[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19613-19614]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            HURRICANE RELIEF

  Mr. CARPER. I would also like to talk about the good efforts that are 
going on in a number of places around our country to support the relief 
effort to those who have been stricken by Hurricane Katrina. We heard a 
fair amount of questioning about whether the response was adequate, was 
timely, what we could have done better, what we needed to do better, 
and those are all legitimate questions and they need to be answered in 
time--some of them now, some of them in the course of the next couple 
of weeks and months.
  I said to some of my colleagues with whom I was discussing Katrina 
and our response--we were talking about the role of government in a 
situation such as this--Lincoln had it right about 150 years ago when 
he said words to the effect that the role of government is to do for 
people what they cannot do for themselves. That is our role in this 
instance as well.
  Not long ago I was in our church, and the focal point of the sermon 
was the parable from the New Testament about the Good Samaritan and the 
question that is asked at the beginning of the parable of the Good 
Samaritan, Who is my neighbor? We go on to be reminded that our 
neighbor is not just the people who live across the street from us in 
Wilmington, DE, or in South Carolina. Our neighbor could just as well 
be a person who lives in New Orleans, Biloxi, Mobile, or any of the 
other places affected.
  I am inspired by outpouring, not just from government and for us to 
do our jobs--we are paid literally to help people in instances such as 
this, and that is the expectation of us, but for a lot of people this 
is not their expectation. People are literally showing their faith by 
their deeds. In some cases, people are opening up their homes, opening 
up their military installations, opening up all types of facilities to 
receive those who have been dislocated, welcoming youngsters to schools 
far from the schools those kids would normally be attending to make 
sure their education is not disrupted.
  I think of the folks from my own State, the doctors and nurses, folks 
in our medical operation out of our Delaware Air National Guard. They 
were literally on the scene today providing services and assistance to 
those who need it. People are collecting food, people are giving blood, 
people are giving boatloads of money and, frankly, boatloads more are 
needed. But it is an inspiring outpouring after a difficult and 
disappointing beginning.
  Among the questions I hope we will focus on as we try to decide what 
went well and what did not go well, what was right, what went right, 
and what we did poorly, is the issue of the levees that surround the 
city of New Orleans that keep Lake Pontchartrain from pouring into the 
city of New Orleans. If you look in the dictionary for a definition of 
``city at risk'' if there ever was a Category 3, 4, or 5 hurricane, you 
would see New Orleans. That is the poster child for this kind of risk. 
We knew the threat was there. We knew it was a grave threat. We have 
been talking about it for years. The people have talked about it for 
years. The Army Corps of Engineers sought to reinforce the levees.
  We knew this storm was coming. It is not one that popped up at the 
last minute. Yet, in spite of that, the work that should have been done 
on the levees to strengthen them to sustain this kind of onslaught by 
Mother Nature, someone has dropped the ball. I am not interested in 
finger-pointing or witch hunts. We have to find out where we went 
wrong, why we went wrong, and fix that. If New Orleans is ever to rise 
again--not from the ashes but from the waters that engulf it today--
this is an issue that has to be not only resolved, we have to come up 
with a solution to make sure we have learned from this very expensive 
lesson.
  I fear a storm which could have cost tens of billions may cost more 
than $100 billion to repair the damage, a lot of it from New Orleans. A 
storm that could have cost us hundreds of lives will probably cost us 
thousands of lives. It did not have to be.
  The last thing I wish to say is I was encouraged in the presentation 
we had by some of our Cabinet Secretaries who talked about what the 
Department of Health and Human Services is doing, making sure the folks 
who need medical assistance and Medicaid eligibility, identification, 
people who need help getting their food stamp allocations, people need 
to receive their unemployment checks--all kinds of things were 
discussed, what the Federal Government can do to help people. It was 
encouraging.
  One of the presenters was the Secretary of the Department of 
Treasury. He talked, as the Presiding Officer may recall, about the 
work being done to defer the payment of taxes. People who normally 
would have an estimated tax payment--personal business maybe--on 
September 15 will be given until the end of October to make that 
payment. They were looking for ways we, through the Federal Government, 
could exercise some charity, some consideration for those who were in 
harm's way and are now in desperate straits to pull their lives back 
together.
  I come from a State where we have a lot of banks. We probably have 
more credit card banks per capita--probably issue half the credit cards 
issued in America. I am empowered to speak on this point. We have a lot 
of financial services companies around the world. They extend credit. 
Most do a great job of extending credit to people through America, the 
Northeast, Midwest, Southwest, and also the Gulf Coast States. Just as 
the Department of Treasury is trying to find ways to show kindness and 
a little consideration to those who are affected in the disaster areas 
on the tax side, my hope is our financial services companies which are 
going to be benefiting from the implementation of our new bankruptcy 
law

[[Page 19614]]

this fall, this might be a good opportunity for some of them to say--
and some of them already are doing this, I should point that out. Some 
financial services companies are saying: We want to help folks in the 
Southeast United States who have been affected, and here are the 
variety of ways we will do that. Some are not entirely forgiving 
indebtedness but are providing payment holidays, extending the dates on 
which payments are due, and taking away interest and finance charges. 
That is what we ought to applaud and the behavior we ought to encourage 
others to undertake.
  Today, in addition to saying goodbye to our Chief Justice and to 
saying terrific work by folks from all walks of life to help people in 
dire straights, well done, we say to our financial services companies 
around the country that are trying to find their own ways to reach out 
and help people, God bless you. Good for you. Finally, to say to those 
who aren't, maybe you would like to join the parade and lend a helping 
hand as well.
  (The remarks of Mr. Carper pertaining to the introduction of S. 1627 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.''
  Mr. CARPER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. In my capacity as a Senator from the State of 
South Carolina, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________