[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20997-20999]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                AMERICAN RED CROSS AND HURRICANE RELIEF

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, yesterday morning I made a trip to meet 
with the head of the American Red Cross. ADM Marty Evans is an 
extraordinary person. She was born in Springfield, IL, and served in 
the U.S. Navy for 29 years. She rose to the rank of rear admiral and, 
after her retirement from the Navy, spent several years as head of the 
Girl Scouts of America. Then a few years ago, she was chosen to be CEO 
of the American Red Cross.
  The American Red Cross is an extraordinary agency. There are some 
4,500 employees in Washington, 30,000 nationwide, millions of 
volunteers. Those of us who have had the good fortune of working with 
the Red Cross know that the people working in Washington are important, 
but the volunteers in the field are absolutely essential--men and women 
from communities across America who, at the first warning signal, are 
prepared to give up their personal lives and move to where they are 
needed. The help they bring and have brought has made a difference so 
many times in the lives of victims.
  As Ms. Evans told me yesterday, this is not just a matter of 
hurricanes and floods. They respond to house fires to try to make 
certain that families and individual communities have a helping hand. I 
asked her what she did in preparation for Hurricane Katrina, how the 
American Red Cross positioned itself. I asked what they were doing in 
anticipation of Hurricane Rita, which we are all watching so closely. 
She said they didn't wait for a Government signal. They knew what they 
had to do. They positioned their people, their resources in safe 
locations where they could move in as quickly as possible after the 
disaster. They gave a helping hand in the evacuation. But they were 
ready and prepared, if something terrible occurred. It was heart 
warming and reassuring to know that the American Red Cross and other 
extremely important charitable organizations such as America's Second 
Harvest based in Chicago, the Salvation Army, and so many faith-based 
groups are prepared and ready to move.
  We are now watching, because of satellite imagery, the course of 
Hurricane Rita, praying that it will not strike with the force of a 
category 5 hurricane on the coast of Texas and Louisiana,

[[Page 20998]]

and that somehow, some way, at the last moment we will be spared. But 
whether we are spared or not, we must be prepared.
  This administration has been haunted by Hurricane Katrina for the 
last 3 weeks. President Bush has made at least five different visits to 
New Orleans to be visibly present during the rescue and recovery. He 
made a historic speech from Jackson Square about the challenge which 
Hurricane Katrina places on Americans. I thought what the President 
said was the right thing. I am a loyal Democrat, but I listened 
carefully to what the President said, and I thought the President 
showed the kind of leadership America needs at this moment.
  I will refer later in my remarks to the question of what went wrong 
with Hurricane Katrina. But looking forward, as we must as a nation, we 
need to stand behind those victims, their families, the communities, 
and the States that were hit by Hurricane Katrina. It was a call to 
arms by the President for this Congress to join with him and the 
American people in standing up for the most vulnerable people in our 
country. That is as truly American as it gets.
  Listen to the debate that has followed President Bush's announcement 
in New Orleans. We have had Members of Congress saying we can't afford 
to do it. We can't afford to provide the disaster assistance for these 
people to rebuild their lives and for these communities to rebuild 
their infrastructure and their homes. There have even been arguments 
from some that we can't consider spending this money because we have to 
keep our word to the wealthiest people in America that we promised we 
would cut their taxes.
  The budget resolution we passed in the Senate and in the House this 
year promised that before we went home at the end of the year, we would 
give $70 billion more in tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America. 
We also promised in the budget resolution, which I opposed, that we 
would cut Medicaid, which is health insurance for poor and elderly 
people, and that we would cut student loan assistance. That was part of 
what I considered a poorly thought out budget resolution which passed 
with Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
  Now with the intervention of Hurricanes Katrina and Ophelia, and the 
possibility of Hurricane Rita and damage, many Republicans are arguing: 
We have a solemn responsibility to cut the taxes for the wealthy first, 
to cut Medicaid expenditures for the poor and elderly, and to cut 
student loans, and we don't have the resources to help the victims.
  That is unfortunate. It reflects a difference in values. It reflects 
a difference in priorities. This Senator from Illinois believes that 
our first obligation is to the most vulnerable in America. Our first 
obligation is to those helpless victims and those communities who, 
through no fault of their own, are suffering today. It is time for us 
to be straightforward. It is time for the President to be 
straightforward to Republican leaders in the House and Senate, to say 
clear and unequivocally: We cannot afford to go forward with more tax 
cuts for wealthy people as we fight a war in Iraq and Afghanistan and 
as we come to the assistance of our neighbors who suffered because of 
these terrible natural disasters.
  If the President will do that, I can guarantee him this: There is 
plenty of room on this side of the aisle for Democrats to join him in a 
bipartisan response to a national disaster which paid no attention to 
party affiliation.
  I can say that with confidence because after 9/11/2001, that is 
exactly what happened. Democrats and Republicans alike joined hands in 
the face of that terrorist disaster and said we will stand behind the 
victims and their families and the State of New York and that city that 
endured that great loss, as well as, of course, our friends in the 
Pentagon who were victims as well of 9/11.
  We stood together on a bipartisan basis. We did some exceptional 
things, things to make our country stronger, things to respond to the 
attack that had taken place. The list is long, starting with 
resolutions condemning terrorism, appropriations bills, and special 
bills to put money after 9/11 where it was needed the most, the Airline 
Stabilization Act, Uniting and Strengthening America Act, the USA 
PATRIOT Act, the intelligence bills, the defense bills--the list goes 
on and on.
  These were strong bipartisan measures taken in the wake of 9/11 by 
Democrats and Republicans. We need that same spirit today. We need that 
spirit to stand behind the victims of Hurricane Katrina and their 
families and, God forbid, if Hurricane Rita will wreak the same type of 
havoc, we need to stand behind those victims as well, making certain 
first we have the resources in FEMA to respond to national emergencies.
  There was a feeling 4 years ago that America had received a wakeup 
call after 9/11, that we had to be ready and prepared as a nation to 
respond to whatever was thrown at us. Extraordinary measures were 
taken, extraordinary speeches were made, but when Hurricane Katrina 
struck, we were not ready.
  There has been a lot of question about how to answer the question, 
What did we do wrong, what did we fail to do with Hurricane Katrina? We 
better get those answers and get them quickly, not just to point blame, 
which some say is what it is all about, but for accountability, to 
figure out what went wrong so it does not happen again. That is basic. 
It is not a blame game. There is no game involved. It is a matter of 
accountability.
  Sadly, our friends on the other side of the aisle believe the only 
accountability can come about if a majority of those who are asking the 
questions are members of the President's party. We learned after 9/11 
that it was much better to bring in an independent, nonpartisan 
commission to ask those hard questions.
  The 9/11 Commission, cochaired by Gov. Thomas Kean, a former 
Republican Governor of New Jersey, and Congressman Lee Hamilton, a 
former Democratic Congressman from Indiana, did an exceptional job. The 
strong bipartisan commission came up with measures and recommendations 
which truly changed the way we govern America and changed the way we 
think about our responsibility in Congress, as well as in the executive 
branch.
  We need exactly the same type of commission when it comes to 
Hurricane Katrina. But for reasons I cannot explain, the Republicans 
have steadfastly refused to appoint an independent, nonpartisan 
commission to find out what went wrong several weeks ago with Hurricane 
Katrina. That is the only way to come up with a credible analysis of 
that failing, whether it occurred at the Federal level, the State 
level, the local level, or right here in Congress. Let's have an 
honest, independent, nonpartisan commission, as we did after 9/11.
  Instead, the Republican leadership says let's press forward with our 
own internal investigation. That has no credibility--or very little, I 
might say. I have been a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee 
where Senator Roberts, as the chairman, has promised he would 
investigate the misuse of intelligence information before the invasion 
of Iraq. That promise has been made for over a year. Nothing has 
happened.
  We have called time and time again for a congressional investigation 
of the contracts in Iraq, the no-bid contracts in Iraq to companies 
such as Halliburton. We know there is evidence of abuse, misuse of 
taxpayers' funds, and yet this Republican Congress refuses to have a 
full-scale, honest investigation of Halliburton and the other 
contractors who are profiteering at the expense of our troops and at 
the expense of our taxpayers.
  So it is time to concede the obvious. We cannot have a thorough, 
meaningful investigation of Hurricane Katrina without an independent 
commission. And we cannot come up with the resources to address Katrina 
and the other natural disasters until the President makes it clear to 
the Republican leadership in Congress that we can no longer afford the 
promised tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America.

[[Page 20999]]

  It is time for us to assess the reality of the challenges we face in 
Iraq, in Afghanistan, and right here at home. It is time for us to 
dedicate the resources to rebuilding and strengthening America, rather 
than strengthening the coffers of a few corporations that happen to 
have political connections. That is our responsibility.
  I hope my colleagues in the Senate and the House will gather together 
and understand that rebuilding our Nation is our first responsibility. 
We must understand that the least fortunate among us need our help 
today. They are more vulnerable than they have ever been.
  We cannot change the past, but now with another hurricane moving 
across the Gulf of Mexico, we can work together in a bipartisan way to 
change the future. America can certainly do better.
  Madam President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Alexander). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to 
address the Senate as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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