[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 173 (Wednesday, January 2, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S8639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HELPING THE VICTIMS OF HURRICANE SANDY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am stunned by what didn't happen in the 
House of Representatives last night. I appreciate that they, with the 
support of all but a handful of Democrats and just a handful of 
Republicans, passed something to keep us from going over the fiscal 
cliff, and that is admirable. Nancy Pelosi deserves such accolades for 
carrying more than her share of the weight over there in passing this 
bill. But one of the things they didn't do last night--I wish to read 
into the Record a letter, an e-mail, from a person by the name of 
Barrie Kolstein, K-O-L-S-T-E-I-N:

       Owner of perhaps the oldest and one of the most recognized 
     violinmaking shops in the United States, located in Baldwin, 
     New York.
       Shop was severely damaged by recent hurricane Sandy. Owned 
     buildings and occupied them for over 32 years without any 
     problems at all.
       This storm compromised my building inside and outside, with 
     facilities within the building backing up, pipe breakage and 
     roof damage, plus the horrid conditions that literally 
     assaulted all the buildings in my immediate area.
       Storm decimated my building as well as the neighboring 
     buildings that perhaps was one of the more stable and viable 
     business areas of Baldwin.
       My shop has been closed since the storm.
       We are doing our best to afford the restoration of the 
     building and repair the numerous fine old pedigree string 
     instruments (violins, violas, cellos and basses) that were so 
     horribly damaged.
       We lost machinery, tools, supplies and most of our filed 
     records.
       This is a true nightmare, that at the age of 63, I never 
     thought I would be faced with.

  There are tens of thousands of people in New York, tens of thousands 
of people in New Jersey, and other parts of the Northeast who have had 
their lives turned upside down. I am dismayed and saddened that the 
House of Representatives walked away last night--didn't even touch 
this--after we spent so much time here on the floor doing something to 
help a beleaguered part of our country. I was happy to help with 
Katrina. I was happy to help with the violent storm that hit Joplin, 
MO. We all were. We moved in quickly.
  It has been months now and these people are still suffering. Governor 
Cuomo and Governor Christie have done their best with the limited 
resources that are available when a disaster such as this occurs. This 
is known in the law as an act of God. No one knew it was coming. No one 
had any idea this terrible storm would do the damage it did. It was the 
perfect storm because we had different elements working against each 
other to create this terrible situation.
  So, I repeat, I am dismayed and saddened the House of Representatives 
adjourned last night without addressing the pressing needs of these 
people. There are still hundreds of thousands of people who don't have 
a place to live, whose homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, 
as I have indicated from Mr. Kolstein, by this terrible disaster. It is 
heartbreaking to leave these victims of Sandy stranded and waiting for 
help.
  This storm damaged or destroyed more than 700,000 homes in New York 
and New Jersey and New England. We have the power to help our 
countrymen put their lives back together. We did it here in the Senate. 
We sent it to the House of Representatives, but they walked away, just 
as they did with postal reform and just as they did with agricultural 
reform, our farm bill, and just as they have walked away from so many 
different things this year. They left these people without help. They 
are gone; they have left; they are not in Washington. I am disappointed 
we have turned our backs--and I don't include myself in this operation, 
or anyone in this Senate; we worked on a bipartisan basis to get this 
done, but I am deeply disappointed the House of Representatives has 
turned their backs on people who are suffering.
  Please understand, everybody, this does not include the leadership of 
Leader Pelosi or Leader Hoyer. They have done their best to gather 
their troops to help at any time for anything that is needed.
  To walk away from these people is not who we should be as Americans. 
Wintertime is now here. When disaster strikes, be it fire, flood, 
storm, or earthquake, we in the past haven't paused and we don't delay, 
but we have here. As Americans, we respond with haste at a national 
level when American lives are at stake and American communities are 
shattered. It is no wonder how people feel about Congress: They just 
left town.
  They need to do better over there. We should have a postal reform 
bill. We should have a farm bill. The farm bill, by the way, saves $24 
billion--not million but billion. Debbie Stabenow, the chairman of the 
Agriculture Committee, worked so hard to get this done. We had a 
bipartisan bill that passed the Senate overwhelmingly. Why did the 
House of Representatives drop it? Well, they dropped it because the 
same porkbarrel programs that help people who don't need help in that 
farm program were taken out of the bill. So now we are on a short-term 
extension. The benefits these people don't deserve they are still 
getting.

  They need to do better over there. Compromise is hard; we know that. 
Sometimes compromise doesn't happen when we want it. Compromise 
sometimes doesn't satisfy either side. But as I have said here and 
other places, when I practiced law, we had the concept it was a good 
settlement when both sides walked out unhappy, having reached a 
settlement, and that is what we did here the night before last. 
Actually, it was yesterday, because it was well after midnight. It was 
a piece of legislation we weren't all elated about, but it moved the 
ball forward.
  We have so many more hard decisions to make in the year ahead. So 
unlike others behind us in this Capitol, I am not going to stoop to 
name-calling; I just want people to work and do what they need to do. 
Let the House of Representatives work its will. Let Democrats and 
Republicans in the House of Representatives debate. They have an easier 
time of it because they can set rules on how to debate. They have the 
Rules Committee where they can set how long they debate and on what 
subjects, but let the body work its will, which hasn't happened.
  It is a sad day when we turn our backs on millions of our fellow 
Americans during their time of greatest need, and that certainly is 
what has happened here.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Franken). The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I know the distinguished majority leader is 
about to propound a unanimous consent request. I ask unanimous consent 
to proceed for 1 minute.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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