to the shelters and 
representing our constituents and trying to make sure that the points 
of distribution are open, things he can do. Some communities that don't 
have power organized block parties and they are having barbeques and 
cookouts because they have no electricity in their homes. Local 
churches, the Baptist Men, the Second Baptist Church in Houston has an 
incredible outpouring. The local churches are providing staff support. 
Volunteers are distributing the water and ice and food to surrounding 
communities. There are so many good things happening. Neighbors are 
coming together to help neighbors.

  I wish to ask my colleagues to help us. Because we do have an 
emergency disaster bill coming through for many areas of the Midwest 
that have suffered from previous disasters, I am going to ask, along 
with my colleague John Cornyn and my colleagues Mary Landrieu and David 
Vitter that we be included in this. We don't have the exact assessments 
yet, but we know it is going to be big. We know we have given for 
Katrina. We have given to other disasters. What we ask is to be treated 
in the same way so we can recover and get our economies going again, 
get our jobs going again, get our schools open, which are not yet done 
in many parts of our State, so that we can recover, clean up, and begin 
contributing again to the economy as we have done so much in the past.
  I thank my colleagues for listening. My heart goes out to my 
constituents who are suffering right now in Texas. I am going to stay 
in constant contact with them. I wish to say particularly how much I 
appreciate our Secretary of Homeland Security who has so many 
responsibilities, who has already been to Texas and Louisiana once, who 
is going back today as we speak, and will be there to try to solve any 
problems that have arisen. As well prepared as we were, there were 
things that had not been done. Some lack of coordination has occurred. 
He is going down there personally to try to fix that. We appreciate 
that very much and we want to work with him hand in hand to assure that 
our communities get up and going and that my beloved Galveston Island 
will once again be able to bring in tourists because of its beauty and 
its historic value, its ports and its beautiful beaches. I am going to 
work tirelessly to make sure that happens, along with all of the other 
areas of our coast that have been damaged.
  Thank you, Mr. President, and I yield the floor. I suggest the 
absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Casey). The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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