[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20857]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           PRESIDENT BUSH'S PREPARATION FOR HURRICANE KATRINA

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend the President for his 
quick and compassionate helping hand that he has extended to the people 
of New Orleans. Now, some people might carp about the poor planning by 
the horse-show man that turned into a 5-level hurricane.
  But the President was right on the job. He immediately noticed that 
there were going to be some reconstruction jobs. So he immediately 
signed an order to cut their wages. He said, we do not want truck 
drivers making $9 an hour. Why, we can get them for minimum wage.
  We do not want these people who have had their houses lost and lost 
everything getting a decent wage when they are doing reconstruction. We 
want as the public policy of the United States that no one gets 
anything but the minimum wage.
  I tell you, this President has more heart than I can believe. How he 
could stand up and say that, and do that, given the failure of his 
administration, shows that he has a big heart.

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