[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 135 (Tuesday, September 13, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5507-S5508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              FEMA FUNDING

  Mr. REID. Madam President, this week the Republicans sent a message 
to victims of the devastating hurricanes, wildfires, and tornados. That 
message was ``tough luck.''
  Last night, we tried to move forward on a measure that would grant 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency additional funding to help 
communities devastated by natural disasters. This ought to be the least 
political issue we have, whether to reach out a helping hand to our 
friends and neighbors in a time of need.
  These unfortunate people have lost friends and loved ones. They have 
lost their homes, businesses, and livelihoods. They have been destroyed 
by acts of God. I went over this with my wife last night, and she said: 
Why would you use a term like that? Well, in the law, that is what 
these floods, these terrible windstorms, and these fires are--they are 
acts of God. We can't plan for them; they just happen. In the law, that 
is the term of art we use.
  These people have lost loved ones and friends, and their property is 
underwater or literally reduced to rubble. It is in our power to help 
them. It is an obligation we have to help them. Last night, Republicans 
overwhelmingly voted to prevent us from coming to their aid. They 
prevented us from getting disaster aid to American families and 
businesses that need it now. These unfortunate people, I repeat, don't 
need the help next week or next month or 6 months from now, they need 
it now, today. It is unthinkable that Republicans would waste time 
catering to the radical tea party while innocent victims of devastating 
disasters bide their time. One of the leaders of the tea party, a 
Member of the House of Representatives, has said very publicly that we 
should get rid of FEMA. But this is not a nation that stands idly by 
while our fellow Americans suffer. We are a nation of action. That is 
what we have always been. When it is in our power to aid a fellow 
citizen, we have always done what it takes. We have done it without 
politics, without pandering, without a moment's delay--until today.

  This year the United States has dealt with more than its usual share 
of terrible natural disasters. Hurricane Irene

[[Page S5508]]

is estimated to be one of the most costly disasters ever to hit this 
country. It caused flooding and wind damage from Florida to Maine. That 
is a long ways. It is a huge coastline. But its damage was not only to 
the coastline. Interior States such as Vermont suffered terrible 
damage, hundreds of bridges in Vermont, and scores of bridges in the 
State of the Presiding Officer, the State of New Hampshire. Crops were 
drowned all over the Northeast. It is rarely that this has ever 
happened.
  Just a few short weeks ago an earthquake such as we have not had in 
this part of the country for 65 years occurred. The epicenter was in 
Virginia. It was felt by tens of millions of people in every corner of 
the Eastern United States. It damaged buildings in Richmond and closed 
the Washington Monument. The National Cathedral had some of its spires 
damaged. It is closed now. The 9/11 celebration was to take place 
there. They had to move it to the Kennedy Center. Some of the spires 
were knocked off the Mormon Temple that we see as we drive down the 
beltway. There was record flooding on the Mississippi and Missouri that 
cost lives and devastated farmland.
  To get a picture of the devastation, 3 million acres of farmland is 
underwater now. This is not rice that grows there, these are crops that 
need to be away from that much water. It is devastating to farmland in 
that part of the country.
  In February a massive blizzard buried the Midwest and Northeast with 
as much as 3 feet of snow, paralyzing the city of Chicago, and 36 
people died. Even now, firefighters are battling terrible wildfires 
that have ravaged for weeks and weeks across central Texas. Those fires 
have killed people and driven residents from their homes, homes they 
will never see again. In Texas, 2,000 homes have been burned to the 
ground. Since January, Texas has reported--this is not a misstatement--
20,000 fires. Some of the small fires developed into big fires, burning 
almost 4 million acres of land. The State Forest Service in Texas 
responded to 19 new fires on Sunday alone, in 24 hours--almost a new 
fire an hour in Texas.
  This year President Obama has issued disaster declarations in 48 
States, and it is only September. Some States have had multiple 
disasters. The United States has had $10 billion worth of disasters 
already this year. It is no wonder there are limited moneys left in 
FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund. FEMA has spent about $400 million in the 
last 2 weeks alone making whole American families, victims of Irene and 
Lee, a tropical storm and a hurricane.
  In short, FEMA is running out of money. They are almost broke. Funds 
are so low FEMA stopped rebuilding Joplin, MO, where more than 150 
people died in that terrible tornado. FEMA has programs where they were 
rebuilding the schools and some of the public services that were so 
necessary. But they wanted to have enough money to supply the food, 
water, and emergency housing for victims of Hurricane Irene, so they 
pulled out of Joplin, MO.
  We have seen the pictures. It is hard to comprehend what winds 
blowing almost 300 miles an hour do. They just eliminate everything on 
the ground. Any structure was eliminated.
  This is not some Democratic idea that has come about, that we need to 
fund FEMA. Republican Governors are desperate for money. They have seen 
the destruction firsthand. I will pick just two: the Governor in New 
Jersey, Governor Christie, said this:

       Our people are suffering now and they need support now.

  Governor McDonald of Virginia said this:

       My concern is that we help people in need.

  He responded in that way because the Republican majority leader of 
the House said what we need to do is make sure these emergencies are 
paid for by taking money from programs that are now in existence.
  We cannot be held hostage on that issue to appease the tea party. 
Hundreds of millions of dollars in disaster recovery projects are on 
hold. I mentioned Joplin, MO, as just one example. No matter how often 
we wish for a crystal ball, the process of guessing how much money we 
will need for natural disasters is not perfect. We have tried, but this 
has been a very devastating year. Each year Congress estimates how much 
it will cost this country to recover from inevitable storms and fires 
and floods, and then it reacts to what Mother Nature sends our way.
  Now is the time to react. It is time to show Americans, as we did in 
the wake of September 11, that when disaster strikes the Federal 
Government will be there to help rebuild.
  These are very hard personal issues. Here in a Virginia suburb, a 12-
year-old boy was out watching it rain. He was swept off his back step, 
and he is dead. Scores of people have been killed just in Lee and 
Irene. It is time for Republicans to prove that this Congress, for the 
first time, is willing to put politics aside for the good of the 
American people.
  FEMA is an issue that is bipartisan in nature. Those storms don't 
just hit Republicans; they don't just hit Democrats; they don't just 
hit Independents; they hit us all. That is why we have to react to help 
people in America because they have been hurt.

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