[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 140 (Tuesday, September 20, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5764-S5767]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            DISASTER RELIEF

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I know the short debate we had, just in 
the last couple of hours, and the votes are important, about the Senate 
and the House figuring out a way as to how to move forward on some of 
the trade agreements that are pending, and the appropriate ways to make 
sure American workers are not left behind, that they are actually 
helped and supported. And those issues are very important.
  But I come to the floor today to talk again about another important 
issue that is pending before the Congress right now that is of extreme 
importance to millions and millions of Americans who are following this 
debate through the viewing of the procedures here on the Senate floor 
and in the House, and also following on Twitter and other Internet 
sites and opportunities on their local news and radio stations about 
what we are doing on disaster relief.
  That is a good question because I think--and many of the Senators, 
Democrats and Republicans, as well, on the Senate side; particularly 10 
of my colleagues from the other side who stood with us last week to 
say--it is time to fund the disasters in America today.
  We are questioning why the House of Representatives is dragging its 
feet on this important issue or why the leadership, the Republican 
leadership in the House would be even hesitating to fund the ongoing 
needs of FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development through community development block grant funding and 
agricultural disaster relief, which is so important.
  In disasters, sometimes the pictures are focused on cities or 
suburbs, and it is heartwrenching.

[[Page S5765]]

  It is heartrending.
  I will show you some of those pictures now. This is Joplin, MO, 
earlier this year. A third of the city was literally destroyed by a 
group of tornadoes that came through. Some of the weather specialists 
said they had never clocked winds of this speed and power in the entire 
time they have been recording this data. They said they believe some of 
the winds exceeded 300 miles per hour. This is horrifying.
  For those of us who shudder at category 4 and 5 hurricanes which can 
blow up to 150 miles an hour, the idea of 300-mile-an-hour winds is 
beyond our comprehension. But that is what happened in Joplin, MO.
  Then, here we have the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It is 
heartbreaking to see the water come up on barrier islands. We have many 
barrier islands where people live safely. When the water rises, 
everybody doesn't just pick up and leave the island forever. They use 
their engineering and might to come up with better technology. They 
invest wisely. That is what we have to do to help these families.
  These fires could be California, and it could also be Texas. Texas 
has had over 20,000 wildfires this year, I understand.
  Here is a rural community. Sometimes we see pictures of these urban 
areas and these coastal areas that make for great television, but we 
don't always see farm communities underwater. This is what happened 
around our country. Why the Republican House leadership says that now 
is the time to try to find offsets for these disasters--had we insisted 
on that for the Katrina and Rita recoveries, the gulf coast would still 
be devastated. But year after year as a country, when our people have 
been harmed by natural disasters this National Government has come 
together and said: Yes, we as a nation, the United States of America--
we are not a divided nation--is going to come to help our brothers and 
sisters who need help.
  Why is this different? The House Republican leadership can't run fast 
enough to spend money and send money to Iraq and Afghanistan to rebuild 
those communities and those cities. Yet when our own people from these 
communities ask for help, they want to now throw up the smokescreen 
that we have to find an offset.
  Let me give two good reasons: One, we are eventually going to have to 
pay for everything the Federal Government shells out. We are going to 
have to find the money to pay for it. But we don't have to find it this 
week. We don't have to find it next month. We can debate that as the 
process of legislation goes on. We can say yes to full funding for 
disasters now, not an inadequate amount of money, which is what the 
House wants to do.
  Let me tell you how ridiculous the House position is. Not only do 
they want to partially fund FEMA and basically fund it for only 6 
weeks, which is the extension of the continuing resolution, they want 
to basically say we will extend the Government of the United States to 
operate for 6 weeks at the current level of spending, and we will agree 
that FEMA can operate for another 6 weeks.
  If they don't already know this, let me remind them that Governors, 
mayors, and county commissioners who are struggling to rebuild 
communities after disasters such as this need a little more than 6 
weeks to do planning. They need a year or two sometimes to actually 
come out of shock, to have public meetings with people.
  I have been through this and lived through this. You have to organize 
community meetings neighborhood by neighborhood. Sometimes in a 
community--let's say in Joplin--I don't know how many schools they had, 
but in our case out of 147 public schools in New Orleans we had 100 
that were damaged beyond repair, uninhabitable. We could not decide in 
4 weeks what we were going to do. We had to take a long time, and we 
needed to know that the Federal funding would be there. This government 
acted--not as quickly as I would have liked, but it acted under the 
prior administration.
  Finally, we got the long-term funding commitments that our Governors 
and mayors needed--Democrats and Republicans alike--to lay down good 
and smart plans because they knew what they could count on. Why the 
House doesn't want to do that, I don't know.
  Second, I have heard criticism of the Senate approach, which I am 
proud to lead. They say things in the press such as: Well, the Senate 
just picked a number out of the air.
  Let me be very clear. We picked no number out of the air. The clerks 
of the Appropriations Committees, who are steeped and knowledgeable 
about what these agencies need now and what they may need in the years 
ahead, met and crunched the numbers. Senator Reid looked at those 
numbers, took them down a bit to try to accommodate the anxiety on the 
other side of the aisle about spending too much money, and came up with 
a rational, reasonable number for FEMA, for agricultural relief, and 
for community development block grants. I think under the circumstances 
that is about the best we could do.
  Do you know what the House of Representatives did, which makes no 
sense whatsoever? I hope some of the print press are listening to this 
so they might write this in the newspapers tomorrow. They took last 
year's number. These disasters are happening now. They took the number 
that was in the bill before the disasters happened and plugged that in, 
like they are doing something good for the country, and basically said: 
Take 6 weeks of it, and then we are out of here. We are going home for 
the week.
  I don't take kindly to any kind of criticism that the Landrieu 
numbers or the Senate numbers might not be crunched or reviewed 
carefully enough. I have done the best review I can possibly do, and I 
have every confidence that the numbers I have presented to this 
Senate--about $6.9 billion--are as accurate an assessment I have at my 
fingertips to say what we are going to need in the next year.
  At least I am dealing in reality. In what land do they live? This 
isn't about a year and a half ago; this is about now. Their number is 
wrong, their approach is wrong, their approach is totally insignificant 
and inadequate, and it is morally wrong.
  I will not even ask the clerk to do a beautiful job trying to type 
everything we say--and sometimes it is hard to keep up--because we 
don't have everything written down, and I am not even going to ask them 
to print this in the Record because it is really too long. I want to 
read a little bit from this.
  This is the whole list of projects that the Republican House 
leadership, with all their--I will say what it is; it is shenanigans. 
These are the projects they have stopped. We all know about big cities 
such as New Orleans and Chicago and New York. We hear about all these 
big cities such as Denver and Birmingham, AL, but we don't hear about 
cities like this so often. I will read some of them into the Record 
because these taxpayers deserve to have their cities read into the 
Record. That is where these projects are going on that the Republican 
leadership in the House says they don't really need the money now and 
they can wait. These have all been put on hold.
  Here is a town I have never been to, Crooked Creek, AL. There is a 
public building there--a vehicle maintenance shop--that is on hold. 
Here are Florence, AL, and Lipscomb, AL, and Evergreen, AL. There are 
five pages for little towns in Arkansas that maybe don't make the front 
page of the New York Times or the Washington Post, but they are 
important communities. They are important to our country. Here is 
Herbert Springs. I have never heard of it, but I am sure it is a lovely 
place to live. They have several projects that have been held up.
  I could go on and on through every State in our country--small towns 
and counties that have been devastated--roads, bridges, public 
buildings, and water-sewer control facilities.
  Again, I think people at home are looking at and reviewing this 
debate and saying: Let me get this straight. Speaker Boehner and 
Majority Leader Cantor rush to fund rebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan 
and didn't require offsets when we went into war and this rebuilding 
effort. But now we have to debate for weeks and months over finding 
proper offsets to rebuild here?
  I hope people will let their voices be heard in the next couple of 
days. It is very important.
  We had a very important vote on the floor of the Senate last week. We 
don't often have bipartisan cooperation. I thanked by name the 10 
Republican

[[Page S5766]]

Senators who helped on this effort because they said: Party politics is 
important, and sometimes party politics dictates the way that I should 
look and vote and feel, but not on this because this is disaster aid 
that is either going to my State--or, potentially, in Senator Rubio's 
case, who knows what disasters are like in Florida. He said: It could 
happen, Senator Landrieu, and if it happens in Florida, I certainly 
want to come back and ask the Nation to help and not have to be engaged 
in a debate in finding an offset. I would rather work with my mayors 
and county commissioners to find a way to rebuild.
  I have embellished a little bit of the conversation, but I know that 
is what was on his mind. He said: I can't think of what Florida would 
do.
  Senator Vitter from Louisiana, who has been shoulder to shoulder with 
me in helping with our disaster recovery--we have pages. Jefferson 
Parish called me the other day--a Republican mayor of Jefferson 
Parish--and said he has $100 million in help for Jefferson Parish 
stopped up because of this unnecessary debate.
  We have the two Senators from Maine, Ms. Collins and Ms. Snowe, who 
most certainly felt the effects of Hurricane Irene up the east coast. 
We also had Senator Toomey from Pennsylvania whose State also received 
record amounts of flooding. We had Senator Blunt from Missouri--the 
people of Missouri not only are desperate for FEMA money, they need 
agricultural help immediately, community development block grant 
funding, and they need Corps of Engineers funding. Is there Corps of 
Engineers funding in the House approach? Zero. Zero for the Corps of 
Engineers.
  If you are representing a community that has had flooding because 
your levee failed or you don't have a levee and you need one or because 
your runoff or streams were not regulated appropriately, you most 
certainly don't need to call Craig Fugate. You need to call the Corps 
of Engineers. They are going to tell you they are out of money. We have 
grossly underfunded the Corps, in my view, in capital projects year 
after year. And, frankly, both Republican and Democratic Presidents 
have been guilty of underfunding the Corps of Engineers and their 
budgets because in the old days, when we could earmark, we would add 
back money to the Corps. But those days are over, A, because we are not 
earmarking and, B, because we are on tight constraints.
  The Corps of Engineers has no emergency funding. If you are 
interested in protecting your communities and levees and flood control, 
and you vote against the Senate position, you are going to have a lot 
of explaining to do because even when you go home and pound your chest 
and say: I voted for the House number that was last year's number, 
there is no money there for the Corps of Engineers. So good luck 
explaining that to your constituents. I could not explain it to mine 
and remain a Senator from Louisiana.
  This is an example of what some of my coastal levees look like.
  The other thing we have to battle--but this is a battle for another 
day--is when the levees break up like this--and this is the coastal 
barrier--the Corps of Engineers is actually prohibited from building 
them better. We have had solutions for this. We are going to try to get 
that changed. But this is a constant battle and a big issue not just 
for the State of Louisiana but for the gulf coast, the eastern 
seaboard, and the west coast as well. So we will continue to work in 
that regard.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for an additional 5 
minutes. I don't see anyone else on the floor wishing to speak.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Let me show what some of the Republican leaders who are 
not in the House of Representatives are saying. And we should listen to 
them because this is from the Governor of New Jersey, Governor 
Christie, a leader in the Republican Party, a conservative leader of 
the Republican Party. No one would accuse him of not being a strong 
voice for conservative philosophy. He said: Now is not the time, ladies 
and gentlemen in Congress, to argue for weeks and weeks or months and 
months about finding offsets for these disasters. Let's fund them. 
Let's fund them robustly. These are job-creation opportunities for our 
communities. It is about smart planning and being a reliable partner 
with the State of New Jersey and my counties. He said: Let's get about 
the business.
  In fact, he specifically said:

       You want to figure out budget cuts, that's fine. You expect 
     the citizens of my State to wait? They're not going to wait, 
     and I'm going to fight to make sure that they do not. Our 
     people are suffering now and they need support now. We need 
     support now here in New Jersey, and that is not a Republican 
     or a Democratic issue.

  I just got off the phone with Governor Christie within the hour, and 
this is still his position. He said he is not backing down, and he is 
going to continue to give voice to this issue. I wish the Republican 
leaders in the House would listen to him.
  We have had Republican leaders in the Senate--I named about six of 
them--and I want to compliment the others later on when I get back to 
that point.
  This is what Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia said:

       My concern is that we help people in need. For the FEMA 
     money that's going to flow, it's up to them on how they get 
     it. I don't think it's the time to get into that deficit 
     debate.

  I want people to think about this. Let's say we have another 
hurricane season like we had--I believe it was right before Hurricane 
Katrina. I believe it was in 2004 that we had four hurricanes hit the 
State of Florida--four in 1 year. It was devastating to the State of 
Florida.
  Does anyone think it would be the right thing to do to get the 
Governor of the State of Florida, the Senators of the State of Florida, 
the entire congressional delegation of the State of Florida and every 
accountant working for every county to come up to Washington and go 
through the Federal budget to find where they can cut, right there, 
that week, while the winds have just died down? Would we have to get 
the Florida accountants to come up here to find an offset so we could 
send the help to Florida?
  That argument is ludicrous on its face. I wouldn't want Senator Rubio 
worrying about that. I wouldn't want Senator Nelson worrying about 
that. I would want them comforting their people. That is what I would 
want to see them do because I had to do an awful lot of that. And I am 
sure they would do it naturally. I would want them going shelter to 
shelter and telling people it is going to be OK. I would want them 
visiting with businesspeople, pleading with them not to pick up stakes 
now but to invest in Florida because it can be a good place to come 
back to. I would want them saving their universities and working on 
that as well. The last thing they would need to be doing--and their 
staff--would be taking out a pencil and putting on their green 
eyeshades and going through the Federal budget to see where we could 
eliminate this from Colorado, with no time for hearings or oversight 
because we have to act now. Let's just cut out all these programs.
  That is hogwash. It is ludicrous on its face. It is not the way a 
government should be run. It is not about conservatives or liberals; it 
is truly just stupidity. It makes me so angry that anyone would suggest 
this.
  So, again, let's send the help now. We can find a way to pay for 
this. We are finding a way to pay for Katrina now. We do it through the 
ordinary budget process. We are finding a way to reduce the deficit 
substantially. That is what the committee of 12 is about. That is what 
all our debates are about. That is what the appropriations process is 
about. But not now.
  Tom Ridge. If you don't think the Governor of Virginia is an expert 
on this or the Governor of New Jersey--though I think they are pretty 
strong public figures--how about the first Secretary of the department 
that oversees disaster response, Tom Ridge himself? Here is what Tom 
Ridge said last week when this debate started:

       Never in the history of the country have we worried about 
     budget around emergency appropriations for natural disasters. 
     And frankly, in my view, we shouldn't be worried about it 
     now. We're all in this as a country. And when Mother Nature 
     devastates a community, we may need emergency appropriations 
     and we ought to just deal with it and then deal with the 
     fiscal issues later on.

  Thank you. That is exactly what we should be doing.
  So, Mr. President, I have tried, as the leader of this committee, not 
to make

[[Page S5767]]

this a Democratic or Republican issue. I have asked and succeeded in 
getting 10 of my Republican colleagues to join the effort. So this 
isn't trying to make one party look good or one party look bad. All we 
want to do is help disaster victims and help the Governors and the 
mayors and the county commissioners who, right now, believe me, are 
just pulling their hair out. They have very limited tools. They are not 
sure what they can do.
  People are angry, they are devastated, and they are shocked. Families 
are having to bunch in and live together. Some people are still in 
shelters. I have been through this nightmare. I know what they are 
going through. And then they have to hear from Washington that the Eric 
Cantor crowd decided now is the time for us--even though for 50 years 
we have been doing emergency funding--to figure out where to get 
offsets before we can send them help. This is no way to run a railroad, 
and it is no way to fund disaster assistance.
  As I said earlier, this color is too pleasant--this green on this 
map--to really reflect what this map shows. These are all the States in 
the Nation that are experiencing disasters this year. For the first 
time in a very long time--maybe in our history--we have had 
Presidential disasters declared in all but two States. They are 
different kinds of disasters--some fire, some floods, some 
earthquakes--but nonetheless devastating to the communities trying to 
rebuild. So this isn't a Texas or Louisiana or just a west coast issue, 
this is an entire nation that is waiting for Congress to act and to 
send not just FEMA money but FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, Agriculture, 
and community development block grant funding. For the life of me, I 
cannot understand why we are having this debate at all.
  Just to recap, here is the list. And I will not ask that it be 
submitted for the record because it is too long and comprehensive. It 
is very fine print of project after project that has now been stopped--
stopped--because FEMA is operating on fumes. They are virtually out of 
money.
  Now, yes, the new fiscal year for the Federal Government starts next 
week, but, remember, the House of Representatives only offered 6 weeks 
of help based on last year's reality. They are not even taking into 
account what actually happened. They are just saying: Well, we budgeted 
$2.65 billion last year; that must be good enough for this next year--
not taking into account any of the realities of what I have just talked 
about. And by the way, you can have basically a 6-week rate--no money 
for the Corps of Engineers, no money for Agriculture.
  Please, if you hear one thing--any of the Members of the House who 
are considering voting for this--please don't try to go home and 
explain this to your constituents because hopefully they will be smart 
enough by listening to this debate and understanding that you really 
didn't vote to help them. You voted for some philosophy that is hard 
for even some in your party to understand, but you did not vote to help 
your constituents.

  One final point. People on the other side will say: Well, I voted for 
this $2.65 billion, and I know it is not a real number, but it is sort 
of enough to get everybody through, and then we will pass the regular 
appropriations. Mr. President, I have heard that as well. And then when 
the regular appropriations bills come, this money can be tucked into 
these bills and help will be on the way, they will say.
  Well, I want to say again that 1994 was the last time this Congress 
passed all 13 appropriations bills on time and got them to the 
President's desk. So that is wishful thinking. That is not going to 
happen this year, no matter how hard we try, because it hasn't happened 
since 1994.
  So don't think you can fool your people and say: Well, I voted for 
this, but we are going to help you through the appropriations process. 
I am on the Appropriations Committee. We have had a very difficult time 
because of all sorts of reasons in getting our process back on track. 
We are supposed to be finished with all of our bills in November. It is 
already the end of September, and we still don't have all our bills out 
of committee. And even if the House has their bills out of committee, 
getting those numbers reconciled between the House and the Senate 
sometimes takes months. Sometimes, Mr. President, as you know, we never 
get to it and we just do a continuing resolution. So there is not 
enough appropriations in the regular bills.
  So for all the reasons I spoke of--and I will end where I started--
let's fund disasters now. Let's fund the help to our people now. We are 
going to be here until Friday--potentially our leadership will keep us 
in until we get this resolved. But the Senate has made a great 
bipartisan effort, with Senators such as Senator Blunt and Senator 
Toomey and Senator Vitter and the Senators from Maine and other 
Senators from the other side who have joined this effort.
  I am asking the House: Please reconsider your position. Please fund 
disasters now. We will figure out the way to pay for this over time. We 
have already made provision for this in the negotiations that were done 
a month ago between the Republican and House leaders. Our people are 
depending on us to act.
  Mr. President, again I urge my colleagues in the House, please 
reconsider your position. Join the bipartisan work underway in the 
Senate to get this job done for the people we represent and the people 
of our country who are truly desperate for us to act right now.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________