[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 21]
[House]
[Page 28272]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HURRICANE KATRINA

  (Ms. WATSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, over the last 3\1/2\ months, this Republican 
Congress has failed to act to meet the critical needs of Hurricane 
Katrina survivors. The few proposals the Republican leadership has put 
forward fail to go far enough in meeting the challenges of restoring 
the gulf coast region.
  The Congress has yet to enact a clear housing plan for the survivors 
still living in tents and waiting for promised trailers that have not 
appeared. Many families may lose their rental assistance at the end of 
December. And economic revitalization is moving at a snail's pace, with 
only about 5 percent of small business disaster loan applications 
approved so far.
  Even Republicans have begun to criticize the delay by the 
administration and the Republican Congress in getting assistance to the 
gulf coast region. Last week, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, a 
former Chairman of the Republican National Committee, said his State's 
ability to recover has been severely hampered by Congress's delay in 
approving more money.
  This Congress must not adjourn for the year until we enact measures 
to address this critical need.

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