[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19468-19483]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HURRICANE KATRINA

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, the entire Nation continues to be focused 
on the millions of Americans who have been devastated and displaced by 
hurricane Katrina. My heart and prayers go out to the individuals and 
the families who have had to endure so much over the last 8 days; 
first, the natural disaster of Katrina and then the unnatural disaster 
of the delayed and deeply flawed relief effort.
  Last week, as this tragedy was unfolding, I was on a congressional 
delegation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other things, meeting 
with members of the Iowa National Guard who are training units of the 
new Afghan Army. I will have more to report about that trip in coming 
days. While this tragedy was unfolding, most of the time I was in 
Pakistan watching. No matter where we went, it was on television, 
whether we were going to meet the President of Pakistan or whether we 
were going out to a small village to visit some schools we have helped 
to fund in the past in poor villages. Everyone had a television focused 
on it.
  As I was there watching it unfold, I had this terrible feeling of 
helplessness; also, I must add, a feeling of embarrassment and being 
ashamed that our Government was not responding more forcefully to this 
disaster.
  I will take advantage of this first opportunity to be back in the 
Senate to speak publicly about the events surrounding Hurricane 
Katrina. There is no question FEMA has failed and, more broadly, the 
Federal Government has failed the people of the gulf coast. In other 
parts of the country that are vulnerable to similar natural disasters 
or terrorist attacks, Americans are saying: There, but for the grace of 
God, go I, go me or my city. It is important those responsible for this 
systematic failure be held accountable and plans and procedures be put 
in place to avoid any recurrence of this failure.
  I know I will not be the only Senator demanding hearings and rigorous 
oversight by Congress in the weeks ahead, but that is in the weeks 
ahead. That is down the road. Today, we must focus on the immediate and 
longer term human needs of the people of the gulf coast. As ranking 
member of the Agriculture Committee and of the subcommittee on Labor 
and Health and Human Services of the Committee on Appropriations I will 
do my part, again with my distinguished chairman, Senator Chambliss of 
the Committee on Agriculture, and Senator Specter, who is chairman of 
the subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, along with 
Senator Cochran, the full chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, 
to see we provide maximum resources for relief and recovery efforts 
across the gulf coast region.
  For instance, we need to make sure USDA, the Department of 
Agriculture, is able to meet the food needs of the victims and to 
assist hard-hit agricultural producers. We will also need to extend 
emergency Medicaid benefits to hundreds of thousands of victims. I will 
work closely with Senators and officials from Louisiana, Mississippi, 
and Alabama, to ensure that their needs are fully and effectively met.
  Indeed, in recent days, my staff has been meeting with Senator 
Landrieu's staff to share the experience and the expertise we gained in 
the wake of our widespread flooding in Iowa back in 1993. Some of the 
visual images, especially of New Orleans and some of the other towns 
along the gulf coast totally flooded with water, brought back memories 
of the flood of 1993 in Iowa, when whole towns were wiped out, some 
never to be rebuilt. People lost their homes, life savings, and 
mementos, such as pictures and family albums, the things that mean so 
much in our lives.
  I remember 1993 and those floods in Iowa. At that time, I cochaired a 
task force, along with Senator Kit Bond of Missouri, whose State was 
also devastated by the same flooding, to identify the types of 
assistance that would be needed, as well as the best way to secure that 
assistance in Congress as well as in the executive branch. I am hopeful 
our past experience can provide a roadmap for officials responding to 
this latest disaster.
  Some of the needed assistance is obvious, beginning, of course, with 
food. Me must make sure these people who have been displaced to other 
States get adequate food and nutrition, and shelter, of course. It is 
so wonderful to see so many people opening their homes, their 
communities, their facilities, to take care of people who have been 
displaced from their own homes and communities. But we need to provide 
shelter in the longer term. Where is that going to come from? People 
cannot live for 6 months, 9 months, 2 years, in the Astrodome or in any 
other public facility which is housing these people now. We have to 
find adequate shelter.
  Many of the people who have been displaced--let's face it, the vast 
majority are very poor people, and I will have more to say about that 
later--need health care assistance. Many of the communities are already 
at the breaking point, in terms of providing health care to the poorest 
of their citizens.
  We need to be doing something about at least those three things--
food, shelter and health care--right now. In the weeks and months 
ahead, more will be needed, including grants to individuals. Grants to 
individuals helped immeasurably in my State of Iowa after the flood of 
1993, to help them move back, to get a start, to buy simple things like 
a bed, a stove, a refrigerator.
  Loans will be needed to small businesses to get them back on their 
feet. Think of all the small Main Street businesses wiped out. They are 
going to need help to get back on their feet.
  We need buyouts of homes in frequently flooded areas. Senator Bond 
and I also worked together after the flood of 1993 on hazard 
mitigation. Sometimes individuals located in an area constantly under 
flood threats or which has been flooded numerous times need to be 
relocated. We did that very effectively in both Iowa and in Missouri.
  We need funding for community redevelopment. Much more will have to 
be done down the pike.
  This Congress must step up to the plate and do it. If we can spend 
between $5 billion and $6 billion a month in Iraq, surely we cannot 
shirk our responsibility to our own citizens in this country.
  As we learned back in 1993 in the Iowa floods, there are other less 
obvious forms of assistance that are also critically important. I add 
here, psychological counseling, psychological help for people who have 
lost loved ones or were traumatized by the disaster, especially young 
people and kids.
  I salute Governor Tom Vilsack, of my State of Iowa, for leading a 
robust response to this disaster. He has ordered our State Government 
to prepare

[[Page 19469]]

for the potential relocation of up to 5,000 people from the gulf coast 
region. They will be given shelter and assistance in communities all 
across our State. Again, I am so proud of my fellow Iowans. The phone 
calls have been coming in. They have room to take in one, two, or three 
people. They are opening their homes. The churches across our State are 
saying they will do whatever they can to help find housing and 
accommodations for people. Governor Vilsack has also directed the Iowa 
Department of Public Health to deploy a 30-member team of doctors, 
nurses, and other health officials to southeast Louisiana.
  I say to my fellow Iowans and to all my fellow Americans, our prayers 
for the victims are important, but as President Kennedy once reminded 
us, here on Earth, God's work must truly be our own. Each and every one 
of us can make a difference to the victims of this disaster. There are 
dozens of organizations, including the Red Cross and Salvation Army, in 
urgent need of donations and assistance.
  So it is at times like this we are reminded we truly are one American 
family. Families look out for one another. I have no doubt people all 
across this country will continue to open their hearts and be as 
generous as possible in the days and weeks and months ahead.
  Likewise, I am hopeful this Congress and this White House will also 
be generous. We will do whatever it takes to help the people of New 
Orleans and the gulf coast put their lives and communities back 
together.
  Mr. President, with that I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I, too, rise in an expression of sympathy 
to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and to convey my deep gratitude to 
the many people who are working in ongoing relief efforts.
  As we gather here today, thousands of people throughout the South are 
struggling to recover from one of this Nation's greatest natural 
disasters. Really, if you think about it, it is a disaster that 
continues to unfold. With the public health issues, the sustenance-of-
human-life issues, the needs that need to be met on a daily basis, this 
disaster, the full extent of it, is not yet even known.
  As we all know, Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast on Monday, 
August 29, leaving in its wake destruction and devastation. The loss of 
life is incalculable at this time. The city of New Orleans lies in 
ruin, and residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida are 
struggling today to meet their most basic needs--shelter, food, clean 
water, and medical care.
  This Congress has appropriated, on an emergency basis, more than $10 
billion to help meet the most immediate needs of these victims of this 
disaster. But, obviously, there is more that needs to be done.
  Thousands of Americans now face the daunting task of rebuilding their 
lives. I am proud to report the people of my State of Texas are doing 
their part, welcoming literally almost a quarter of a million people 
with open arms. While some Texans are providing resources to meet 
evacuees' immediate needs, others are facilitating longer term needs 
for this large and displaced population. State and local government 
agencies are coordinating efforts on the ground and countless 
volunteers--from churches, synagogues, mosques, other faith-based 
organizations, and just good hearted people--are providing all of the 
help they can on a round-the-clock basis to ensure our neighbors' needs 
are being met.
  On the ground, nearly 2,000 soldiers and airmen from the Texas Air 
National Guard are continuing to provide assistance with Hurricane 
Katrina relief and security efforts. An additional 350 members of the 
Texas State Guard have also joined them. Texas National Guard aviation 
has moved more than 6,650 people, distributed 20,000 meals, and almost 
40,000 bottles of water, and supplied more than a million pounds of 
material to help repair the breach in New Orleans' levees.
  Even as Texas leaders have notified FEMA and Louisiana officials that 
we are nearing capacity, people across the State continue to open their 
homes to their neighbors in need and to reach out to help them in any 
way they can.
  In the shelters, one of the most important ongoing efforts is to 
locate a place for displaced residents to actually live on a temporary 
basis. The Red Cross in Dallas is doing everything it can to register 
evacuees or those who have been victimized by Katrina. This will help 
facilitate the reuniting of these victims with their families and loved 
ones. This effort is being duplicated at all other shelters.
  The city of Fort Worth and Tarrant County have partnered to provide 
the best possible care for victims. The local government has taken full 
responsibility for this situation and is managing these shelters in an 
efficient and professional manner.
  In Houston, 20,000 people are being housed and cared for at the 
Astrodome. Another 4,000 are being sheltered at the Reliant Center. And 
3,000 more are being housed at the George R. Brown Convention Center. 
It is estimated that up to 100,000 more are in hotels and shelters 
throughout the greater Houston area, with around 200,000 to 250,000 
victims of Katrina in Texas.
  Mr. President, 20,000 volunteers in Houston alone have been working 
to accommodate the enormous manpower requirements to put all of these 
efforts in place.
  A lot of credit is due not only at the highest levels of State 
government, to Governor Perry and his team, but also to local leaders 
such as Harris County Judge Robert Eckels and Mayor Bill White of 
Houston who have done an excellent job working to mobilize the major 
county and city efforts to offer immediate shelter to these victims. 
Both the judge and the mayor have been going to Fortune 500 companies 
in the greater Houston area to ask for immediate help and have been met 
with generous offers of assistance. Shelter volunteers are working, 
also, to make sure the medical needs of these evacuees are being met. 
Dallas County Health and Human Services has stated that physicians are 
taking extra precautions to prevent the outbreak of communicable 
diseases at the shelters. The Mental Health and Mental Retardation 
Department has deployed social workers and psychiatrists to shelters to 
help deal with the mental trauma associated with this disaster.
  But in addition to the immediate needs for food, clothing, water, and 
medical care, there are long-term needs that need to be addressed as 
well. We must also ensure that these long-term needs are met by this 
same team effort of Federal, State, and local officials, as well as 
nongovernmental and faith-based organizations. Federal agencies have 
stepped up and have given information to evacuees on how to receive 
Social Security and other Government benefits while they are 
temporarily displaced.
  The Post Office has stopped mail according to ZIP Codes so mail will 
not be lost and can ultimately be delivered. Local district clerks have 
given information regarding how to apply for child support payments. 
And I recently was in communication with district clerk Charles 
Bacarisse of Harris County, who is working with attorney general Gregg 
Abbott to make sure child support payments are delivered on time to 
those who are entitled to them.
  Congress is also considering waivers so the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development can give out vouchers for housing.
  My office has joined with the rest of the congressional delegation to 
facilitate the Federal Emergency Management Agency's ability to provide 
services and assisting HUD to provide housing as quickly as possible to 
such an enormous number of people. Likewise, communities have joined 
together, and many good people are personally even housing in their 
home those who have nowhere else to turn.
  So I am gratified, but not surprised, by the big heart of the people 
in the State of Texas toward those who are in need. We know there are 
stories that are heartwarming on a personal level as well as on a 
larger level as to the way people are responding, which is in a way 
that we would all hope that if

[[Page 19470]]

the shoe were on the other foot we would respond.
  While we have heard there have been episodes of lawlessness, looting, 
and other acts of desperation, it is important to remember there have 
been innumerable acts of kindness from those expressing charity and 
goodwill which I believe truly embodies the American spirit and the 
Texas spirit. These are some of the stories on which I would like to 
close.
  I was told an expectant couple from Louisiana was so appreciative of 
the warm welcome they received when they arrived in Dallas that they 
named their newest arrival, their baby girl, ``Dallas,'' after our fine 
city.
  After a 23-hour drive to Texas, one woman gave birth to her new son 
and named him after the hospital where he was born in gratitude for the 
money, gift certificates, clothes, and other necessities that the 
hospital staff collected for her.
  Louisiana resident Bernell Royal was rescued from his rooftop with 
nothing more than a bag of clothes--no identification, no wallet, no 
personal documents or effects. He is now being housed at a shelter in 
Austin, TX. Although he believes everything he owned is now gone, he 
told one reporter:

       I feel like in Austin I've found a new sense of respect, 
     dignity and honor. I would love to stay in Austin, get a job, 
     and start a new life.

  We hope he will.
  In Duncanville, Darwin German II and his family wanted to help 
hurricane victims, so they decided to give away what they had--free 
apartments at the Candlelight Park Apartments. Move-in costs will be 
covered, as well as 4 months of free rent.
  Dallas school officials over the weekend prepared to enroll 
approximately 500 student evacuees who were expected to start school 
today. The Dallas Morning News reports that Melissa Farria said when 
her children were registered for school:

       These people are amazing. . . .When they were saying they 
     were registering students, I couldn't believe it.

  And the University of Texas is likewise opening its doors to Texas 
students who were on their way to Louisiana universities. It has been 
reported that 134 undergraduates and 60 law students have now been 
enrolled at the University of Texas and will be able to continue their 
programs of study.
  The Dallas Morning News is offering free classified advertisements 
for businesses and individuals offering free goods or services to 
evacuees from areas struck by Hurricane Katrina.
  These are just some of the stories of goodwill and charity and big 
hearts that we found in response to this terrible disaster. I know the 
temptation is perhaps almost irresistible, particularly here in 
Congress, to point the finger of blame at mistakes made, plans that 
were not executed the way we hoped they might have been. Believe me, 
there will be plenty of time for that. But I believe right now it 
represents a distraction from the job we ought to be about, as 
exemplified by these wonderful Good Samaritans I have described this 
afternoon.
  We ought to be about making sure people have food, shelter, and clean 
water; that they have medical care; that their children are allowed to 
go to school; and that we help them get on with their lives and leave 
the blame game and the finger-pointing for later on. I know Congress 
and the Senate will undertake a series of hearings--and, in fact, this 
afternoon--looking at gasoline prices. We should and we will deal with 
that issue appropriately. We also ought to look at the mistakes that 
were made and things that could be done better. I am confident the 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will, in due 
course, have hearings and make sure we learn from those mistakes and we 
do better next time.
  But I think more than anything else this is a time for Americans to 
pull together. I wanted to take a few minutes to express my gratitude 
to the big-hearted people of Texas for taking in these nearly quarter 
of a million evacuees from Hurricane Katrina who had nowhere else to 
turn and who were looking for the milk of human kindness, which they 
found in the great State of Texas.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, millions of Americans on the Gulf Coast 
have endured an almost unspeakable tragedy over the past 10 days. 
Thousands are likely dead. Hundreds of thousands had their lives 
upended and wondered so rightly why their Government seemed to have 
abandoned them. Millions of Americans across the country are asking 
themselves when the suffering will end.
  We cannot undo what has happened, but there is one thing we can do to 
redeem ourselves and to live up to our greatest American ideals.
  We can commit that we will not stop, that we will not rest, until 
these communities are back and stronger than before, until families 
have been reunited, and until the survivors of this catastrophe are 
restored into the full measure of American life.
  If 6 months from now we are still referring to American citizens as 
refugees, if we are content that American families are holed up without 
jobs, without homes, without security, then we will have failed and 
failed miserably.
  Our response to date has not been worthy of our Nation, and we will 
have to examine why it wasn't until last Friday that our brave and 
committed National Guard forces were deployed to deliver supplies to 
the starving, suffering Americans stranded at the New Orleans 
Convention Center.
  The time will also come to determine why the mandatory evacuation 
order wasn't implemented effectively and why the Army Corps of 
Engineers wasn't given the resources long ago to prevent the collapse 
of the levees that caused most of the loss of life, especially when 
FEMA had called such a hurricane one of the ``likeliest, most 
catastrophic disasters facing the country.''
  Clearly, mistakes were made that cost lives, displaced thousands, and 
left one of America's most unique and treasured cities under water and 
abandoned. There will come a time to hold accountable the responsible 
officials who allowed this disaster to become even more disastrous.
  But our first priority now is to do everything we can to meet the 
needs of our fellow citizens and to provide a helping hand to the 
countless generous Americans throughout the Nation who have opened 
their homes, their schools, and their communities to our displaced 
fellow citizens. Today our job is to meet the great, daunting, and 
unprecedented challenge of rebuilding the entire region.
  Our obligation is to guarantee that the Americans thrust into the 
darkness of despair and homelessness last week emerge with a restored 
faith in their fellow citizens and a renewed belief that this is a land 
of opportunity.
  This is a challenge for all of us--as individuals, as public 
officials, and as members of religious and charitable organizations.
  But above all it is the job of our national Government, which alone 
has the resources, the manpower, and the authority to lead this 
enormous effort. The eyes of the world are upon us--watching to see how 
we take care of our own.
  The $10.5 billion Congress passed last week was an initial gesture, 
but it's just a small fraction of the amount needed to address the 
unprecedented challenges this entire region faces. It's only the 
beginning, and we need to recognize that.
  We should move quickly, for example, to address the health needs of 
these citizens. The disaster area is a public health hazard as well. 
The floodwaters are potentially disease-ridden. Countless people have 
been injured or taken ill as a result of the disaster. The physical and 
mental health needs of thousands must be met as they try to cope with 
the horror that they've endured.
  We also need to ensure that the elderly and disabled who rely on 
supplemental assistance to live continue to get it, even though they've 
been dislocated.

[[Page 19471]]

  We must do all we can to see that school children and college 
students don't miss a year of their education.
  There are approximately 70,000 children in the New Orleans school 
system, some 7,000 to 8,000 schoolteachers. That school system has 
effectively been completely destroyed--all of the books lost, all of 
the records completely lost. We don't know where those schoolchildren 
have moved to, which children have gone where. The payrolls for all of 
the school administrators have effectively been lost. We know that what 
I just mentioned for New Orleans has been replicated in school district 
after school district throughout the whole gulf area.
  School districts across the country are taking in children from the 
disaster area. Thirty-five cities as far north as Detroit have come 
forward to date, we understand, with Houston working to serve 6,000 
students, Dallas-Fort Worth making room for 5,000. These school 
districts are doing our Nation a great service. We need to make sure 
they have the support they need as they step forward.
  In my own State of Massachusetts, a number of colleges have offered 
to take the graduate students that were studying at law schools such as 
Tulane and other students who were studying at the great universities 
in Louisiana and along the gulf area. This is something we should 
follow up on, the challenges, to make sure that the students, whether 
it is K-12, whether it is in college, or whether it is in graduate 
schools, we reach out to try to assist students in the educational 
area.
  Colleges are volunteering to admit displaced students from the 
region. We must offer them additional aid for generously admitting 
these students and must assure that adequate student aid is available 
to those who temporarily attend a new college.
  The hundreds of thousands of workers who now have no jobs need an 
income to help them overcome the delay in finding new employment. We 
must amend our disaster unemployment assistance laws to enable these 
men and women to qualify for help. For example, under the emergency 
unemployment provisions, you to have wait 30 days in order to be 
eligible to be a recipient. That is obviously a rule that has to be 
addressed if we are going to use that particular mechanism to get 
income to these needy families.
  We need to rebuild the public health infrastructure which is under 
increasing strain as the number of uninsured continues to climb. Sadly, 
Hurricane Katrina has only made this crisis worse.
  These are but a few of the actions we must take--and take now--to 
deal with the immediate needs of those displaced by Katrina and of the 
communities that have so generously taken them in.
  In the longer term, I believe we should establish a New Orleans and 
Gulf Coast Redevelopment Authority, with cabinet rank, to coordinate 
planning and funding needed to restore the infrastructure of that 
battered region--the electricity, water, gas, roads, railroads, and 
bridges, and, especially, the levees and flood control facilities. 
These actions are beyond the ability of any single community, city, and 
State to handle on their own. It is a national responsibility, and we 
need a capable authority to work with State and local officials and 
local citizens to rebuild the future.
  The scope of this national crisis exceeds anything since the Great 
Depression. It's the first time a major U.S. city has been leveled 
since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. It will likely exceed the 
cost in human lives of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, where more than 
8,000 persons are thought to have perished.
  It's the kind of disaster we no longer thought possible in an age of 
instantaneous global communications, rapid transportation, highly 
accurate weather forecasts, and advanced engineering. It was most 
certainly the kind of suffering that should not be tolerated by a 
modern society with so many tools at its disposal.
  In the weeks, months, and even years ahead, the recovery from this 
disaster--the complete, total, and unambiguous recovery--must become a 
primary focus of our national government.
  As elected officials we cannot allow this work to be sidetracked by 
lesser priorities. If we don't get this right for our fellow Americans, 
little else can matter.
  For our political leadership in Washington, in the White House and 
here on Capitol Hill, this is a test of wills, a test of leadership, a 
test of vision and compassion.
  It will require singular focus and an unyielding commitment.
  The most immediate task is still to save lives. Over 1.5 million have 
been evacuated from the devastated area, but many still remain, 
particularly in outlying rural areas cut off the most from the outside 
world.
  Local authorities, the National Guard, and the Coast Guard are still 
trying to reach and rescue men, women, and children from the ravaged 
areas. It's a race against time before waterborne disease, dehydration, 
and neglect take their toll. They are working around the clock, and 
they deserve all the resources they need.
  For the hundreds of thousands of Americans thrust into homeless 
shelters as a result of the tragedy, we need to make sure they are 
getting the care, nutrition, and counseling they so desperately need.
  But the urgency is not limited to these immediate and enormous 
humanitarian tasks. It extends to the rebuilding efforts too, because 
the more rapidly we can revitalize the great city of New Orleans, and 
so many other communities, the sooner we can help people rebuild their 
lives.
  These cities and towns are not just bricks and mortar. They are 
communities and economies of countless families, neighbors, and 
business owners, desperate for a return to normalcy.
  It's said that nearly 80,000 jobs in New Orleans alone are provided 
by the tourism industry. How many more of those jobs can we save--how 
many more families can have stability again--if we get the city back on 
its feet in 6 months as opposed to 1 year? Two years? Three years? How 
much human misery and suffering can we still prevent?
  I'm impressed with the way the Army Corps of Engineers is working to 
rebuild the levees and begin to drain away the water. It's such a 
critical step in locating the missing and beginning the process of 
recovery.
  The Army Corps now estimates that perhaps within 30 days, New Orleans 
and the surrounding areas will finally be dry.
  The question for Congress and the administration is will we be ready 
on Day 31? Will we be ready to start cleaning the streets and homes and 
removing the ghastly evidence of this most unbearable tragedy.
  We owe it to the living to be ready. We owe it to the charitable 
organizations that are filling in the gaps and helping the displaced to 
get back on their feet. We owe it to the first responders who are 
giving so much of themselves to ease the suffering.
  We owe it to the millions of Americans who are opening their hearts 
and checkbooks to their fellow citizens.
  History is watching us now, and it will judge our actions. We can't 
undo the failures in planning over many years or the failures in the 
immediate response over the past 10 days.
  But we can resolve to dedicate all of our energies and resources, and 
our resolve from this point forward to resources to bring about a 
complete and total recovery for the entire Gulf Coast area, and the men 
and women and children who've endured more than any of us can possibly 
imagine in this massive tragedy.
  To the Gulf Coast region we need to be like Aaron and Hur who held up 
Moses' tired arms in battle.
  Today, we need to be just as dedicated to the Gulf Coast region if we 
are going to lead our fellow Americans out of this time of darkness to 
a better and stronger future.
  The Katrina disaster also shines a bright light on another challenge 
facing our country--the glaring economic disparities facing our 
citizens. Those with means were able to escape the disaster. Those 
without could not.
  Those with means can slowly and painfully rebuild their lives.

[[Page 19472]]

  Those without means have nothing to let them rebuild.
  As a nation, we must be sensitive to this inequality--sensitive as we 
respond to Katrina, and sensitive, too, as we select new Justices for 
the Supreme Court. That's a critical question for Judge Roberts. Can he 
unite America for the future?
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I know we have been alternating between 
the Democrats and Republicans. I note that there is no Republican on 
the Senate floor, and I will therefore now proceed in the interest of 
economy of time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. I note Senator Lott has come to the floor of the 
Senate. I didn't know if the Senator wished to speak, as someone who 
has lost his home in his State. I am happy to return to my time. Would 
the Senator like to talk now?
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the Senator, my good friend and my 
partner, for allowing me to have this opportunity. But to tell the 
truth, I just arrived a few minutes ago, and I am still a bit emotional 
right this minute. If she would continue to give me just a few minutes 
to get my papers in order, I would appreciate it.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Certainly. We welcome you back. And to the people of 
Mississippi, know that we extend our concern and want to put our good 
intentions into operation.
  I come to the floor of the Senate to speak about what has happened to 
our country and ideas on how we can move forward and make sure this 
never happens again. I note that the Presiding Officer himself has been 
a mayor and a Governor, so he knows what these kind of challenges are.
  Last week on the Senate break, when I saw what was happening in 
Louisiana, in Mississippi, and in Alabama, I couldn't believe it. I 
could not believe the devastation that occurred in these communities 
where entire neighborhoods were wiped out, that a wonderful city we 
have all loved and admired and enjoyed, New Orleans, was now under 10 
feet of water, that the people of Mississippi all along their coast 
lost their homes, where with the flyovers all you saw was wreckage, 
people on a beach and an American flag and a sheet saying: Please help 
us. And then also this going on in Alabama. We in Maryland know what it 
is like for a hurricane to hit. Just a few years ago, we survived 
Hurricane Isabel where we had communities that looked like Baghdad on 
the bay. So we were very concerned.
  One thing we had was confidence that hope and help would be on the 
way.
  Well, my gosh, this did not happen. I could not believe the slowness 
and the sluggishness of the response to these communities; that it was 
the private sector that was on response a lot faster than our own 
Government.
  Mr. President, this is just unacceptable. This failure of Government 
to be able to respond more quickly and more effectively shows that the 
people in these States have been doubly victimized. They were 
victimized by the natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina, and now by the 
response of their own Government.
  It did not have to be this way. It did not have to be this way. In 
2000, a tiptop FEMA was turned to the Bush administration. President 
Bush appointed Joe Allbaugh to be head of FEMA. We kept the legacy of 
reform that had begun under President Bush 1 and had started with 
Andrew Card and myself working on a reform of FEMA. This reform left 
FEMA in tiptop condition to respond to a crisis of a natural disaster 
in an American community.
  I want to recall this to my colleagues. Back in the 1990s, I chaired 
an appropriations subcommittee called VA-HUD and Independent Agencies. 
One of the independent agencies was FEMA. We saw its lackluster 
performance in Hugo. But when Andrew hit Florida it was a disaster. It 
was a disaster of proportions from the hurricane and then again the 
ineptness of FEMA.
  Well, we went to work, hands on. President Bush 1 sent Andy Card to 
Florida and he began to work and we on appropriations began to work, 
and we worked across the aisle on a bipartisan basis to help not only 
Florida but to take a longer look at the need to reform FEMA. And 
again, working on a bipartisan basis, reform FEMA we did. We took it 
from an agency that was focused on the Cold War, was riddled with 
cronyism both at the National and State Governments. There was a 
tradition that because FEMA was only organized in the case of a nuclear 
attack that you did not have to put in professionals because it would 
not matter; we would all be dead anyway. So there was cronyism, it was 
unfocused, it was of the Cold war, but again, working on a bipartisan 
basis, we in appropriations worked with the White House to change it.
  President Clinton came in, and we kept the reform momentum going. And 
what did we do? We said, No. 1, that FEMA, first of all, should say 
goodbye to the Cold War and hello to being a risk-based agency, to take 
a look at what most American communities would be threatened by. In 
those days, it was a hurricane, it was a tornado, it was an earthquake. 
And then for it to go to an all-hazards agency, whether it was a train 
that got stuck in a Baltimore tunnel with toxic fumes that we worried 
about or whether it was an earthquake in California or a tornado in one 
of our Midwest States.
  The other thing we focused on was that FEMA had to be run by 
professionals. It had to be run by someone who had dealt with 
management situations. And that was either a civilian involved in 
emergency management or possibly someone from retired military, and we 
asked each Governor to also reform themselves at the State level. We 
literally upgraded FEMA from the State and local level to the national 
level. We have had James Lee Witt. We had Joe Allbaugh, things were 
improving.
  The other thing we did was we made sure that we practiced the three 
Rs for FEMA. What were the three Rs? Readiness, response, and recovery. 
It took time, it took money, and it took cooperation. But again, 
working on a bipartisan basis, we had it accomplished. We worked, as I 
said, with President Bush 1, then with President Clinton, and then, 
even though I chaired FEMA appropriations and was the prime mover in 
1994, Senator Kit Bond became the chairman of that wonderful 
subcommittee, and for a decade, he too, working hand in hand, kept the 
momentum of reform going concentrating on a professionalized FEMA that 
could work on readiness, recovery, and response.
  The States were ready, we were ready, and I think everyone agreed 
during that time it worked well.
  Well, now something terrible has happened since 2000, since 9/11, and 
I will tell you what happened.
  First of all, somehow or another, FEMA has lost its way. Since it has 
moved into Homeland Security, it has become unfocused, it has become 
unclear, it has lost its direction of being an all-hazards independent 
agency. Therefore, today, I am proposing a couple of things. I am 
proposing that, No. 1, we restore FEMA to being an independent agency 
responsible to the President the way it was before 9/11; No. 2, that we 
also make sure that, as an independent agency, it is an all-hazards 
agency run by a professional. I think it is time that Michael Brown 
leave FEMA. I think he either should leave voluntarily or 
involuntarily, but we need a professional in charge of FEMA; No. 3, 
there should be a commission to look at what happened. But we can't 
wait. There is much to be done. There is much rebuilding that needs to 
be done. We need to make sure that we are helping our own communities.
  First of all, we want to congratulate the people at the local level 
for their tremendous resiliency, the people of Mississippi, Alabama, 
and, of course, Louisiana. No. 2, we need to congratulate the nonprofit 
sector--the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, also 
universities that are taking in students. We need to thank people from 
around the world who not only have sent condolences but have sent 
resources, and we appreciate their help. But we need to make sure that 
we

[[Page 19473]]

have a FEMA that the American people can count on. We need to restore 
it to an independent level, make it an all-hazards agency, make it one 
that focuses on readiness, response, and recovery.
  What we can do now with new leadership is focus on the recovery part. 
We want to say to the people of these States we know that when the TV 
cameras leave, your Government cannot leave you, we cannot forsake you, 
we cannot abandon you. To the Governors of the States that have 
welcomed these people, from Texas to Georgia to Arkansas, each 
struggling, we say that we need to be there to help you. For all those 
other States that have sent help, including my own State of Maryland, 
we need to back those States and back those communities.
  I say to all those people who have no home and living in temporary 
shelters, we need to help you find a way. For all of you who are living 
in motel rooms because you could evacuate, running out of time, running 
out of money, we need to identify who you are, see where you are, to 
make sure you are connected with your family and begin to see if we 
can't connect you with a home and with a job. We need to be able to do 
that. But in order to do that, No. 1, we need new leadership at FEMA. 
No. 2, we need to reform FEMA. And No. 3, we need to look ahead.
  There are those who say: Well, Senator Mikulski, FEMA went under 
Homeland Security because of a global war against terrorism. We know 
that, and I was one who voted to put it there. Well, I will tell you, 
would you trust FEMA now if a dirty bomb hit a city? Would you trust 
FEMA now to be able to respond to a chemical or biological weapon? The 
answer is no, no, no.
  Much needs to be done. First of all, we need to support those 
communities that are helping other communities. We need to also salute 
that which is working. Three cheers for the Coast Guard that was one of 
the first on the job doing rescue; support the private sector, 
America's corporations that are both paying their employees and sending 
in incredible donations. We need to support the nonprofits that are 
also helping. But most of all we need to support each other.
  I want to, once again, as I did at the time of Hurricane Andrew, 
reach across the aisle to an American President to say let's stop using 
the term ``refugee.'' Let's start using the term ``Americans.'' Let's 
start using the term ``citizens.'' Let's start acknowledging that we 
are all one people under God, indivisible. Let's work to reform FEMA. 
Let's get in the right leadership. And then let's work with the right 
resources, and let's do it in a spirit of cooperation. We had that 
spirit after 9/11. That is what somebody did to us. Now, we had a 
hurricane do something terrible to us. We should not do unto ourselves 
by not responding to the needs of our own people. Somebody once said it 
takes a village to raise a child. Right now it takes a country to raise 
these villages and all of those towns. My heart goes out to them. As I 
said, we in Maryland know what it is like to be on the coast and be 
hurt. I say to my colleague who has lost his beloved home that has been 
in his family for years, looking at him as a Senator, he has some 
power, and we are going to help him, but we think about all the little 
people, all the little people, and we think about how we can help them. 
If we work together as a country and make sure we work with America's 
corporations, we will get the resources in the United States of 
America. And then for the long haul, let's make FEMA an independent 
agency--an all-hazards, professionally run independent, responsible 
only to the call of the Commander in Chief.
  Mr. President, I once again say, God bless America and the people of 
its communities. I look forward to working, on a bipartisan basis, to 
resolve this issue. I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
  Mr. LOTT. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, I say to the distinguished Senator from Maryland, Ms. 
Mikulski, I appreciate her kind remarks, and I know how she feels, on a 
human and an individual basis, and I know she will be working with us 
to make sure that the full force of the Government is used and that 
where we need changes and where we need help, we will work together to 
put those in place.
  I have learned, once again, that Mother Nature is a great equalizer. 
When you experience what we have experienced, which is an attack of 
monumental proportions, politics and partisanship, national origin and 
economic status, religion, all of that is put aside so that you can 
work together to help people who are struggling for their lives, 
literally.
  I want to take a few minutes to talk about what is the situation 
there. I came back because I wanted to express my feelings in a number 
of areas and talk about the devastation and not try to complain--in 
fact, I will not complain--but tell people how they can help. We need 
solutions, and we need actions. After a couple days here, where I can 
maybe meet with Cabinet Secretaries and meet with others who make 
decisions, we will go back, and we will continue the effort. We are not 
at real cleanup yet, certainly not reconstruction. We are still dealing 
with devastation, search and rescue, and health and safety. And it is 
desperate. I want to begin by thanking my colleagues. So many of my 
colleagues have sent messages, have called my offices, have gotten 
through to me and made huge efforts to try to express their concerns. I 
don't want to belabor this point, but one of the calls was from Senator 
Kerry from Massachusetts. He said that he and Teresa had been worried 
about my wife Trisha and me and could they help. I said: You bet. He 
said: What can we do? What do you need? Where do you need it? I told 
him: Don't worry about distribution. You let us know when you are going 
to land. We will have people for pickup and distribution.
  That story can be told hundreds of times over from friends or people 
you do not even know, Republicans, Democrats, people from Michigan, 
Illinois. It makes no difference. I could tell you an anecdote about 
every State. A lady from Illinois, pastor of a church, wanted to do 
something. She loaded up her own van, did not even have enough fuel to 
get there, but somehow or another she begged, borrowed, wound up in the 
disaster area handing out materials, supplies. Nobody paid for it. 
Nobody asked for it. She loaded up and went to the sound of the cannon, 
and she made a difference.
  Yesterday, when I flew in a Black Hawk helicopter to Poplarville, MS, 
one of the areas off the Gulf Coast that one does not hear a lot about, 
to make sure people in rural and small towns know that help is on the 
way there, too, I was escorted by our delegation. We had a Mississippi 
Black Hawk and three New York National Guard Black Hawk helicopters. 
Some of the first National Guardsmen who arrived were from Michigan. 
You name it, I can tell a story about every State.
  On Wednesday, when I was digging through the rubble of my own 
neighborhood, some guys walked up from Bert, FL, and said: We know a 
little bit about hurricanes. We know you are hurting and you need help. 
We have six men, a bobcat, and a front-end loader. How can we help? I 
said: Can you clear that road, where we could get through there because 
the traffic in that area is getting to be a problem. And there is a 
little retired schoolteacher living back over here. We have not been 
able to get into her house. The debris was 6 or 8 feet up against her 
doors. We were afraid she was in there, but she showed up later in the 
afternoon, and we got her into her house. I do not know those guys. 
They were from Bert, FL. If they are listening, if they ever hear this, 
I want to thank them for loading up and coming to help.
  Now, I have been dealing with disasters in Mississippi and in our 
region for 37 years, going back when I was a staff member for a 
Democratic Member in the House. So I have dealt with hurricanes. I was 
there for Camille, and I promised the Good Lord, if he would let me 
live through that one, I would not stay for another one. I have not 
stayed for any more. I leave, and then when the wind slows down, I go 
back and I

[[Page 19474]]

take down the boards and I pull the debris, with my neighbors and my 
friends and my family. This time we could not even pull the debris. 
There was too much of it. But I have seen hurricanes of all kinds, and 
I have seen tornadoes and the devastation from ice storms and floods. 
We have had everything in Mississippi but locusts, and I expect them to 
show up real soon. This is a disaster of biblical proportions. I want 
the people to understand that.
  My house is irrelevant, in the bigger picture of what happened, 
except for one thing. This house was 150 years old. It was 12 feet 
above sea level. It was 8 feet off the ground. Senator McConnell slept 
in that house. It was nothing special, but everything in there was 
special. The point though is, for 150 years, this house had been able 
to withstand everything Mother Nature could deal her. Yes, we had the 
porch torn off and we had the roof replaced several times and we had 
other damages, but basically it stood right there similar to a rock, 
and that is my hometown, Pascagoula, MS. As you go west, the damage 
gets worse and worse and worse: Biloxi, MS, Gulfport, MS, Pass 
Christian, Long Beach, Bay Saint Louis. Waveland, MS, no longer exists. 
You might say, well, the buildings are still standing. They were 
gutted. No, there is not a building standing--this little community of 
7,000 people. And then there is New Orleans. A lot of people have been 
so emotionally touched and upset by what they have seen there, but one 
of the things they need to know is the hurricane hit us Monday. Their 
biggest disaster was Friday because the levees broke, the pumps had 
salt in them, and they did not work. I flew over Jefferson Parish on 
Friday with the President. They had water up to the roof lines of the 
houses standing there, and it had been rising ever since about Tuesday 
or Wednesday. So their worst disaster was not the hurricane; it was the 
aftermath.
  I flew over and saw three big fires going on in New Orleans. Nobody 
was trying to put them out. You know why? You could not get there. 
Finally, the National Guard came in with helicopters and buckets and 
helped a little bit.
  So the proportions of this are enormous. And for that reason, our 
response has not been perfect. A lot of criticism has been pointed at 
this place or that place, why was the military not there earlier, or 
this person or that group? It took the National Guard in my home State, 
going from Camp Shelby, 70 miles, to Gulfport, MS, 7 hours because they 
had to cut their way through a major highway. Highway 49 was covered 
with pine trees. They were still falling the next night when I went 
through there because they were kind of standing there and eventually 
fell right on down.
  When you got on the ground, we did not know exactly where it was 
going to hit, and then the proportions of it exceeded what anybody 
expected. And even when you got there, you could not communicate with 
anybody, no hard lines, no cell phones operating, no blackberry 
messages were coming and going. It took us 2 days to get to where 
people were. We are still looking for people we have not been able to 
find. A lot of the bad things that I have tried to deal with turned out 
to be rumors. I had two good friends who were identified basically as 
missing or dead Tuesday. Well, they were there Friday. I was told I 
could not get to my house; the roads were closed. I advised what I was 
going to do to anybody who tried to stop me. When I got there, there 
were no blockades. I went right through there like lightening, and so 
did everybody else. So there are rumors about things.
  Now, have mistakes been made? Is it bad? Is it still horrible? Has it 
not been fast enough, good enough? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. What good 
does that do? I met yesterday with elected officials from 33 counties 
in my State, mayors, supervisors, clerks, sheriffs, police chiefs. And 
by the way, I cannot give enough accolades for what they have done. I 
told them: Look, I do not want to hear about the problems of yesterday. 
I want to hear what your problem is today. Tell me what the solution 
is, and we will fix it before the sun goes down.
  I want to give some idea of what is happening. The loss of life is 
just, one cannot even comprehend what people are dealing with. Of 
course, similar to everything else in life, when you have a disaster 
such as this, it is bad on everybody. The poor people and the people in 
low-lying areas, they are hit harder than anybody, and we have to make 
sure we help them.
  I want to specifically thank a few people. It is not a long list and 
I am going to miss some and I will be back to get to the rest of them. 
The first responders saved a lot of lives, even saved property, which 
became irrelevant. National Guard, Coast Guard, military in general, 
they are working now, the Seabees, the Corps of Engineers, the Navy. 
For the first time in history, we are moving Navy flat-bottomed troop 
carriers in to house people so that emergency workers will have a place 
to sleep at night and get a warm meal. Once again, we saw that the 
military is not only for Iraq. We need the military for here.
  You know when they got order in New Orleans? When the 82nd Airborne 
pulled in, the shooting stopped. They brought in a tough general that 
came off the plane cussing. Within 6 hours, things were under control. 
So I want to thank them all. Policemen, firemen, stories I have heard, 
people I have seen, emergency rescuers, ambulance, all of those first 
responders. Local and State officials do not get enough credit.
  In my State of Mississippi, one reason why I think we are doing a 
little better than we have in the past or than some other areas is we 
have the best quality of elected officials, men and women, mayors, 
supervisors. Our Governor, Haley Barbour, and our Lieutenant Governor, 
Amy Tuck, they have all been pulling together, and they deserve a lot 
of credit. Federal officials, there are so many things that have 
happened I cannot list them all. Cabinet Secretaries and agency people, 
individuals, FEMA is there on the job. They are getting hammered the 
most, and we will have to think about whether they are set up in the 
right way, but there will be time for that.
  Right now we want to know what can we do to help them do a better 
job. In my own State of Mississippi, the Mississippi Emergency 
Management Administration has been criticized. I was about ready to 
express myself in a very profound way yesterday about the fact that we 
do not have emergency housing arriving yet. I was told that the 
Mississippi Emergency Management Administration had not requested the 
trailers. So I got to where a MEMA official was and asked: Did you 
request the trailers?
  Yes, 20,000, 2 or 3 days ago.
  What is the problem?
  He said: I do not know. I have made the request. So then the word 
from FEMA was: Well, we have not been told where to put them. Excuse 
me? The whole area is slick. Park them anywhere. There are no parking 
limits. We are a parking lot. That is ridiculous. So there is 
bureaucratic nonsense going on, but we are getting there. We have that 
problem resolved. We have FEMA talking to MEMA, talking to the people 
who have the trailers. Three hundred arrived this morning; 20,000 more 
are coming. We will get through that.
  I want to thank the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, all the other 
charities, individuals, and churches. My wife, yesterday, worked all 
afternoon loading an 18 wheeler at Christ United Methodist Church, 
Jackson, MS, where Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, and Jews were all 
working together, all kinds of backgrounds, loading those 18 wheelers. 
Nobody asked to pay for it. Nobody told them where to send it. They 
said: We are loading them, and we are sending them to the First Baptist 
Church, Pascagoula, the First Presbyterian Church, Pascagoula, and to 
the Episcopal Church at Ocean Springs, MS. They are there this morning 
with things such as Clorox--never stop to think you need that--cleaning 
materials.
  I saw the Red Cross riding around. They did not wait for people to 
come to them because people could not get there. The Red Cross people 
went into the communities and said: Here is a Styrofoam plate of warm 
food. Some

[[Page 19475]]

people had not seen warm food for days. Some people had not eaten for 
days. And they are out there handing out water on the frontline. The 
Salvation Army never asks questions; they provide help. So all of those 
are doing a great job.
  I want to do something else too. Well, before I get to that, 
volunteers, boy, they have been great--people showing up saying: Where 
do I go? That is one thing we do need is leaders. You have to have 
somebody who will be willing to take charge and get people coordinated. 
That takes a little time.
  I also want to put a list in the record. It is a long list. I ask 
unanimous consent that this list be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                        Donations and Assistance


                          Retail and Business

     Wal-Mart
       Donated $1,000,000 each to the Salvation Army and Red 
     Cross.
       Donating $15,000,000 to jump start the national relief 
     effort. As part of this donation, mini Wal-Marts are being 
     established to give free food, water, diapers, toothbrushes 
     and clothes to victims.
       Using stores as staging areas for disaster assistance and 
     distribution centers are stocked with flashlights and 
     blankets for disbursement.
       Have several truckloads of supplies heading to the area.
       Giving funds to displaced employees for housing, food and 
     basic needs.
     Home Depot
       On phone with Governor's office to see where the below is 
     needed most.
       Have more than 800 trucks staged in the area for 
     deployment.
       Directing generators, flashlights, batteries, tarps, 
     plywood, etc. to areas hit by Katrina.
       Partnering with Super Value to deliver non-perishable food 
     items like beef jerky, peanut butter, bottled water, diapers, 
     etc, Planning six sites for ``tent stores'' that will be 
     staffed and supplied in the following days.
       Have generators on the way to Northrop Grumman for their 
     use, per Pickering's request according to Beth.
     FedEx
       Flying a plane of relief supplies into New Orleans.
       Donating $500,000 to the Red Cross plus $500,000 for 
     shipping costs in addition to the $250,000 annual donation 
     and annual $850,000 shipping.
       Giving logistical support to the Emergency Command Center 
     established in Louisiana.
       A chartered flight today from Newark will carry 90,000 
     pounds of cots and hygiene kits to evacuees located in the 
     Houston Astrodome.
     Ashley Furniture
       Donating $500,000 to the Red Cross plus employee and 
     individual store donations.
       Willing to sell furniture to FEMA below showroom costs for 
     storm victims.
     SmartSynch
       Accepting donations of clothing and other items to be taken 
     and distributed to evacuees in Jackson area shelters.


                             Food Retailers

     Altria (Kraft)
       Sending 4 truckloads of Fruit20 and 2 truckloads of snacks, 
     cookies and Capri Sun to the Red Cross.
       Sending 1 truckload of Fruit20 and 1 truckload of Planter's 
     Nuts to Americares.
     Quizno's
       Trying to coordinate food shipments from their Jackson 
     store to the Coast.
     Mar's
       Working on getting truckloads of snack food into the Gulf 
     Coast.


                        Transportation Industry

     Nissan
       Donating $500,000 to the Red Cross and matching employee 
     contributions up to $250,000.
       Leased 50 trucks and SUVs to the Mississippi Emergency 
     Management Agency.
     Ford
       Organizing blood, clothing and monetary drives to benefit 
     the Red Cross and Salvation Army.
       Donated approximately 165 SUVs, heavy-duty trucks and vans 
     for relief efforts.
       Deferring car payments for 90 days to those in the affected 
     areas.
     Toyota
       Donating $5,000,000 to the American Red Cross and other 
     hurricane-related relief efforts.
     Northwest Airlines
       Making planes available to fly relief into the affected 
     areas.
     BNSF
       Donating $1,000,000 to the Red Cross.
       Offering rail transportation to aid in the relief effort to 
     the Governor's of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.
     Honeywell
       Donated planes and crews to help transport relief related 
     cargo.
     ASTAR Air Cargo & ATA
       Helping with air lift operations.
     Koch Industries
       Donating $1,000,000 to the Red Cross and $250,000 to the 
     Salvation Army.
       Matching employee donations to either or organization up to 
     $1,000,000.
     General Electric
       Gave $6,000,000 to the Red Cross and employees have given 
     an additional $1,000,000 that GE matched--making a total of 
     $7,000,000 from GE and an additional $1,000,000 from their 
     employees.
       Sending at least $10 million in medical devices, power 
     generation equipment, water purification and other goods and 
     services as identified by Federal relief authorities.


                     Banks & Financial Institutions

     Citigroup
       Making a direct donation of $1,000,000 to the Red Cross and 
     employee matching for up to $2,000,000--possibly more if 
     contributions exceed this amount.
       Suspending credit card payments, fees and interest charges 
     for customers in the disaster areas. Also working on a case-
     by-case basis to help with house mortgage payments for those 
     customers.
     JP Morgan Chase
       Donating $1,000,000 to the Red Cross and matching employee 
     donations up to $1,000,000.
       Working with their 1.5 million customers in Mississippi to 
     quickly process checks and loans.
     BankPlus
       Established an account for donations to the Red Cross. They 
     are matching donations up to $250,000.


                Phone Companies, Media & Communications

     Bell South
       Have two ``tent cities'' set up in Gulfport and Lyman with 
     supplies for employees and retirees. Another tent is being 
     set up in Hattiesburg.
     Cingular
       Sending trailers of meals, ice and other personal items to 
     Ocean Springs.
       Sending text messages to customers asking them to donate to 
     the Red Cross.
       Setting up a tent city for their employees and working to 
     ensure those employees affected get paychecks.
       Moving ATMs and health clinics in these tent cities by this 
     weekend.
     Verizon
       Encouraging customers to donate by sending text messages to 
     a central number (2HELP or 24357). Their donation to the Red 
     Cross will be added onto their bill. The first message will 
     add $5.00 and a second will add $25.
     Nextel
       Have 11 satellite trucks in the area and giving out free 
     phones to victims of the hurricane.
     ABC/Disney/ESPN
       Running free PSAs for the Salvation Army.
       Donated $2,500,000 divided into the following categories: 
     $1,000,000 to the Red Cross, $1,000,000 to various children's 
     charities and $500,000 to help supply volunteer shelters.
       Given toys and videos to the Red Cross for children.
       Trying to get portable TVs in the affected areas.
     DirecTV
       Dedicated a channel to FEMA alerts, Red Cross 
     announcements, press conferences and local shelter 
     information. This channel will also be available for public 
     officials to communicate with the shelters. They are working 
     with the Red Cross to provide this service to approximately 
     250 shelters across the area.
       Established a Hurricane Katrina text message and e-mail 
     message line for people trying to connect with loved ones. 
     They leave a message with their name, location, who they're 
     trying to reach and the message. Messages are then 
     transcribed and scrolled on Hurricane Channel mentioned 
     above.
     New Skies Satellite
       Donating satellite capacity to the FCC and FEMA to help 
     facilitate communication via satellite phones and Internet 
     access.
       Offering the service of their engineers to area 
     communications companies to help them get back operational.


                             Oil Companies

     Chevron
       Donated $5,000,000 to the Red Cross.
       Erected a ``tent city'' near the Pascagoula refinery for 
     their 1,500 employees and their families. The site will 
     include water, first aid, food, bedding and toiletries.
     ExxonMobil
       Committed $7,000,000 to the Red Cross and other national or 
     local charities.
       Working with FEMA and other local emergency management 
     organizations to provide fuel and lubricants.
     Shell
       Donating $2,000,000 to the Red Cross and matching employee 
     donations up to $1,000,000.

[[Page 19476]]




                         Government Departments

     Health and Human Services
       Sending 10,000 beds and supplies to local hospitals.
     Department of Education
       Examining ways to redirect existing funds toward relief 
     efforts.
       Student loan borrowers living in affected areas may delay 
     payments on their loans without penalty.
       On a case-specific basis the Department will relax certain 
     reporting provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act for 
     affected states.
     Department of Justice
       Donated $5,000,000 to help fund emergency law enforcement. 
     Mississippi will receive $879,056 of that.
     Housing and Urban Development
       Established a toll-free number (866-641-8102) for the 
     public to get information on housing needs.
       Identifying vacant multi-family housing, public housing 
     units and HUD-owned homes in a 500-mile radius of the 
     affected areas that could be used as temporary housing.
       Disaster voucher assistance for any family rendered 
     homeless--$200 million available with authority from 
     Congress.
       Vouchers for replacement units for displaced public housing 
     families or displaced residents living in other HUD 
     multifamily projects--$50 million available.
       Indian Community Development Block Grant funding--up to 
     $300,000 per grantee--for disaster relief for Indian housing 
     and Tribal areas.


                        Associations & Charities

     American Trucking Association
       Making a $10,000 donation to the Red Cross.
     The Gulf Coast Relief 5K Run
       James Carville and Mary Matalin, Pacers Running Stores, 
     Mizuno USA and Great Harvest Bread Company are hosting a 5K 
     on September 17th in Old Town Alexandria. Entry fees will go 
     to help those affected by the storm.
     John Grisham/Rebuild the Coast Fund Organization
       Grisham has established an account at BancorpSouth with a 
     $5,000,000 donation. The bank is handling the money. The 
     account is open for other individuals to contribute.
       Contributions can be made at any BancorpSouth branch; or by 
     sending a check or money order to BancorpSouth, c/o Rebuild 
     the Coast Fund Inc., P.O. Box 789, Tupelo, MS 38802 or 
     Rebuild the Coast Fund, P.O. Box 4500, Tupelo MS 38803. Make 
     checks payable to: Rebuild the Coast Fund Inc.
     Knights of Columbus
       They have pledged $2,500,000 to charities broken into the 
     following groups: $250,000 for Catholic Charities, $1,250,000 
     to assist evacuees and those left homeless, and the final 
     $1,000,000 will be dedicated to rebuilding Catholic churches 
     and schools.
     Retail Industry Leader's Association
       Creating a DHS ``Wish-List'' to be distributed to member 
     stores.
     National Air Transportation Association
       Coordinating members volunteering to fly food, supplies, 
     generators, etc. to the area.


                            Pharmaceuticals

     Accenture
       Donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in relief supplies and 
     are matching employee contributions up to $100,000.
     Abbott
       Pledged $2,000,000 in cash donations.
       Working to provide $2,000,000 in nutritional and medical 
     supplies.
     Amgen
       Cash donation of $2,500,000 million and matching employee 
     donations.
     Amylin
       Donated $100,000 to the Red Cross and will match employee 
     donations to an additional $100,000.
       Donated $50,000 to the Pennington Medical Center at LSD to 
     establish an emergency diabetes clinic.
     Astellas
       Donating $50,000 to the Red Cross and matching employee 
     contributions up to $50,000.
       Working to send needed antibiotics to the area.
     Astrazeneca
       Initial cash donation of $1,000,000 to the Red Cross and 
     matching employee donations dollar-for-dol1ar.
       Working with local disaster relief organizations to provide 
     direct aid and medication.
     Bayer
       Donated $2,000,000 to the Red Cross And will match employee 
     donations dollar-for-dollar.
     BMS
       Initial donation of $1,000,000 to the Red Cross and are 
     matching employee donations.
       Shipping infant formula to the federal government and is 
     working with the Red Cross to coordinate the shipment.
     Boehringer Ingelheim
       Donating $600,000.
     Cephalon
       Matching employee donations.
     Eli Lilly
       Donating $1,000,000 to the Red Cross and matching employee 
     donations to the Red Cross
       Donation $1,000,000 worth of insulin products.
     Genzyme
       Matching employee donations.
       Making product donations.
     GlaxcoSmithKline
       Giving a $1,000,000 cash donation to be divided among the 
     Red Cross, Mississippi Hurricane Fund and Louisiana Disaster 
     Recovery Foundation
       Giving $2,000,000 in products and consumer goods.
       Matching employee contributions.
       Donating medicines and health products as needed.
     Johnson & Johnson
       Working with disaster relief organization to provide needed 
     medicine products.
       Donated $250,000 in disaster relief products.
       Matching employee and retirees' donations.
     Merck
       Donated $1,000,000 to the Red Cross and matching employee 
     donations.
       Working with states to provide needed medicines and 
     vaccines.
       Replacement prescription medicines for victims, hospitals 
     and clinics in flooded areas.
     Millennium
       Allowing employees make donations to AmeriCares and the Red 
     Cross via direct payroll deductions.
     Medical Planning Resources
       Waiting for HHS to approve a proposal for up to 40 fully-
     equipped 150 bed medical facilities, more than 1,000 medical 
     providers, two 747s for patient transport and addition 
     medical equipment and supplies.
     Novartis
       Matching employee contributions to the Novartis Hurricane 
     Katrina Relief Gift Program.
       Working with local officials to ship supplies to shelters, 
     AmeriCares, and the Red Cross.
     Organon
       Working on making a cash donation and matching employee 
     donations in addition to independently raising money for 
     relief efforts.
     Otsuka
       Donating $3,000,000 to the Red Cross and making additional 
     donations to area victims.
     Pfizer
       Donating $1,000,000 to help rebuild hospitals and 
     healthcare center.
       Donating $1,000,000 divided among Red Cross, Salvation Army 
     and the United Way.
       Donation medicines, consumer and animal health products.
     Procter & Gamble
       Initially donating $700,000 in cash and products.
       Working with the Red Cross to assess additional needs.
     Purdue Pharma
       Matching employee donations to the Red Cross and AmeriCares 
     up to $50,000.
       Working with AmeriCares to provide medication.
     Roche
       Matching employee donations to the Red Cross.
       Evaluating needs for products and supplies.
     Sanofi-Aventis
       Matching employee donations.
       Helping employees affected by the storm.
       Donating needed medication to relief efforts.
     Schering-Plough
       Product donation of $2,000,000.
       Donating $500,000 cash with an employee matching program.
     Sepracor
       Offering a matching gift program.
     Solvay
       Already shipped 75,000 respirators.
       Sending $1,000,000 in safety, medical and cleaning 
     products.
       Matching employee donations up to $500,000.
     Valeant
       Match employee donations.
       Donate appropriate medicines to relief efforts.
       Providing support for any affected employees.
       Allowing time off for employee who are assisting with the 
     relief efforts.
     Wyeth
       Donating $1,000,000 to be distributed to the Red Cross and 
     the Children's Health Fund as well as matching employee 
     donations to the Red Cross.
       Donating needed pharmaceutical products to relief efforts
     PhRMA
       Matching employee donations.


                              Foreign Aid

       Australia has given a $10,000,000 to the Red Cross.

[[Page 19477]]

       Israel is sending search and rescue units specialized in 
     extraction from collapsed buildings.
       Taiwan gave $2,000,000 to the federal government to help 
     with recovery efforts.

  Mr. LOTT. These are donations and assistance from private companies. 
I am not going to list them all now because I will exclude somebody, 
but Wal-Mart has been unbelievable. They donated $15 million to jump 
start the national relief effort. They gave $1 million to the Red 
Cross. Home Depot, 800 trucks staged in the area of deployment. They 
took food, water, flashlights, batteries, and tarps; FedEx; food 
retailers have been out there; automobile dealers, Nissan, Ford, 
Toyota; Northwest Airlines, making planes available to fly relief in; 
railroads, major companies, Honeywell, financial institutions, 
Citigroup, JPMorgan, Cingular, Verizon; oil companies, Chevron gave $5 
million to the Red Cross; ExxonMobil committed $7 million to the Red 
Cross; American Trucking Association made a contribution and helped us 
resolve a technical problem we had.
  Even writers such as John Grisham, the writer of the great books from 
Mississippi, personally donated $5 million to the effort. 
Pharmaceutical companies have helped us get pharmaceuticals pre-
positioned, ready for the health crisis. We know it is coming. Procter 
& Gamble has given cash and supplies. Foreign aid, Sri Lanka has 
offered us money, $25,000. Well, it might as well as be $25 billion. 
Australia, Taiwan, countries all over the world. This is an incredible 
list and it is just a short list of people who are doing their part and 
I wanted that to be in the Record.
  Most of all, I want to thank the people of my State. I cannot speak 
for people in other States, but I know the people in my State. I have 
been there with them in Pascagoula and Biloxi, Ocean Springs, 
Poplarville, Jackson and points south. What an incredible spirit. We 
have been hammered, and they are on their knees. This very morning, as 
my staff called and tried to talk to county supervisors and mayors, two 
counties said: Look, we need MREs--that is food--and we could always 
use more fuel and we have some problems, but do not waste your time on 
us. Go help somebody else that needs it worse.
  When I stood with Gene Gaezo in Biloxi, MS, which is an international 
city, a city of Slovenians, French, German, Greeks, Italians, 
Vietnamese, and Hispanics, behind him was where his house was. He had 
lost everything, cars, boats, trash piled up way over your head, lost 
his job in the gaming industry. And he said: Trent, what do I do? I 
said: Well, take care of yourself, feed your family, make sure 
everybody is safe, and then begin working on this trash. Help is on the 
way, do not worry. And he said: Well, you go take care of somebody who 
has been hurt worse than me.
  Unless you have lost loved ones, you were not hurting worse than that 
guy was. The spirit has been indomitable. They are not blaming anybody. 
They are asking for help. I am proud of them. Our attitude is, hey, we 
have been hit before, we may feel similar to a punching bag, but we 
will come back. We are going to rebuild, and we will be bigger and 
better and stronger for it all. So I want to make sure that the 
American people know the spirit of the people in my area.
  I know there are going to be hearings. There are a lot of questions. 
But, please, please, my colleagues, let's not try to fix blame right 
now. There will be time for that. Let's fix the problems we have to 
deal with now.
  Do I have some ideas of what we need to do? Oh, yes. I agree with the 
Senator from Maryland, we should not have ever put FEMA in Homeland 
Security. We thought about it. Heck, we did it. Who are we going to 
blame for that? We did that. Maybe it was recommended, I don't know. 
But you make mistakes. Last time I checked, we are still human beings.
  I found out something else last week: Disasters bring out the worst 
in bad people but the best in good people. But let's focus on the good.
  We are going to need legislative help. We are going to need 
appropriations. I know already, for instance, we have to allow in local 
communities for cleanup contractors to go on private property. The law 
doesn't allow that except for the immediate aftermath for health and 
safety. There are no lines. In Biloxi, MS, and Gulfport, MS, you can't 
tell where the private property was and public property was. It is 
nothing but a mound of debris. If you lost everything you had, it will 
be months. You can't get the infrastructure back if you can't clean it. 
So we have to change that. I have lots of ideas how we can improve it 
for us now, but, more important, for the future, too.
  What do we need? I want the American people to know. People from all 
over America are calling and crying, saying: How can I help? You can 
help. What we need right now are still basics. Food is still a problem, 
getting it there, getting it distributed. We have now got to the point 
where we need clothes. People lost everything they had. We had doctors 
Saturday, in my hometown, wearing the same clothes they wore Sunday the 
week before, because they didn't have any and they didn't have a place 
to get a shower or any of that.
  So we need food, clothes, gas. If you can get there with some fuel, 
in some of those red containers, we need that. Baby supplies--I have 
been amazed how quickly you need diapers and baby wipes and baby 
formula. We could use that. Cleaning supplies. Plywood, if you have 
some plywood laying around, load it and bring it down. Equipment of all 
types--chain saws, brooms, the basic stuff.
  I believe there are people in Missouri and people in Georgia, when 
they know that, who will load up and they will bring it to us and they 
will distribute it on their own.
  Yes, we need money. We don't need cash, but we need you to contribute 
to the Red Cross and Salvation Army so they can pay the expenses. Now 
we are beginning to have a problem with the need for oxygen tanks. We 
have to find a way to get those and get them where people need them.
  We need manpower. If you are in Oklahoma and you are retired at 65 
and you want to help, get in your truck and drive on down. Don't ask 
where to go and don't worry about what to do when you get there. When 
you get there, look around. You will see plenty you can do. Anybody in 
America who wants to go there and help us, come on down. We aren't 
blocking anybody.
  We have to be careful because we may have an impending health 
problem. I fear people are going to begin to have heart attacks and 
mental depression and emotional problems. If you cut your foot in 
Gulfport, MS, you could be exposed to some bad infections and bad 
diseases, so we have to be careful.
  We do need more action. We get back down to what Senator Mikulski was 
saying. We need leaders, men and women in the Government and everywhere 
else, who can make a fast decision, be flexible when they make that 
decision, think innovatively when they make a decision, and use a very 
difficult thing--common sense. Use common sense.
  Some of the people have been denied access to fuel or told you can't 
do that. It is insane. I am getting ready to leave my hometown on 
Wednesday night and I want to turn left, and the policeman says you 
can't turn left. I said, Why not? and the policeman says, Well, I'm not 
from here but I am told you can't turn left. So I went down to the next 
interchange, made a left turn and turned right. It didn't make any 
sense. No common sense. We have to do that.
  I also have already reached out to some of what I think are some of 
the best thinkers in America and some of the people who dealt with 
this, and I said tell us what we can do so we can do it better, 
quicker, and when we build back we will be more secure and we will be 
able to survive maybe because of the way we build. I wanted to know how 
did California get Interstate 10 bridges and overpasses back in 
operation in 2 months when it ordinarily would take 2 years. What was 
it they had?
  I found out the Governor had the authority to waive everything. He 
waived hearings, he waived environmental

[[Page 19478]]

considerations. They awarded a contract under expedited procedure. They 
gave the contractor huge incentives to finish ahead of schedule and 
under the money and great penalties if they didn't. And guess what, a 
2-year project was completed in 2 months and 2 days and the contractor 
made more off the incentive payment than he did off the basic price. 
OK. We need to replicate that.
  I also think the Federal Government needs to think innovatively. If 
you look at the situation in Bay St. Louis, MS, or New Orleans, LA, 
what do we want to do to avoid this sort of problem in the future, and 
how can we do whatever we do better than we have done it?
  We need a very aggressive, entrepreneurial proposal for the dramatic, 
bold rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. We want to rebuild, but we don't 
want to build it the way it was. We want to build it bigger and 
stronger, maybe a little further back, maybe with the help of some 
incentives we haven't had before, like tax credits. We need to help 
people rebuild now. They don't need a refund next year, they need money 
and assistance now.
  These are the times that try men's souls, the worst I have ever seen. 
But I do believe we will persevere and, with God's help and with the 
help of my colleagues in this great body, and with our President--who 
has been there, has cried with us and sweated with us, and I have 
looked at him and I have watched him show his compassion, and I have 
seen him give orders to do a better job--we will get through this.
  I thank everybody. I am going to do something unusual, too. There are 
exceptions, but even the news media have been helpful. The news media 
in my home State don't just tell the bad stories. We had a wedding for 
some evacuees. This young couple had to get married, so the people in 
Jackson, MS, gave the lady a wedding dress and a wedding cake, and they 
gave them a wedding.
  They told us good stories and they told us many times where we needed 
to be and where the problems are. Yes, there is some criticism and 
negativism to go around, but there is a lot of positive out there, too, 
and I am making sure we build on that side of this equation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coleman). The majority whip.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, first let me say I know on behalf of 
everyone in the Senate how relieved we are that our colleague Trent 
Lott and his wife are safe. We all thank him for his inspiring 
observations about the experiences of the past week, the reactions of 
the people, the response of people around America to this great crisis. 
I say to our friend from Mississippi how grateful we are he is safe and 
sound and back among us. We will be working with him to make sure we 
deal with the immediate needs and make whatever adjustments we can for 
the future, to try to make sure the next time, God forbid something 
like this happens to our country, we will be even better organized to 
respond.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise to join with my colleagues today 
to talk about the devastation in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as 
a result of Hurricane Katrina. While Senator Lott is on the floor, I 
want to give my personal condolences to him and his family and all 
those who have suffered in Mississippi as well as the other States 
involved.
  My personal deepest sympathies, and those from the people of Michigan 
as well as our prayers, go out to the families grieving the loss of 
their loved ones and to the survivors who are struggling to cope and to 
find shelter, food, and medical care in the wake of this horrendous, 
this terrible disaster.
  My heart goes out to all of our colleagues--Senator Landrieu, Senator 
Vitter, Senator Lott, Senator Cochran, Senator Shelby, and Senator 
Sessions. Their constituents are suffering. So are they, and 
particularly Senator Landrieu and Senator Lott, who have lost their 
family homes to this vicious storm. All of America is hurting with the 
victims and their families. We are finding ways to help and reach out 
and make a difference in these critical times following the hurricane.
  Americans are donating record amounts of money, time, and supplies to 
help those who are displaced by the hurricane. The most important thing 
right now is to make sure we are saving lives and that we are providing 
food and shelter and medical care for the people affected by this 
tragedy.
  As has happened with many other States, two jetliners arrived in 
Michigan yesterday with the first group of 289 hurricane evacuees. 
Troops and volunteers at our Battle Creek Air National Guard base will 
provide clean shelter and food and clothing to them. They are the first 
of many evacuees we plan to take in Michigan, and I know this is 
happening in the States of my colleagues all over the country as people 
open their hearts, open their homes, and open their pocketbooks to 
share with those who have been affected. Michigan's Department of 
Natural Resources has loaded 25 boats and trailers with supplies and 
sent them to the Gulf Coast. We also have several Michigan State Police 
teams moving south to assist with the emergency response.
  Michigan's Department of Transportation has fuel trucks headed south 
and is making arrangements for alternative flight operators to pick up 
evacuees, if necessary.
  There are so many individual stories of heroism and generosity rising 
from the depths of this catastrophe, both in the States affected by the 
hurricane and in communities all across our country. I have heard 
stories about individuals in New Orleans who stayed after helping their 
families escape to safety. They stayed to help rescue their neighbors. 
Two men from Simmesport took their airboat through New Orleans and 
transported by themselves more than 1,000 people to safety in the first 
day after the hurricane. When a news crew from North Carolina tried to 
interview them about their heroic efforts, they declined, saying they 
had too much work to do and no time to stop and talk.
  We have all heard the heartbreaking stories of sacrifice--of the wife 
who let go of her husband's hand as he clung to the wreckage of their 
home, giving her own life so her husband would be able to be alive to 
raise their children. We salute each and every one of those heroes, 
these people who put others before themselves, who made sacrifices so 
others could be brought to safety.
  There are stories about people all across our great Nation who are 
answering the call to help fellow Americans. In Michigan, families and 
businesses are working together to help victims and families. My alma 
mater, Michigan State University, and the University of Michigan, are 
collecting donations for the Red Cross at their football games. On 
Saturday, the University of Michigan fans put $40,000 into buckets as 
they entered the stadium. One anonymous donor put in a wad of five $100 
bills. Some donations are big, some are small, but they all count and 
the donations are coming in from all kinds of venues. Nine-year-old 
Rochester Hills resident Megan and her five-year-old sister Lauren set 
up a booth to sell lemonade, chocolate chips, and their toys to raise 
money to send to the Red Cross. The girls raised $80, and their parents 
promised to match it.
  These are the stories that matter right now, both in the States 
affected and all across the country: saving lives, finding shelter, 
food, medical care, and raising funds to help the hurricane victims.
  But there is also another story to tell. It is about the Federal 
Government and our responsibility to all Americans to be prepared--to 
be prepared not only for this kind of disaster but for a coordinated 
response to help save lives and prevent chaos. We must find answers to 
basic questions that the American people are asking right now as they 
watch the aftermath on TV, minute by minute, hour by hour, and they say 
over and over again to themselves: How could this have happened in the 
United States of America, the greatest country on Earth? How could our 
country allow people to die

[[Page 19479]]

without getting them water, food, and medical care?
  In this time immediately following the disaster, we have an 
obligation to correct the mistakes in crisis response and we have 
questions to answer to everyone--certainly to those who have been 
affected.
  Are we investing enough in homeland security? I say no, and I have 
said no since 9/11. Why has the Senate basically ignored the Rudman 
report from 3 years ago that showed our Nation's first responders need 
additional funding in the amount of $20 billion a year? Senator Dodd 
and I offered that amendment to fully respond to that report now for 3 
different years. I hope we are going to be able to get that done.
  How much are we to invest to maintain the flood control projects of 
our Corps of Engineers? Clearly, the current level is not enough, and 
people have said that it wasn't enough. In 2002, Mike Parker, former 
Assistant Secretary for the Army for Civil Works, testified before the 
Senate Budget Committee, of which I am a member, that funding cuts to 
the Corps' budget would have a negative impact on the national 
interest.
  Are we stretching our National Guard troops too thin? Thirty-five 
percent of Louisiana's National Guard troops--3,000 soldiers--are in 
Baghdad. Is that too many? Spokesman LT Andy Thaggard of the 
Mississippi National Guard, which has a brigade of more than 4,000 
troops in central Iraq, said this about the hurricane response: ``We 
need our people.''
  Are we heeding the scientific advice that overwhelmingly points to 
global warming as a possible cause for increased hurricanes?
  We have important questions to answer--serious questions for which we 
all need to work together to take responsibility--about how the Federal 
Government could have better handled the events that unfolded as a 
result of this catastrophe called Hurricane Katrina. We need to make 
sure that we are responding quickly, not only to help those in need 
today but, Heaven forbid, that something happens tomorrow. We have to 
be ready. We have to learn from this catastrophe, from the mistakes and 
the lack of adequate response, and quickly fix it. That is our job.
  It is absolutely critical that local communities have the tools they 
need to communicate, to coordinate, and to respond effectively when 
disasters hit. They didn't have that in New Orleans--where the police 
department and three nearby parishes are on different radio systems. 
They didn't have enough satellite phones. They had ground and cell 
phone lines that were taken out with the storm. And the communications 
systems they did have--like most local communities across the Nation--
were not interoperable. They do not work together.
  Police officers called Senator Landrieu's office because they 
couldn't reach commanders on the ground in New Orleans because they 
were sharing satellite phones that were in short supply. The result of 
this lack of interoperability was nothing short of chaos.
  FEMA Director Michael Brown has said that emergency assistance 
delivery problems were caused by ``the total lack of communications--
the inability to hear and have good intelligence on the ground.''
  The distinguished Senator from Louisiana, Mr. Vitter, has said that 
FEMA's efforts to deal with the hurricane have been completely 
ineffective, and he called the Federal Government's response a failure. 
These are his words:

       I think FEMA has been completely dysfunctional and is 
     completely overwhelmed, and I don't know why. This situation 
     was utterly predictable.

  And he is right. We knew before Katrina hit that too many of our 
police, fire, and emergency medical services and transportation 
officials could not communicate and still cannot communicate with each 
other. Our local departments are not able to link their communications 
with State and Federal emergency response agencies.
  A June 2004 U.S. Conference of Mayors survey found that 94 percent of 
cities do not have interoperable capability between police and fire and 
emergency medical services. Sixty percent said they do not have 
interoperable capability with the State emergency operations center. As 
we saw with the hurricane, that puts our communities and every single 
American in danger.
  This lack of communications interoperability is a crisis, and we must 
deal with it. We must deal with it now. It is one of the lessons that 
has been painfully--painfully--learned from this hurricane. We need to 
learn it, and we need to learn it quickly.
  That is why as soon as possible I will offer, again, my amendment 
that provides $5 billion for interoperable communications grants for 
America's first responders to provide a strong commitment to this 
problem. We know what it costs. CBO outlined what it would cost. We 
need to get this done.
  When we debated this amendment in this year's 2006 debate on homeland 
security appropriations, many of my colleagues across the aisle opposed 
it because they felt it was a local responsibility.
  Communications is not a local responsibility when the FEMA Director 
admits that he learned about the 25,000 people trapped at the New 
Orleans Convention Center from news reports. This is not acceptable, 
and the American people expect us to act now. There is no more time to 
waste. I am for fixing the problem.
  I believe our Government failed the people of the gulf coast. Members 
of the administration and the Congress must admit that we need more 
resources to deal with potential disasters, whether they are natural 
disasters or stem from a terror attack.
  The shock and the horror of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will 
live with us forever.
  We salute the heroes in this disaster, and our prayers are with the 
victims. The American people, as they always do, are rising to the 
challenge and helping our communities across the Nation. We thank every 
single person for making that contribution, saying that prayer, 
donating their clothes, donating food, getting in their cars and 
driving down to help, or getting a bus or getting a caravan from their 
church. But I believe from the bottom of my heart that we in 
Government, this Senate and the House and the administration, have got 
to step up and do our part. We have got to step up. We know what needs 
to be done. We know what needs to be done to make sure our communities 
have the communications equipment they need. We know what needs to be 
done to make sure these disasters don't happen again--by providing the 
Army Corps of Engineers with what they need to keep communities safe. 
We know what needs to be done.
  While we are joining on the floor--and we will join together to reach 
out to help the victims and address issues that relate to health care, 
housing, education, and other issues that need to be addressed--I hope 
we are not going to leave this floor after working on those things 
without having said we fixed it for the next hurricane, for the next 
terrorist attack, for the next bioterrorist attack, or for the next 
natural disaster. We have a responsibility to step up and solve the 
problems that added to the chaos and the hurt and the loss of life 
because the right priorities were not put in place by the Congress and 
this administration.
  We can fix it, and it is on our shoulders to make sure that we do.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority whip.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank you.
  A few moments ago, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi spoke on the 
floor of the Senate about the pastor from my State of Illinois who just 
got into her truck and drove to Mississippi to see what she could do to 
help. There are people like her all over my State and all over this 
Nation.
  Illinois so far has received 500 Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Another 
250 will arrive at the Rockford Airport today. The number could rise 
into the thousands.

[[Page 19480]]

  Thirty families so far have asked to enroll their children in 
Illinois schools, and more are on their way.
  America's Second Harvest, based in Chicago, and the American Red 
Cross, filled a United Airlines flight with 25,000 pounds of critically 
needed relief supplies and sent it--in just a few days from Chicago to 
New Orleans.
  I got a call while I was traveling the State last week from a Pepsi 
Cola distributor in Quincy, IL. He said:

       Senator, I want to send 33,000 cases of water to Louisiana. 
     How can I do it?

  We have been working with them ever since.
  Six-hundred Illinois firefighters traveled to Baton Rogue. Personnel 
from the Scott Air Force base near Belleville, IL, have been busy 
flying airlift missions to the disaster area.
  Mr. President, 328 members of the Illinois National Guard are 
providing some of the big trucks they desperately need to transport 
people and material to the areas hard hit by Katrina. Another 500 
members of the Illinois National Guard are expected to ship out to the 
gulf coast by tomorrow. By the end of the week, nearly one-tenth of the 
entire Illinois National Guard could be serving on the gulf coast.
  Mr. President, 400 doctors and nurses from the Rush University 
Medical Center, the University of Illinois, and Cook County Hospital 
are ready to be deployed as soon as they get the call.
  What does this say? It says that when we have pain and distress in 
the American family, we come together. And that is the way it should 
be.
  Twelve years ago, there was a flood on the Mississippi, Illinois and 
Missouri Rivers. As a Congressman from the flood-affected area, I 
really felt the pain of the people living in the small communities. I 
reflected on that for a moment and the heroic efforts made by some to 
respond to their needs. Then I tried to put it into perspective of what 
was happening on the gulf coast in Alabama and Mississippi and 
certainly in the State of Louisiana. What we went through just 
absolutely pales in comparison.
  Thousands of our fellow Americans may have lost their lives in 
Hurricane Katrina. Hundreds of thousands of people in Alabama, 
Mississippi, and Louisiana have been displaced from their homes maybe 
never ever to return.
  Hurricane Katrina may be one of the worst economic disasters in our 
Nation's history.
  Put in perspective, 48 hours after 9/11 we came up with the estimate 
that we would need $250 billion to deal with the devastation of that 
terrible act of terrorism; that is about the high level mark for the 
cost of a disaster. Preliminary estimates now from Hurricane Katrina 
surpass $100 billion, and some say as high as $150 billion, to give you 
some idea of the devastation and the challenge that we face.
  How do we estimate how many jobs have been lost on the gulf coast? 
Some say a half million.
  The economic aftershocks are being felt across the country. Just ask 
anybody who is filling up a gas tank anywhere in America.
  In Illinois, our farmers, who have had a tough year with the drought 
and a short corn crop, now worry about getting their products down the 
Mississippi and down the Illinois to market with the Port of New 
Orleans damaged.
  Let us put it into some perspective for a moment.
  President John Kennedy said:

       To those whom much is given, much is required.

  Sadly, the agenda of the Senate in the past has not reflected what I 
consider to be the core value and truth of President Kennedy's remarks.
  Last week, while the mayor of New Orleans was issuing a desperate SOS 
for help to rescue tens of thousands of people who were trapped in the 
city and in danger of dying without food, water, medical care, or 
shelter, the leader of the Republic National Committee sent out his own 
SOS. It said: Call your Senators and tell them to vote this week to 
give a $1 trillion tax break--to the wealthiest people in America.
  It is hard to understand how that could be happening in the midst of 
this national disaster. At a time when thousands are dispossessed, 
homeless, hungry, and desperate to know what their futures will be, how 
can we focus on tax breaks and tax cuts for the wealthiest people in 
America?
  Majority leader Bill Frist did the right thing. He pulled the estate 
tax issue from the agenda. A trillion-dollar tax break for millionaires 
should be the last thing on our minds. We have Americans in distress. 
Let us not worry about making it more comfortable for those who live in 
the lap of luxury already.
  Never in our history have we cut taxes for the wealthy during a war--
which we are engaged in now in Iraq and Afghanistan--and never should 
we cut taxes on those in America who are well enough during a national 
crisis such as Hurricane Katrina. We need to put first things first.
  At a time when the American family is in pain, when our neighbors are 
homeless in Katrina's wake, when we are losing our children in Iraq, 
when our hard-working friends can't afford health insurance and 
gasoline for their cars and the basics for their kids, when the 
blessings of prosperity reach a few and not the many, Members of 
Congress on both sides of the aisle must feel the hurt and understand 
the heart of America.
  Americans will always rise to a call for shared sacrifice and unity. 
During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt made a speech. This 
is what he said.

       Not all of us can have the privilege of fighting our 
     enemies in distant parts of the world. Not all of us can have 
     the privilege of working in a munitions factory or a 
     shipyard, or on the farms or in oil fields or mines, 
     producing the weapons or the raw materials that are needed by 
     our Armed Forces.
       But there is one front, and one battle, where everyone in 
     the United States--every man, woman, and child--is in action, 
     and will be privileged to remain in action throughout this 
     war. That front is right here at home, in our daily lives, in 
     our daily tasks. . . .

  FDR said:

       Here at home everyone will have the privilege of making 
     whatever self-denial is necessary, not only to supply our 
     fighting men, but to keep the economic structure of our 
     country fortified and secure during the war and after the 
     war. . . . This will require, of course, the abandonment not 
     only of luxuries, but of many other creature comforts.

  Franklin Roosevelt was appealing to the best in America, a sense of 
unity and a sense of sacrifice in a time of great national need. Can 
anyone recall a time recently, other than September 11, when we have 
felt that same sense of need in this country?
  President Roosevelt went on to say:

       Every loyal American is aware of his individual 
     responsibility. Whenever I hear anyone saying, ``The American 
     people are complacent--they need to be aroused,'' I feel like 
     asking them to come to Washington to read the mail that 
     floods into the White House and into all departments of this 
     government. The one question that recurs throughout all these 
     thousands of letters and messages is, ``What more can I do to 
     help my country in winning this war?''

  Those are the words of Franklin Roosevelt, appealing to a core 
American value, appealing to the American family to stand together.
  After September 11, a new generation of Americans asked the same 
question: What can we do to help this country win this war on 
terrorism? Many of them, the best of them, are serving today in Iraq 
and Afghanistan. Nearly 2,000 members of our military, including 77 
from my home State of Illinois, have paid the ultimate price, have 
given up their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Four Illinoisans died in 
Iraq during August. More National Guard and Reserve members died in 
Iraq during the first 10 days in August than in any full month during 
the entire war. Many thousands more have suffered serious injuries. I 
have met some of them at Walter Reed Hospital and other veterans 
facilities. They are making enormous sacrifices.
  After September 11, Americans answered the call for shared sacrifice 
at home, too. What an enormous outpouring of sympathy and generosity, 
including the blood banks with people standing in line, the charities 
with people making their contributions, the outpouring of sentiment and 
hope and prayers for the victims of September

[[Page 19481]]

11. Even people living on small fixed incomes in America asked: How can 
I help? They each gave what they could.
  Some of the same units that served in the Persian Gulf, those who 
served in Iraq and Afghanistan, are now helping others right here at 
home. That is the spirit of America.
  This week, as we prepare to mark the fourth anniversary of the 
September 11 attacks, we see the same spirit on the rise in America. 
The extraordinary way our country reaches out with its wallets, its 
hearts, opening its home to the victims of Hurricane Katrina shows us 
once again that the spirit of shared sacrifice is strong. That spirit 
must not only guide us in our conversation with America, it should 
guide us with our agenda in Congress.
  We are all in this together, in times of war and in times of national 
catastrophe. It is not tax cuts for the wealthy that protect America 
and make us strong. What sees us through hard times has always been our 
belief in America, our shared commitment to one another, and our 
willingness to accept our fair share of sacrifice.
  We have all learned a lot in the last few weeks. Sadly, many believed 
our homeland security was up to the challenge and the task. It did not 
work in many parts of the gulf coast. It certainly did not work in New 
Orleans. This hurricane, leading to a breach of a levee, has resulted 
in the loss of thousands of innocent lives.
  Many felt if we faced that kind of catastrophe, whether from a 
natural disaster or from some terrorist attack involving biological or 
chemical weapons, we were ready to evacuate innocent people, to move 
folks out of hospitals so they could be taken care of in other places. 
But we know now from what happened just a few days ago that we are not 
prepared. We are not ready. We are not as safe and secure as we should 
be in this time of danger in the world, danger from terrorist attack, 
danger from natural disaster.
  We need to do more. We need to focus on making America safe. We need 
to focus on thanking those who are giving so much every minute of every 
day to help those in need. And we need to focus on our prayers and 
thoughts directed to the victims of this terrible tragedy.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Martinez). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise to speak, as my colleagues have 
before me, about the terrible tragedy in the Gulf Coast. As the rescue 
and recovery in the Gulf Coast continues, as we pray for each life, my 
thoughts, for instance, always go back to 9/11, the tragedy that befell 
my city and State.
  It is sort of a horrible thing to say, in a certain sense, about the 
number of people who died, but people thought the number of deaths in 
our State and our city would be much greater than it was. I think about 
a week after the planes hit the Twin Towers, most people were talking 
about over 10,000 people dying. As I said, I feel awkward saying this, 
but it is a true thought we all have, that only 3,000 were found to 
have passed. Still, it is an awful number, and the families miss those 
people every single day. I knew some of them myself. I miss them and 
think of them. But we hope and pray this happens in Louisiana, that the 
horrible numbers we have heard about--the possible number of deaths--
are significantly lower.
  One other thought I want to mention about New York, before getting 
into the substance of my remarks, is that this morning I was privileged 
to attend a groundbreaking for the new New York/New Jersey rail station 
to be built at Ground Zero. It will be a beautiful and sweeping 
station. The architect, the world-famous Mr. Calatrava, got the idea of 
a child releasing a dove at the station. At least by the designs and 
pictures I have seen, it will be a soaring and sweeping station.
  At that memorial I thought about the victims and the people of the 
Gulf. I said to them that a week after the planes hit the Twin Towers, 
we were filled with despair, anguish, anger, and thought there would 
never be any hope after something that horrible happened. But the human 
condition is a remarkable one. And, of course, hope is always with us, 
as the Greek mythological story of Pandora's box shows.
  The groundbreaking that Senators Clinton and Lautenberg and Corzine 
and I attended this morning with the Governors of New York and New 
Jersey shows us there is always hope. This station--a beautiful, 
sweeping, soaring station--will rise like a phoenix out of the ashes of 
9/11.
  I say to my colleagues who represent the Gulf States, as well as to 
all the people in the Gulf States: Hope will return. It is hard to see 
now, with so much devastation and so much anguish and so much sadness, 
but it will return. Just as in New York we are rebuilding ourselves, 
hopefully to be bigger and better and stronger than we were before 9/
11, I know that, too, will happen with the people in the gulf region. 
So my thoughts are with them. All of our thoughts are with them.
  Because of the devastation of Katrina, we confront one of the most 
extraordinary challenges this Nation has ever faced: To feed, to 
clothe, to house, to help an estimated 1 million Americans who were 
displaced and who now have to rebuild their lives.
  The disaster area is some 90,000 square miles. That is almost double 
the entire State of New York. It is an area nearly as large as the 
United Kingdom. The amount of damage to the homes, the businesses, the 
schools, the infrastructure, the roads, the bridges is in the tens of 
billions of dollars, most certainly. It is already estimated, for 
instance, that Louisiana alone has lost at least 110,000 businesses. 
And that number is likely to climb as we calculate the full extent of 
the damage.
  The images on TV are devastating. They are of hungry, weeping 
children, of families returning to the destroyed remains of their 
neighborhoods, discovering they have lost everything they have owned, 
from precious family keepsakes to their houses and cars and 
livelihoods. The pictures of angry, frightened people, with nowhere to 
go, unsure of what will happen to themselves and their loved ones rings 
a deep chord in every one of our hearts. And there are the deaths of so 
many. The psychological toll of this tragedy will be heavy indeed, 
especially, of course, on the children. Another thing we learned after 
9/11 is to pay particular attention to the children. Sometimes it took 
them, in New York, over a year to speak about what they had seen.
  When my city faced a devastating attack, America stood with us in our 
time of need. I want to assure the people of the gulf region that New 
Yorkers--I think I can say probably just about every one of the 19 
million New Yorkers--will stand with you, the people of the gulf 
region, as you stood with us in the dark days immediately following 9/
11.
  The love and support New Yorkers received from the rest of the 
country after 9/11 meant so much in the wake of those attacks and the 
long, difficult road to recovery. I want the people of New Orleans and 
the rest of the Gulf Coast to know we will support them, too, no matter 
how long, no matter how difficult their recovery may be. We will do 
whatever it takes to help now, tomorrow, next week, next month, next 
year, and on into the future.
  We took the first step last week when Congress provided $10.5 billion 
in desperately needed disaster relief funds to the devastated region. 
But as I learned in the aftermath of 9/11, money is only the first 
step. The next step is to ensure that bureaucratic rules and 
regulations do not prevent the money from being spent quickly and where 
it is most needed. We discovered after 9/11 that the rules governing 
how Federal dollars can be spent and benefits accessed--from HUD to the 
Department of Transportation to the IRS--became insurmountable 
obstacles for so many of our citizens in need. And many of the problems 
faced after 9/11

[[Page 19482]]

will be faced a thousandfold for Hurricane Katrina because there are so 
many more people and businesses that were hurt.
  It is essential that Congress take action as quickly as possible on 
as many fronts as possible. Every day makes a difference for those 
seeking a place to live, a way to get their children back to school, to 
get health care, to get a job. So many jobs are gone. Furthermore, 
after 9/11, Congress tackled many of the problems facing Hurricane 
Katrina victims and has a template to work with. And Senator Reid, 
working with our committee leaders, has already compiled a list of 
action items Congress should address this week.
  Before I get into those action items, I want to say one other thing. 
We do need the most competent people running the agencies that are in 
charge of this recovery effort. And I heard, an hour or so ago on the 
floor, our colleague, my friend, Senator Mikulski, speak on that issue. 
We all know Senator Mikulski is somebody who knows FEMA and the 
agencies involved with recovery extremely well because as chairperson 
and as ranking Democrat on the relevant appropriations subcommittee 
with jurisdiction over FEMA, she knows them. We also know she is a 
temperate person in the sense that she does not regularly get up and 
demand that people step down. But when she spoke on the floor an hour 
ago and said that the FEMA head, Brown, should either step down or be 
forced to step down, I think all of us should listen to her. These are 
serious times, and fingers of blame should not be pointed at any one 
place. But to make sure we have the most competent people in charge as 
the rescue effort proceeds is very important. So again I want to urge 
my colleagues to listen to what Senator Mikulski had to say because I 
think it is extremely important to us.
  Now, getting back to the list that Senator Reid, working with some of 
our committee leaders, has compiled, it is a list of action items, and 
I hope Congress will address it this week. The list includes providing 
Medicaid, housing vouchers, and emergency cash for all displaced 
victims, waiving deadlines, and expediting applications where 
necessary, and waiving the requirements to prove residency or asset 
levels or to provide other paperwork which, of course, so many of those 
who have lost everything in their lives no longer have. The Reid 
package also proposes tax incentives for families who take in victims, 
and identifying Federal facilities that can house them.
  The proposal also focuses on helping the tens of thousands of 
children who need to get enrolled quickly into schools around the 
country by providing those schools with financial assistance and 
waiving the usual bureaucratic requirements for enrollment. I believe 
this must be one of our highest priorities. Since the hurricane 
occurred right at the beginning of the school year, there is not a day 
to waste. We cannot let our children simply hang out there without 
providing for their education, which, Katrina or not, means their 
future.
  My heart grieves at the sight of so many of these children sitting 
around the Astrodome and other shelters with no place to go. It is 
September. Let us pledge to get all those children, who have faced so 
much trauma already, into school by the end of the month. We must 
provide the Federal dollars needed to bolster those schools that are 
opening their hearts and doors to these children, from Houston to San 
Francisco to Vermont. We must also provide these children with all they 
will need--food and shelter and school supplies--to keep their 
education on track.
  We must also make sure our brave National Guard personnel, who are on 
the front lines abroad in Iraq and now here at home, receive all the 
assistance they need, from debt and student loan relief to allowing 
them to qualify for Federal health care and retirement benefits. Our 
Nation owes these American heroes nothing less.
  Finally, the Reid proposal addresses what may ultimately be our most 
pressing challenge--finding employment for the victims of Katrina, by 
making employers eligible to claim the Work Opportunity Tax Credit of 
up to $2,400 per worker they hire. We need to do this and much more. 
With so many businesses and so much infrastructure destroyed, we will 
need both the Federal Government and the private sector to step to the 
plate and get people back to work.
  Congress can and should tackle right away in these few weeks the 
problems that have been mentioned above. We should learn lessons from 
what we were able to do after 9/11 for New York. With a million people 
in need of assistance, it is inexcusable that we would delay. Let us 
move this package this week, not next week or the week after.
  With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, my colleagues today have spoken about the 
almost unbelievable disaster that has occurred in the Gulf region. Only 
now are we fully beginning to understand the lives lost and the 
complete devastation of the region. I know there will be a lot of time, 
perhaps, to evaluate what kind of emergency preparedness existed or why 
proper preparedness did not exist. This is the moment and the time for 
all of us to concentrate on finding the survivors.
  There are so many victims. We know that many of those who have died 
in this disaster have not yet been found. We know there are survivors 
who have not yet been found. We are nearly certain of that. This is an 
important time to marshal the resources of this country, to effectively 
organize the resources to search for survivors, and then to help those 
who have been made victims by this devastating hurricane.
  Many of us have suffered disasters. In North Dakota, in 1997, there 
were the Red River Valley floods, when the entire city of Grand Forks 
was evacuated. It was an enormous evacuation of people. Thank God at 
that point we did not lose lives. We lost a great deal of property and 
people suffered and had very tough times, but there was not loss of 
life with respect to those floods. But an entire city of over 50,000 
people was evacuated from those floods. I recall President Clinton 
flying into Grand Forks on Air Force One and meeting with a large 
number of people who had crowded into a hangar at the Air Force base. I 
remember what President Clinton said to them that day. He said very 
simply: You are not alone.
  That is the message that our country must give to all of those who 
are victims of Hurricane Katrina: You are not alone. This country 
doesn't move ahead by leaving some behind. This country knows your 
plight, knows the despair of having lost what you have lost, joins you 
in sympathy for the loss of lives, and extends a hand to say we want to 
help you during these difficult times.
  There are so many needs and so many things that have to be done: 
housing, basic needs such as food and shelter, jobs, education, short-
term spending money to get on your feet if you have lost everything. 
Those are the things that, in a package of assistance by the Congress, 
need to be addressed quickly.
  I know there are some who tend to believe that Government ought not 
exist. They think Government is the problem. But when something like 
this happens, we together, through our Government, work to extend a 
helping hand. This Congress cannot be reticent about arriving at that 
point to extend a helping hand to provide for the needs of people who 
have been displaced, who have suffered and are victims of this 
devastating hurricane.
  My thoughts and prayers are with all of the victims of this 
devastating hurricane that has displaced, some say, 1 million people 
and caused massive loss of life. While there are public policy issues 
that we should discuss and will discuss in the coming days and months, 
all of us, as a country, will pray for those poor people who have 
suffered immensely in recent days. We hope the searches to find 
survivors continue to move forward and that we find additional 
survivors. And we hope in every possible way those who have been the 
victims of this hurricane understand this is a great country and this 
country

[[Page 19483]]

extends its hand to say to them: You are not alone. Actions by this 
Congress will manifest that. We ought to do that quickly and urgently.

                          ____________________