[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21053]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                            DISASTER RELIEF

  (Mr. HASTINGS of Florida asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, later today we will take up the 
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for the year 2005. It is a 
help, but it is simply not enough. From today's newspapers, we learn 
that the four hurricanes which struck over 6 weeks have wiped out 
thousands of jobs and billions of dollars' worth of property. 
Economists estimate that that is the case.
  The hurricanes caused parts of 10 eastern States from Florida to 
Vermont to be declared Federal disaster areas. The storms destroyed or 
seriously damaged many hotels, restaurants, stores, factories and other 
businesses while temporarily closing seaports, harbors, theme parks and 
other tourist destinations. Insurance payments will be as much as $23 
billion.
  I call on the House of Representatives to get past this set of 
disasters and realize that there will be others, and to establish in 
this Congress a disaster relief fund and a separate jurisdiction 
dealing specifically with disaster relief from drought to fires, to 
storms, to earthquakes and whatever may occur in our Nation.

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