[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12293]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



              EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL FOR FISCAL YEAR 2000

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, it has been more than 8 months since my 
State, North Carolina, was struck by Hurricane Floyd, one of three 
hurricanes to hit our State in succession. And it has been more than 3 
months since the House passed H.R. 3908, the emergency supplemental for 
this fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, we are beyond an emergency. In Eastern 
North Carolina we are now in a crisis. Title III of the bill includes 
$2.2 billion for assistance in the wake of the hurricanes. Those 
disaster relief provisions are urgently needed.
  States like North Carolina, hit hard by the hurricanes and flooding 
of last fall, critically need that support for their recovery and 
rebuilding efforts. North Carolina suffered the worst devastation in 
its history.
  The bill contains $77.4 million in additional funds for FEMA to be 
used for short-term emergency housing, home buyouts and relocation 
assistance; $42 million targets funds for USDA and $25 million in funds 
for HUD, to be used for long-term housing needs, new rural rental 
housing, rental assistance grants, mutual self-help housing grants and 
rural housing assistance grants; $33.3 million in funds for the SBA. 
The bill also contains $25.8 million in funds for EDA, to be used for 
vital economic recovery needs, disaster loans, planning assistance, 
public works grants and capitalization of revolving loan funds.
  In addition, the bill contains critical funding for agriculture, 
funding to help our farmers through the forgiveness of marketing loans 
made by the Commodity Credit Corporation, supplemental funding for crop 
insurance, and $77.5 million in urgently needed funding for staffing 
and other needs of the Farm Service Agency. The bill contains funding 
to assist our fishermen who suffered untold losses from the hurricanes. 
Funding for dredging, snagging, clearing and debris removal at 
navigation projects is also included. And the bill has funding to study 
the dike at Princeville, a town completely destroyed by the flooding.
  Mr. Speaker, America is at its best when its citizens are at their 
worst. When government can and does help, it makes a difference in the 
lives of our citizens. The lives of the people of Eastern North 
Carolina were forever changed when Hurricanes Dennis, Floyd and Irene 
struck. In some instances, the damage reached 175 miles inland, away 
from the shore, leaving a swath of death, destruction and despair never 
before seen in my State. Whether their lives were unalterably changed 
now rests largely in the hands of Congress.
  When we passed the emergency bill in the House, the bipartisan 
support provided to relieve the suffering experienced by the flooding 
in these States gave hope that the things that are common to us are far 
stronger than the things on which we differ.
  Mr. Speaker, there remains an emergency in North Carolina. It is an 
emergency in every sense of the word, an unexpected predicament, a 
crisis, a situation that caught North Carolina and other States 
entirely by surprise. The destruction is enormous, the needs are great, 
the situation is urgent.
  I urge the House and the Senate to get together and send us a 
conference report.

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