[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 15, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S696-S697]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Disaster Relief

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, as you know and as my colleagues know, 
our budget process is finally moving.
  I wanted to come down to the Senate floor today to say a few words 
about the need for disaster relief. I am going to talk about Louisiana 
but not just Louisiana. Two States in particular come to mind: Kentucky 
and New York. I hesitate to single out specific States because I don't 
want to denigrate the needs in other States. We have a number of States 
that need disaster relief, and the way to address that issue, it seems 
to me, is in our budget bill.
  As you know, Louisiana has, like many of our sister States, suffered 
many natural disasters throughout our history. My constituents, my 
people, are very tough. They are very tired, but they are very tough. 
The reason they are tired is because they have been through a nightmare 
in the past year and a half--I guess 2 years now. They faced what has 
felt to me like a nonstop series of hurricanes, of storms, of floods. 
No matter how many times you have been through a natural disaster, I 
can tell you, it doesn't get any easier to see your home demolished or 
to see your home flood or to see your business blown away.
  That is why, as we are working out a government budget deal--and I 
hope we can work out a budget deal--I want to make sure that Washington 
doesn't forget about my people in Louisiana or forget about the other 
Americans who, through no fault of their own, have sustained damage 
from a natural disaster and need a little help.
  The storms and the floods that hit Louisiana in the last year and a 
half are not just a distant memory for many of my people. Louisiana 
families are going to have to live with the consequences of everything 
the gulf has been throwing at us for a while. That means broken 
buildings. That means wrecked homes. That means destroyed businesses. 
That means debris cluttering the streets. And that doesn't even begin 
to describe the mental anguish of having a hurricane uproot your life 
and your livelihood and your kids' education and your ability to go to 
church on Sunday.
  I wanted to remind all of my colleagues today of the litany of 
catastrophes that have befallen my State. I mention this list not to 
ask for your pity. Let me say it again. Louisianians are tough. We are 
tough as a boot. We are tired. But I want my colleagues to understand 
that I am not talking about a simple rain shower here. My people have 
been through a lot.
  In August of 2020, Hurricane Laura made landfall in Louisiana. 
Hurricane

[[Page S697]]

Laura destroyed or damaged more than 100,000 homes. Laura leveled or 
damaged almost every single building--every one--in the city of Lake 
Charles.
  Then came Hurricane Delta right behind Laura in October of 2020. 
Delta left more than half a million Americans--rather, Louisianians and 
Americans, of course--without power, not just for a few minutes, not 
just for a few hours, for days.
  That very same month, Hurricane Zeta tore through Louisiana. Zeta 
caused approximately 400,000 Louisianians to lose power and damaged 
many of their homes and businesses.
  A few months went by, and now we are in February of 2021. A historic 
winter storm hit my State, froze my State, and 37,000 people lost 
power.
  Now, even when temperatures warmed, we didn't find any relief because 
that May, historic rainfall soaked parts of my State. By parts, I don't 
mean a little bitty corner of my State; I mean big parts of my State. 
The rainfall drenched Lake Charles. Remember, I referenced Lake Charles 
with respect to Laura, which had already been battered. Twelve inches 
of rain hit Lake Charles. You know the result. If you get 12 inches of 
rain in a short period of time, as we did in Lake Charles, you are 
going to flood; I don't care if you live on Pikes Peak.
  Then Hurricane Ida made landfall in August of 2021. Ida was one of 
the worst hurricanes ever to devastate my State and one of the worst 
hurricanes ever to make landfall in the United States of America. The 
only hurricanes that have matched its strength in terms of wind speed 
are Hurricane Laura and the Last Island Hurricane of 1856. Wind speeds 
for Hurricane Ida were clocked at well over 100 miles per hour; in some 
cases, 120, 135 miles per hour. Ida damaged more than 90,000 homes and 
caused roughly a fifth of all the people in my State to lose power--and 
I don't mean to lose power for a little while; lose power for days, 
weeks, months.
  We are still catching our breath, as you can tell, but just as we 
were about to catch our breath, we had another hurricane, Hurricane 
Nicholas. It hit Louisiana with, depending on the area, between 5 and 
10 inches of rain, and that was only a few weeks after Ida.
  Now, after all of these floods, after all of these hurricanes, after 
all of these storms, after all of these catastrophic rain events, after 
this terrible string of disasters, FEMA is implementing Risk Rating 
2.0, a plan that is going to make flood insurance virtually 
unaffordable for the people of America and for the people of Louisiana.
  Louisiana families--again, we are not asking for your pity. We don't 
want pity in Louisiana. We are proud people. We are tough people. But 
we are tired, and we pay taxes like everybody else does. And just like 
some citizens in other States--Kentucky and New York, to name two--we 
need a little help.
  We need to address all of these needs--not just for my State but for 
the other States that need help--in our budget. If you add up the 
damage estimates from Hurricanes Laura, Delta, Zeta, and Ida, we are 
talking about 130,000 homes destroyed. According to estimates from my 
State back home, from the Governor and the legislature, Louisiana still 
needs hundreds of millions of dollars to help fix the damage Laura and 
Delta inflicted on our housing and the small businesses of Southwest 
Louisiana. Frankly--I mentioned Ida and the severity of Ida--the 
damages for Ida will probably cost a little more than $2.5 billion.
  We in Louisiana have recovered from natural disasters before, and we 
are going to recover from these, but we are going to need help to 
rebuild, just like the people from Kentucky are going to need help; 
just like the people from New York are going to need help; just like 
the folks, my fellow citizens out West, are going to need help to 
recover from wildfires.
  I fought before to get disaster recovery relief for my people. I 
don't think I have ever voted against a disaster relief bill to help my 
neighbors in other States, and I am going to keep fighting. I urge my 
colleagues not to forget the people in Louisiana and the people of 
America who have suffered these natural disasters as we work out our 
budget.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Murphy). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.