[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20050-20051]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 IN THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE KATRINA

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I observe that the President pro tempore of 
the Senate is looking quite spiffy this morning in his bow tie.
  At this point in my life, any ray of light and happiness is welcomed. 
I will take a few minutes to sort of bring up to date my feelings about 
what is happening in the aftermath of Katrina.
  I want my colleagues to know that there are some positive 
developments. It is hard to know that or decipher that if one listens 
to the media and the negative things. I admit it is not a perfect 
situation, but each day a little progress is being made.
  My staff and I are staying in touch with mayors, supervisors, State 
officials, and volunteer organizations, and we do feel we are making 
some headway. I again want to emphasize, though, this is an 
overwhelming disaster that is in many ways too much for human beings to 
comprehend or contend with. It is going to take time, patience, 
diligence, effort, and, yes, money, that we must count on from 
voluntary contributions and the Federal Government.
  I do think we are making some progress. Right now the biggest problem 
is probably temporary housing. After disasters, there are always 
stages. There is the immediate aftermath where people are trying to get 
into the devastated area, trying to save lives, then trying to get 
basics such as water, food, generators, and gasoline. Then there is the 
move into the early cleanup and the need for temporary housing. We are 
kind of in that phase.
  It is very hard to deal with the logistics of moving temporary 
housing, whether it is ships or trailers, into the area to be staged to 
move individuals. That takes time. It is very difficult. It happens 
after every hurricane and probably after every disaster. If we are 
looking for a place where we need to find a way to move fast and do a 
better job, emergency housing is probably one of those we should focus 
on.
  I want to thank my colleagues again on both sides of the aisle for 
their letters, their calls, their expressions of concern and sympathy. 
Beyond that, I want to thank Senators who have taken personal action, 
things one would never have dreamed of, such as the Senator from 
Alaska, who has made a very generous offer. We needed tetanus shots. 
The Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Corzine, helped us get the tetanus 
shots we needed. I could go through the entire Chamber and name 
Republicans and Democrats, people from all over America, who have taken 
helpful actions.
  At least once a week, I want to come to the floor and speak briefly 
about the good things. There will be plenty of time to try to find a 
way to make things better in the future. I do hope the Senate will not 
pass a series of rifleshot pieces of legislation, well intentioned and 
needed quickly--we need that--but I hope we will look at a broader 
recovery effort, something that will make sure the area does not just 
recover and rebuild and get the economy growing but we do it in a way 
that will be magnificent for the people, the area, and the country. We 
can learn from this for other parts of the country when disasters hit.
  We have the immediate problem, we have the short-term needs, and we 
have the long-term needs that we need to think about a little bit. It 
is hard to be patient when you are flat on your back. But I do think, 
before we start setting up commissions to do this, a czar to do that, 
rebuilding authority to supervise something else, let's think those 
through carefully first. I am counting on my colleagues in the Senate, 
the committee chairmen particularly, to think about that. But also we 
have to make sure our leadership pulls us together and we coordinate 
our efforts.
  I want to focus on two areas without which we could not have made it. 
One is the military. We know how valuable our men and women in uniform 
are. But we couldn't have made it without the Coast Guard, without the 
National Guard, without the 82nd Airborne, without General Honore, and 
without Thad Allen, Coast Guard Chief of Staff now in charge of 
recovery in Louisiana and Mississippi, without the thousands of troops 
who came in, restored order, and started cutting through the debris and 
providing help, the Seabees out of Gulfport, MS. By the time we got to 
the end of the first week, we had a battalion in every county in 
Mississippi.
  They were doing their work. Nobody was directing them. They found a 
problem and they got it done. So let's not have any thought by Active-
Duty military personnel, or anybody, that we should not think about our 
National Guard in terms of disaster assistance and to make sure they 
have the equipment to cut through and get through and deliver the 
supplies we need. When I flew over New Orleans 10 days ago, it was like 
a war zone. We had helicopters coming through with triaged patients. We 
had helicopters with water buckets. We had helicopters dropping food. 
We had helicopters picking up people. It was magnificent and marvelous.
  Before this is over, I will have a long list of individual stories 
about the military and particular units that went beyond the call of 
duty.
  Some people are saying the Federal Government has not done this or 
the Federal Government has not done that. Let me say when the National 
Guard and our military arrive on the scene, things change. We could not 
have made it without them, period. People would have died, many people 
would have died were it not for the Coast Guard and National Guard and 
our regular military. We have turned to our Navy, every one of our 
branches. Keesler Air Force Base has been a major staging center and 
helped thousands of people.
  The other area I want to acknowledge, once again, is the incredible 
human kindness and initiative of individuals, volunteers, faith-based 
groups of all kinds, and charitable groups. I told the story last week 
about a group of men who came from Burke, FL, with a Bobcat and a 
front-end loader. They showed up at my yard and said: Can we help? I 
asked them where they were from. I think they were from a church in 
Burke, FL. I didn't get their names. There was too much going on. I 
said: Could you please clear the road in that area so we can get trucks 
and equipment in there? Can you help that lady get into her house 
because you couldn't even get in to see what was left.
  They went to work. I saw them off and on all day. I never talked with 
them again. They just went to work. Through voluntarism, people have 
shown up with generators and chain saws and said: Where can I help? 
From all over the region--from all over America. I know personally of 
several churches. I will not start by denomination, but let me say 
groups of all faiths and denominations, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, 
and probably Muslim, too. They all went to work.
  One I am particularly aware of was Christ United Methodist in 
Jackson, MS. They formed an organization, inspired, I think, by the 
wife of Congressman Chip Pickering. They started bringing in supplies. 
They got people organized from all different denominations. They sorted 
the gifts, they boxed them, they labeled them, and they sent out two 
18-wheelers a day. Nobody told them where to go. They said: What do you 
need? And they sent it.
  That story has been replicated over and over again. So there are 
heroes--individuals, first responders, military, people who just showed 
up and went to work, church-related groups. If it were not for the 
volunteers, the church-related groups, Red Cross and Salvation Army, I 
don't know where we would be.
  Maybe that is the way it should be. This is still America. It is 
individual Americans who respond to every crisis and will do whatever 
needs to be done, will pay any price. I want the record to show there 
are a lot of people who have contributed so much personally. They have 
cried with us, they sweated with us, they bled with us, and they are 
doing it now on the ground in Pascagoula, MS, Biloxi, Gulfport, Pass 
Christian, Long Beach, Bay St. Louis and Waveland and towns in the 
hinterland throughout Louisiana.
  I thank all those who have come to our aid. It is not over yet. Keep 
it coming.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question?

[[Page 20051]]


  Mr. LOTT. I am happy to yield.
  Mr. WARNER. I am going to follow on with some greater detail about, 
as you say, the extraordinary participation of the men and women of the 
Armed Forces and, indeed, the Coast Guard, which is separate from my 
report that will be included with others today.
  It is very important that you addressed the Senate this morning. If I 
may say, I have been privileged to serve with you nearly a quarter of a 
century in this institution. I commend you for your personal courage. 
You have faced adversity such as few of us have ever experienced. 
Throughout this year, there has been personal tragedy--loss of your 
mother, loss of your house--yet we see the leadership you have 
provided, indeed, as has our President and this institution and others 
in the face of this hurricane.
  The Armed Services Committee is starting its briefing this morning. 
Two reports come from the Department of Defense to the Congress 
everyday, giving a detailed analysis with regard to the deployment of 
our troops. I left the briefing to come speak to the Senate this 
morning. We will be changing the force structure to meet the needs. For 
example, in all probability, the carrier can now move out, if it has 
fulfilled its mission. Frankly, as distressing as it is, there are 
tremendous assets connected with mortuary responsibilities which are 
now being moved in by the Department.
  I want to thank our colleague. I know the Presiding Officer, the 
President pro tempore of the Senate, shares these feelings with every 
Member of this body. We salute you and your family.
  Mr. LOTT. If the Senator will yield, I do appreciate his very kind 
remarks. I hope he will convey for me and the people of my State, and I 
am sure Louisiana and Alabama, too, to the military officers with whom 
you will be speaking, how much we appreciate what they have done. I 
don't know the numbers but it is thousands, maybe as many as 40,000 
National Guardsmen. I flew in a Blackhawk helicopter a week or so ago--
they were from New York; and I know they are there from Nebraska and 
Arkansas and all over America, literally. And of course the Active-Duty 
personnel. But the Coast Guard is a separate story. The Coast Guard, 
before, during, and after the hurricane, saved thousands of lives. When 
it was over, they didn't quit. But there are so many other things they 
have done. Channels have been cleared so we can get ships in. My 
hometown, it is navigable into our industrial site where we have a 
water refinery.
  The USS Comfort is providing now for our medical needs and providing 
a bed to sleep in for first responders and food for people who haven't 
had a good meal in quite some time. They came in early. I could go down 
the list.
  Once again, we have learned that our military is not just about 
fighting, preserving peace, and our interests around the world. They 
are there in disasters, man made and natural, in a way that nobody else 
could be.
  The attitude of our men and women and the professionalism of the 
officers I met with was so impressive. I flew into the command center 
at Gulfport, MS. The National Guard was in command there. A three-star 
General from Alabama was there. The Alabamians were there right after 
the Mississippians got there because it took 7 hours to get to the 
scene because you had to cut through the pine trees on Highway 49 to 
get there. It took them 7 hours to get less than 90 miles.
  I could go on and on, but the record needs to reveal the tremendous 
job that has been done, how important they are, as they work with us as 
we transition into different needs.
  I thank the Senator for his comments about my own personal situation. 
In life you get a lot of trials. It is very hard. But what is the 
hardest is to see how these people now are still suffering in heat and 
debris. There are so many needs, and we can't get the help there fast 
enough. This is the time to try men's souls, but will make you stronger 
and better in the end.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, our distinguished colleague has stood the 
test----
  Mr. LOTT. Thank you.
  Mr. WARNER.--you and your fellow Senators from the three States most 
grievously affected. If you wait a minute, I will give you the 
following figures. Today, more than 72,000 members of the Armed Forces 
have been deployed to the Gulf Coast, including 22,439 Active-Duty and 
more than 45,871 members of the National Guard--of which over 400 come 
from my State, I say to the Senator. I went down Friday in my State to 
prepare one of the bases to receive the evacuees. But every single 
State in our Union, including the territories, has contributed their 
Guard in response to the needs of your community.

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