[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19556-19557]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     AMERICAN CAN-DO SPIRIT WILL WORK FOR HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS

  (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, this Sunday marks the fourth anniversary of 
one of the most tragic days in our Nation's history: September 11th of 
2001. We all know what happened following that tragic day. We came 
together, Democrats and Republicans, focusing on ways in which we could 
deal with the crisis of terrorist attacks on our soil.
  We all know what has happened since that time. We just last week saw 
what our Chaplain very appropriately described as the worst natural 
disaster in our Nation's history, and I believe now it is absolutely 
essential that we do all we can to come together to make sure that we 
face that number-one priority of meeting the human need that is there.
  This Congress is going to do everything we possibly can to ensure 
that our fellow Americans are comforted. Then, we need to focus on 
rebuilding.
  Mr. Speaker, I have to tell my colleagues, in 1994, we had a tragic 
earthquake in Los Angeles, the Northridge earthquake, and we, at that 
time, saw the crumbling of I-10, the same interstate that runs into New 
Orleans. I have a piece of it right here from just over La Cienega 
Boulevard. When it collapsed, the most traversed freeway

[[Page 19557]]

in the country, a quarter of a million cars a day go over it, they said 
it could take up to 2 years to rebuild that freeway. By incentivizing 
the contractor and reducing the regulatory burden, within 66 days, the 
Santa Monica Freeway was moving again.
  We need to use this same can-do spirit to do exactly what Governor 
Haley Barbour said. He said, We will build the Gulf Coast bigger and 
better than it ever has been.

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