[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19452]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  MAINTAINING ORDER IN A TIME OF NEED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, we have all seen a 
tragedy of tragedies this past week. We are here as representatives of 
the American people to attempt to try and ensure that the proper 
governmental response is possible, and it is not a time for 
recrimination or finger-pointing. As a matter of fact, I would like to 
draw the attention to the superb job that has been done by the Coast 
Guard. I have not heard one suggestion of criticism of the Coast Guard.
  The Coast Guard, which has in our Nation's history a unique status of 
being both a civilian operation and a military operation, often is left 
in the shadows as we look to the other military establishments in this 
country. But the remarkable job done by the Coast Guard, particularly 
the work done by the helicopter pilots and those who are working with 
the pilots to rescue hundreds and literally thousands of people in the 
affected area, is something of which we should be proud, something of 
which we should be joyous; and it suggests to me that we should take 
another look at the way in which we have taken for granted the 
tremendous efforts made by the Coast Guard.
  As we look forward in analyzing what occurred and what is occurring 
now, we ensure that as we make plans for the future, we equip the Coast 
Guard with everything that the Coast Guard needs to be able to carry 
out its functions, the traditional function which we have seen over the 
past week, and the new responsibility we have given them in the war on 
terrorism.
  But, Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss as someone who spent 8 years as 
the chief law enforcement officer of the State of California if I did 
not remark on what I observed with the breakdown in order that we saw 
in the city of New Orleans.
  Quite simply, when we have a situation in which law enforcement 
stands by and allows looting to take place with the excuse that it is 
only for food and water, one should understand that if we say looting 
is okay for food and water, we will ensure that only the strong get the 
food and the water and the weak will not.
  It was not the weak that were breaking into those places and taking 
that home; it was, rather, those who were healthy and those who were 
able to go in and do that, and I doubt that they were running back to 
assist those who were far less fortunate.
  When you suggest that that breakdown in order is allowable, what you 
do is suggest to the criminal community that they can do more, and we 
saw the spiraling from food and water to clothes, to appliances, and 
finally to guns and ammunition; and we saw terrible tragedy that ensued 
that was man-made, not as the result of the terrible forces of the 
hurricane and the terrible forces of the flooding that took place 
thereafter, but rather those who would take advantage of that tragedy 
for their own purposes.
  My only suggestion, Mr. Speaker, is that it ought to be a lesson for 
all of us, all of us, that when we are confronted with tragedies of 
this sort, whether they are man-made or natural, we must understand the 
importance of order being maintained.
  While some may believe it is in a sense of generosity or a sense of 
empathy to say that looting is okay for selected purposes, we should 
understand that ultimately it does the greatest damage to those who 
need our help the most, the least among us, the weakest among us, those 
who cannot fend for themselves.
  So as we sort things out and as we in this Congress look for those 
things that are necessary for the Federal Government to do related to 
the State and local governments, we should understand that we need to 
have order in the midst of chaos to the extent we can so that we can 
ensure that our efforts are made to protect those who are least able to 
protect themselves. It is a terrible lesson that we had to learn once 
again, but it is a lesson that we ought to embrace and a lesson that we 
ought to utilize to assist us in any future problem.
  We have many things to look at over the next few weeks as we continue 
in response to this terrible tragedy, but I would hope that we would 
understand that those who are the least among us, those who are the 
weakest among us, need the support from the strongest, and that in very 
real terms necessitates every effort to protect order.

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