[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18087-18089]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR FEMA

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, before the majority leader 
leaves, I spoke with the chairman of the Appropriations Committee as he 
was leaving the floor and inquired as to what he is anticipating. He 
told me that he is anticipating there will be a House bill that would 
be sent sometime today on emergency assistance for FEMA and, I assume, 
other agencies as well.
  If that is the case, then that is new information, and we can proceed 
on that basis. That, in large part, is the commentary I am wanting to 
make, having just come back from Florida, visiting a number of the 
devastated areas. We will await the latest information on handling that 
information tonight.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I thank our distinguished colleague from 
Florida for his leadership. We were on the floor talking last Tuesday 
and Wednesday and will continue talking every day about the real 
tragedy that has gone on with the people of Florida and that whole part 
of the world as a result of the assault by Mother Nature again and 
again.
  I pledge to him we will continue this dialog. He understands our 
commitment from the leadership--Democrats

[[Page 18088]]

and Republicans--to address the issue of the flow of funds and that the 
resources necessary to respond in a responsible and quick way are first 
and foremost and that we will be right there and will continue to work 
over the course of today and will update each other as to the best, 
quickest, and most responsible way to address the issue.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. It does not look as though we are going to be 
spared the third one because the latest track, as of 11 this morning, 
now has it moving back east, hitting the Florida coast somewhere around 
Destin and Fort Walton, whereas this morning's track had it going into 
some place like Pensacola. The only good news is it is not coming back 
to that part of Florida where the two other hurricanes crisscrossed and 
hit the same area of central Florida. Of course, the last storm was so 
massive that it virtually covered up the entire State, not only with 
the deluge of rain but with whipping winds, so that its winds, albeit 
not a category 4 like Charley was, nevertheless did a great deal of 
damage.
  As the majority leader exits, I am going to tick off a number of 
those particular estimates. It is rather extraordinary. I thank the 
majority leader for working with me on behalf of the people of Florida.
  Mr. President, I have returned from Florida and I will tell my 
colleagues about some of the devastation I have seen over the course of 
this past weekend. Our folks are hurting and a number of their needs 
are unmet. As of this morning, some 8 to 9 days after the last 
hurricane, Frances--and, remember, we have been hit twice in a row, 
first with Charley and then with Frances--there are still about 350,000 
people in Florida without power.
  Now, if one is a young person, such as a lot of our pages, they can 
make do. But if one is a senior citizen and has special needs, 
particularly with lifesaving equipment, and does not have any 
electricity in the house, it is very difficult to be able to exist. 
Thus, we have to take special-needs folks and put them in shelters and 
then, if a shelter does not have electricity, provide by generators the 
electricity in order to run the particular machines that are lifesaving 
machines.
  Of course, this is beginning to wear thin on a lot of our folks in 
Florida and yet they have such an optimistic, can-do spirit. They are 
going about the process of rehabilitating themselves and repairing all 
of the damage and cleaning up from all of the destruction, but they are 
looking forward to what the Federal Government does, one of its charter 
reasons for existing, and that is protecting its people in times of 
disaster.
  My colleagues heard my exchange with the majority leader on the 
necessity for us to pass this special legislation because last week 
FEMA ran out of money. We had to pass a special $2 billion 
appropriation, but all of us knew that was not even going to take care 
of the expenses for FEMA for the first hurricane, which was Charley. So 
now we have to have an additional package of at least $2.5 billion that 
includes not only FEMA but also a host of other agencies, such as the 
Department of Agriculture; the Small Business Administration, which 
offers low-interest loans to businesses and individuals; the Department 
of Agriculture because we have extraordinary crop losses in Florida as 
a result of these two hurricanes, the Department of Transportation for 
the damage that has been done particularly to airports in Florida; for 
the military, the damage that was done to Patrick Air Force Base, and 
NASA at the Kennedy Space Center, as well as the American Red Cross, 
and economic development funding.
  There are news accounts going around right now about the President 
sending a disaster package requesting $2.5 billion, and that it may 
include FEMA, the Small Business Administration, and NASA. But what 
about all the other agencies? Conspicuously absent is the Department of 
Agriculture. That is why I sent a letter to the President on Friday and 
pointed out the Florida Department of Agriculture has estimated that 
Florida agriculture itself suffered to the tune of $2 billion in losses 
due to those two hurricanes.
  For example, most people do not realize we have a huge nursery 
industry in Florida. We have one of the biggest fern industries in the 
world. Nurseries have suffered a half a billion dollars in damages. 
Citrus growers, a half a billion dollars in damages; sod producers, 
$300 million from the standing water.
  You will have to excuse my raspy throat because, in and out of all of 
the elements, the gremlins grabbed hold of my throat. But I am going to 
croak it through so that people understand we really have some losses. 
Cattlemen, $100 million; dairy producers, about $12 million; timber, 
$150 million. The need is great. It is in an industry, agriculture, 
that is huge in Florida. It is a $62 billion-a-year industry in 
Florida.
  I mentioned the Federal Aviation Administration under the Department 
of Transportation. It estimates $64 million in losses, and that 
includes about $50 million in losses to the Orlando International 
Airport. There is $12 million in losses, almost total, to the little 
Charlotte County Municipal Airport where it was ground zero and where 
the Charlotte County Emergency Operations Center had the roof ripped 
off when Charley hit with 145-mile-an-hour winds.
  Last week, I participated in a hearing with the NASA Administrator. 
The highest winds, interestingly, were recorded in a gust at the 
Kennedy Space Center, 120 miles an hour. This is from Frances, the 
second storm. They are estimating $100 million in damage. That took 900 
panels off the big vehicle assembly building. Those panels are huge, 10 
feet high and about 4 feet wide. They are out, and there are 900 open 
windows now into the vehicle assembly building where we assemble the 
stack of the space shuttle vertically. So that is another $100 million.
  If you look back to Hurricane Andrew, its supplemental--which ended 
up costing over $6 billion for the Federal Government, and that was 12 
years ago; that was the monster hurricane--that even included $75 
million for the Economic Development Administration, which had a lot of 
projects, including dislocation caused by the hurricane and replacement 
of such things as sewer and water treatment facilities and the 
construction of a drainage system to deal with the flooding.
  I mentioned Patrick Air Force Base, the military. It suffered. Also 
the National Guard, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard--they all 
report funding needs into the millions because of those storms.
  I wanted to lay the predicate for this request when it comes over. 
When the White House sends their request, if it is $2.5 billion, it is 
not going to start to cover all the things that are needed. If that is 
what comes to us with the House originating this legislation tonight, 
then this Senator is not going to have any choice but to accept this so 
we can go ahead and get something over to the White House to be signed 
into law because of the many needs we have. Yet there is going to be 
more to come in the future, and we will have to identify those. I want 
to make sure, in these requests that are made by the White House and 
then in whatever the House passes tonight, that we do not forget these 
additional needs such as Florida agriculture where the damage has been 
so significant.
  That is my story. I am going to continue to tell this story like a 
broken record. As I go home and I come back and I go home and I come 
back, I will continue to help out these folks who are suffering, these 
folks who are so courageous in the midst of the utter devastation 
around them.
  If two storms were not enough, we have another one coming. I was 
thinking over the course of the last 24 hours that we might be spared 
this, that it might inch on out there in its track to the west. It is 
now, as we speak, starting to round the western end of Cuba, between 
the west end of Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. But now the 
track, instead of sending it further west out of Florida, has it coming 
back.
  I see my colleague from Florida, my distinguished senior Senator, is 
here. Just to share with him the latest 11 o'clock advisory from this 
morning, instead of coming in at Pensacola, it has

[[Page 18089]]

now moved back east in the area of Destin, WaterColor, San Destin, that 
area. It doesn't look like we are going to get spared the third 
hurricane.
  My family has been in Florida 175 years. I know there have been times 
in that span of time where we have had back-to-back hurricanes, but not 
hurricanes of the magnitude of a category 4 and then a category 2, a 
category 2 that had gusts up to 120 miles an hour, which is category 3. 
But never have I heard where we have had three major hurricanes in a 
row all hitting the same State. Mind you, as Hurricane Ivan is rounding 
the tip of western Cuba tonight, it is a category 5, and as it comes 
around Cuba, what does it hit? It hits the warm waters of the Gulf of 
Mexico. Unless there is some shearing action at the top of the 
hurricane, it is even going to intensify more from the 160-mile-an-hour 
winds it has right now. No State should have to suffer three big ones 
in a row, yet this is what we are facing.
  I ask, I implore, I plead with my colleagues, don't hesitate a moment 
to help our people in Florida.

                          ____________________