[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 20669]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

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                  MEASURE READ THE FIRST TIME--S. 1718

  Mr. FRIST. I understand there is a bill at the desk. I ask for its 
first reading.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1718) to provide special rules for disaster 
     employment under the Workforce Investment Act of 1988 for 
     individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

  Mr. FRIST. Now I ask for its second reading and in order to place the 
bill on the calendar under rule XIV, I object to my own request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. FRIST. This was the Enzi Workforce Investment Act for victims of 
Katrina, S. 1718. I mention that only because there were a couple of 
bills this morning, and then this bill, all of which reflect a lot of 
activity that is going on behind the scenes. By ``behind the scenes,'' 
I mean off the floor, in committees with members and chairmen working 
with their ranking members. There is a lot of work focused on the 
response and the appropriate support for recovery after Katrina.
  As several people have mentioned on the floor over the course of 
today, there were seven Republicans and seven Democrats who represented 
this body last Friday in New Orleans and along the gulf coast, 
Mississippi, and on to Mobile, AL. We all learned a lot. We saw a lot. 
It contributed to our own education.
  Then, later tonight, a number of us will continue that work as we 
figure out how best to respond to this catastrophe, this disaster which 
is ongoing, to respond in a way that will rebuild and reconstruct in 
very positive ways to help those affected. Our hearts and our prayers 
and our thoughts and our efforts on the floor all go out to the 
victims, both those in Mississippi and Alabama and Louisiana and the 
half-a-million people, predominantly people from New Orleans but also 
from the gulf coast, Mississippi and Alabama, who are in other States 
beyond those three.

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