[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19417-19418]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HURRICANE KATRINA

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, on behalf of my colleagues and fellow 
Americans, I come to the Senate floor to extend my heartfelt sympathies 
to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and to reassure the thousands of 
families suffering from this tragedy that we are committed to providing 
all of the relief and support necessary to get through this terrible 
and ongoing crisis. It is unprecedented, and it is unfolding before our 
eyes. Thus, this is a highly unusual emergency session we are 
conducting tonight.
  As the President has said, our first priority is saving lives. At 
this very moment, relief organizations and faith-based volunteers are 
working valiantly to provide food, shelter, water, and medical care. 
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has delivered essential 
sustenance and supplies. It has supplied and continues to supply 
generators and thousands of cots and blankets and has deployed over 
1,800 personnel to save lives and render medical assistance.
  Our action, coupled with the House action tomorrow, will ensure that 
all necessary funds are immediately available to respond to this 
ongoing crisis.
  The Army, Navy, National Guard, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Air 
National Guard are hard at work conducting rescue operations and 
providing aid. Twenty thousand guardsmen are on the ground right now. 
Thousands more are on the way.
  Volunteers from my home State of Tennessee have been on the front 
lines all week. I think of Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief, a 
ministry of 3,000 Southern Baptist Tennessee churches. They are working 
around the clock on rescue missions, at relief stations, cooking 
thousands of meals and providing emergency care. And they are offering 
something else, something desperately needed in this time of tragedy: 
the hope and the love and the compassion of a Nation--of all of us 
pulling together as one.
  As Norma Jones, a 63-year-old volunteer from Indian Mound, told a 
newspaper, ``Most of the time, the rescue survivors just want to be 
hugged.''
  Hundreds of storm victims have found refuge in Nashville and middle 
Tennessee. Many are staying with relatives until it is safe to return, 
which, as we all know, may not be for months.
  The ongoing crisis has become a crisis of refugees, a crisis of 
refugees the likes of which this country has never seen. In Memphis, 
TN, actually a long way from the gulf, there are 10,000 refugees as we 
speak, and over the course of tonight they are expecting 4,000 more 
refugees in that town alone.
  On the television, we see families wading waste-high for dozens of 
blocks in search of food or dry land or clean water. We see those 
families marooned on those rooftops, as floodwaters swirl past, 
writing, inscribing with whatever they have available: ``Need 
insulin.'' ``Diabetic.'' ``Please help''--reaching out for hope, 
reaching out to be saved.
  Our very own colleague and friend, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, 
lost his family home in this disaster. He returned recently--about 2 
days ago--to his family home and found nothing. Our deepest sympathies 
go out to him and his family as they face this difficult time and to so 
many others in this body and, indeed, all around this country who face 
these personal challenges.
  Towns, cities, communities, and shorelines have been decimated and 
reduced to rubble, to debris. We have a public health crisis that is 
just beginning, an ongoing crisis, but one that

[[Page 19418]]

will increase almost with certainty over the coming days and weeks.
  New Orleans, one of America's most vibrant cities, will take years to 
recover. Hundreds of helpless people remain trapped on highway 
overpasses and in the city center with nowhere to go, no food, no 
water, no sanitation, and security has been tough, as we have all seen 
over the course of the day.
  Most of Mississippi is without power, without electricity. Towns, 
villages have been totally destroyed.
  The darkness of the night will be not just dramatic but, as we heard 
over the last several hours, haunting underneath those bridges, in 
rural areas with no lights for blocks, for miles, just human suffering.
  Our rescue teams are working hard, and we see that. We are so proud 
of them, and they deserve our praise--our enormous praise--for their 
courage, for their boldness, for their dedication. People are still 
stranded. They are reaching their breaking point, and they need our 
help now. That is why at 10 o'clock tonight we are acting. That is why 
we are convening tonight in this urgent session for an emergency 
supplemental, operating by unanimous consent. FEMA needs additional 
funds now to continue their relief efforts and to continue the 
recovery.
  Over the course of the last several days, we have had numerous calls 
with President Bush, and the Democratic leader and I just several hours 
ago received a call from President Bush requesting these funds. We 
applaud President Bush. He moved early to get emergency supplies 
prepared and ready to go. We have been in constant contact. He and his 
administration have been working tirelessly to meet this daunting 
challenge.
  We all recognize we have much to do. There are a lot of frustrations 
that have bubbled up over the course of the last several days to do 
more or things are not going well, and we feel those frustrations. We 
feel that pain. We feel that suffering. Again, that is why we are here 
tonight--to support, to deliver, to answer those challenges.
  I also thank our State and local leaders for their tremendous 
dedication and commitment. We, this body, our Federal Government, stand 
behind them 100 percent. Helping the victims of this hurricane disaster 
is our highest priority.
  Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath is, as we now know, one of the 
worst catastrophes this country has ever seen. But this is America, and 
in America we face our toughest challenges together as one, united and 
lifted up by our compassion and our strength.
  Even in our darkest hour, our humanity shines through, millions of 
citizens, millions of Americans committed to one another, to the care 
and well-being of all.
  Inscribed in this very Chamber just above the Presiding Officer is 
``E Pluribus Unum,'' out of many, one.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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