[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3528-3534]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  GULF COAST DISASTER RECOVERY CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Drake). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Melancon) 
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. MELANCON. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be here 
tonight. With the recent events that have occurred over the past seven, 
eight months, since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma have hit the 
gulf coast of the United States, in the recent week, a group of us got 
together, and we have set up the Gulf Coast Disaster Recovery Caucus to 
basically try to make sure that this Congress and America and this 
administration do not forget the disaster and the catastrophe that has 
occurred and inundated people all along the gulf coast.
  It is not just a New Orleans thing. It is Louisiana, across the 
entire breadth of the State. It is Mississippi, across the entire 
coastal area. It is Alabama, it is Texas and it is Florida, on the west 
coast this time.
  I look at the news articles and such. I have had some concerns with 
some of the statements that have been made in the past about being 
below sea level, the honesty and the integrity of elected officials in 
Louisiana. It really bothers me because I do not see the moneys, the 
$85 or $87 billion that have been attested to be sent to the gulf coast 
in the hands of the people that need it, in the hands of the victims. 
There has been billions of dollars that have gone around that are 
somewhere between Washington, D.C., and the gulf coast of the United 
States, and I can tell you, it has not gotten to the people that are in 
need.
  If you look at some of the instances of what is going on, parish 
governments that want to retain their own contractors cannot get what 
the cost of the Corps of Engineers and FEMA are paying to their 
contractors, and it is believed on best information that that price may 
be double to triple what is being paid by the local contractor, by the 
local government who is doing the job faster, better, and apparently, 
we believe, if we can ever get the numbers, more efficiently.
  $4.2 billion has just been approved to gravel a 172-acre parking lot 
for mobile homes in Hope, Arkansas. Now, that goes on top of the 
$25,000 a month paid to the city of Hope, Arkansas, and I am glad for 
the city of Hope, Arkansas, because if it is like rural American towns, 
it needs every dime of income it can use to sustain itself. But we have 
got over 11,000 trailers that are stationed there, 450 miles to the 
closest disaster parish or county, and there is 11,000 trailers up 
there that FEMA tells us they cannot put in a flood zone.
  Well, the hurricane does not hit in the mountains. The hurricane does 
not hit in the desert. The hurricane hits along the coastal areas of 
this United States, and that is what these hurricanes have done.
  They put up this morgue, a temporary morgue, FEMA did, in Coralville, 
Louisiana, $17 million, and now it is abandoned. $5.2 million, this was 
really nice, was spent getting a contract to a contractor that did not 
exist, and if it would not have been for the Justice Department seeing 
that these folks were cashing checks for $10,000 at a time, that they 
bought a brand new mobile home and three brand new automobiles, then we 
would still probably be out about $5.2 million. Then when they started 
to doing the work, it had to be turned over to the fire department and 
another contractor to get the job done.
  Congressman Pickering told me today, and I think I recall it is 
either 90 or 95 percent of all the moneys are being contracted for 
debris removal and cleanup in Mississippi is going to contractors from 
outside the State. I can tell you, I get calls daily in my offices from 
people that are local that have been trying to get jobs, and then those 
that seem to be able to get some work, which is the bottom tier, are 
waiting months for their money.
  I have one contractor that has been waiting for $50 million because 
the FEMA people or the State advanced the parish in which they are 
working some moneys right after the storm, about $30 million. This 
contractor is not getting his money, and in good faith, he has been 
working since day one, and has not gotten his money to pay his people 
and to run his company because the State and FEMA say that the parish 
that he is working in has not accounted for every dime.

                              {time}  2100

  And yet they have assured, the State and the contractor can document 
that he has not received a nickel from the parish, yet he is held up. 
There is another contractor across the river in Plaquemines Parish; 
they are to the tune of $6 million waiting. I have a guy in my hometown 
that is a very small company, he is waiting on about $150,000. And let 
me tell you, for a little, small independent guy like that, that is 
crushing him. That is killing him.
  After the Florida hurricanes, three of them a year and a half ago, 
under section 32, the Department of Agriculture invoked section 32 of 
Ag Stabilization Act of 1935 and allowed the Secretary at his 
discretion to start reimbursing and helping those farmers that were in 
the category covered by section 32 to give them disaster assistance and 
get them back working.
  On October 28, the Department of Agriculture finally invoked section 
32. That is 2 months afterward. And to this day, the $250 million that 
they allowed, out of 780 in the account that has been appropriated for 
this year, zero has hit the ground in any one of the States that was 
impacted by any of these hurricanes. No disbursement whatsoever.
  The caucus was set up in hopes of doing several things. One is making 
sure that the people that lived and worked and want to return to their 
homes will have that opportunity; to make sure that we provide and that 
this government provides for the safety of these people, protecting 
their communities, so they can rebuild their families, their homes and 
their businesses and trying to provide housing and rebuilding and 
repairing those houses so people can return home.
  We need to get the economy back up. We need to create jobs and 
rejuvenate

[[Page 3529]]

the entire coastal region, from Galveston Bay to Mobile Bay and all 
around down in the Tampa area where Wilma hit.
  Health care is nonexistent for those that need it in the Orleans 
area. If you have a broken arm and you need surgery, you better get to 
another city. If you have cancer, you better get to another city. If 
you have anything that requires long-term health care, you better get 
to another city, because health care is in jeopardy in south Louisiana.
  The doctors are like any other businessmen, they have to make a 
living. They cannot make a living if the customers or the clients or 
the patients, however you want to refer to them, are not back. And the 
hospitals can't keep themselves running when people are coming to them 
with injuries with no hospitalization coverage and they are required to 
take these people into the hospital to take care of them. And then, of 
course, when they are hurt, to give them a bed, which becomes a free 
bed. And you have hospitals that have used every dollar of their 
reserves and are getting ready to fold up and go under.
  Education: families won't bring their kids back unless there are 
schools to attend. We have tried and we are trying. In Chalmette, they 
have the school system back up very quickly. Of an 8,000 student 
population, there was 800 the first day. They are hopeful the folks 
will come back. But one school has pre-K through high school, and they 
are working with what little they have.
  We need to make sure that we respond to the Americans that have been 
injured, that we do everything in our power. If we can rebuild 
infrastructure in Iraq, schools, mosques, public buildings, private 
facilities, spend $100 million on a marsh area to bring it back to 
life, then surely we can spend some of our money and these taxpayers' 
money to help them get back on their feet.
  The people in my district, the people of the gulf coast are not 
looking for a handout. They are just looking for a helping hand, and 
this government owes those folks that.
  Madam Speaker, I yield time to Mr. Jefferson first.
  Mr. JEFFERSON. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, we, 
as we talk about conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi tonight, we 
don't want this Congress or the people of America to believe that we 
are ungrateful for the help that we have already received. We are 
deeply grateful for it. We appreciate it immensely, and it has been a 
huge help to our people.
  But I think what is important to note is that the disaster that we 
were stricken with is so immense, so pervasive, so once-in-a-lifetime 
historic, that there is just so much to be done over such a long time 
to restore opportunity for people to have a chance to reclaim their 
lives.
  So I want to start out by just talking a little bit so people can 
better understand the dimensions of our problem. If you can imagine 
that in your city, if your city were ours, and just to talk about New 
Orleans a minute, a city of 480,000-or-so people, and you woke up one 
morning and 80 percent of your city was underwater. Eighty percent of 
your schools, of your hospitals, of your playgrounds, of your homes, of 
your businesses were all underwater, and that the water didn't recede 
in a few hours or a few days or even a few weeks. It stayed there for 
several weeks. And it wasn't just a little water in your house, 
ordinarily it was 4 feet, 5 feet, 6 feet, and sometimes more than that, 
over the roof.
  This happened in Orleans Parish, and it happened in St. Bernard 
Parish, where the whole place was obliterated. And it happened in 
Plaquemines Parish as well. And imagine that 1,000 or 2,600 of your 
people died from this storm and that another thousand are still missing 
and no one knows where they are, and families are still searching for 
them. Imagine that if you were in Mississippi that 200-or-so people 
lost their lives.
  Imagine that if you counted up all the houses that were destroyed in 
Louisiana and this happened to you, there would be 220,000 houses 
destroyed, and about 61,000 in Mississippi, and that your people were 
trying desperately to get back home. They were looking for temporary 
quarters, and they were willing to live in FEMA trailers or wherever 
they could find a temporary abode, and there were 98,000. That is how 
many there are in Louisiana looking for a trailer now, and fewer than 
half of those requests have been filled. In Mississippi, some number in 
the 30,000 range were involved, and most of those have been filled.
  Imagine if you had been waiting for electricity for your neighborhood 
for now 6 months and you didn't have it, for the most part. In Orleans 
Parish, a little better than half of our folks have their places 
connected for electricity. A little better than that in Mississippi, 
but in our place it isn't true. Imagine if you were trying to figure 
how could you get your hands around your problem, build back your 
house, get yourself back together and your insurance company wasn't 
cooperating and they were denying claims left and right, and saying 
that your homeowner's policy didn't apply. If you didn't have flood 
insurance, then you had nothing. If you had flood insurance, then you 
had limits that would be much lower than would ordinarily be expected 
to be useful to help you build back.
  Imagine you were counting on your government, FEMA, to come forth and 
give you some direction as to how you could build back your place, to 
what level you had to build back safely, and FEMA had not even given 
you preliminary elevations that you could use. Imagine if you now were 
paying rent in one place or a house note somewhere and had a house note 
to pay in Orleans Parish and you could not get back in your place to 
live and your bank was calling you at your homestead, your mortgage 
company saying we cannot carry this anymore; you have to figure out 
some way to pay it.
  Imagine you wanted to get back home, and you had 5,000 hospital beds 
when you left, a hospital bed count, and now you only had a few hundred 
and you were worried about your family and your children getting back 
and having a place to go if they got sick or hurt or needed to see a 
physician. And all the physicians, a great number of them, are out of 
town, somewhere else themselves, victims of trying to make the place 
work.
  Imagine if your city had, at the end of the storm, no tax base and 
your school board had no tax base, and your schools weren't open. That 
is the situation that you find yourself in not only the day after the 
storm or the week after the storm or a few months after, but now 6 
months after. And not a whole lot has changed because the problems are 
just so complex and so large and so enduring.
  Now, these are not problems that are going to go away overnight. Our 
country needs to know this. Our friends need to know that all that we 
have done so far is to start to address these issues, to make down 
payments on certain aspects of it, but it will be years and years and 
years before we actually get this done.
  Now, imagine also that you were trying to figure how you could avoid 
having this ever happen to you again and you were looking for a way to 
secure yourself, and you knew that it would take a real commitment for 
hurricane protection measures to be taken. And you had taken a trip, as 
I have, to the Netherlands, other parts of the world, and you had 
looked around to see what people had done to secure themselves against 
hurricanes and storms. And you found out that this was technically 
possible; that in the Netherlands people are living and have lived for 
53 years, since their last calamity with a storm there that drowned 
their people.
  For 53 years they have lived with a system of barriers and canals and 
pumping stations and dikes, as they call them, we call them levees, and 
dunes and all the rest; an integrated system of water management for 
flood protection. And they have done this for 53 years now without an 
incident that has required them to have any loss of life or property. 
They have spent $18 billion over a long period of time to provide this 
security, and they were an economy of $485 billion.
  In our country, we haven't yet made a decision to support a system in 
our

[[Page 3530]]

part of the world that might cost $30 billion, $40 billion, in an 
economy that is not $485 billion, like theirs was, but is $12.2 
trillion, the largest economy in the whole world. Twenty percent of the 
world's wealth in our country and we haven't been able to make a 
decision to step up and find a way to use the technology that already 
exists to support our people and to make them safe over time and to 
avoid large expenditures in the future.
  Because we all know one thing for sure: that while there may not be 
another terrorist attack on our shores, we may find a way to prevent 
that, there is no way to prevent these storms that are brewing in the 
Gulf of Mexico and that are coming more frequently, more ferocious than 
ever before, and that will be with us for years to come. We can secure 
ourselves against these storms if we build the coastal barrier 
protections that we need and if we build our wetlands back and our 
coastlines back, so that when these storms come, as ferocious as they 
may be, by the time they reach our population centers, they will be 
tamped down enough such that they can be handled by a levee system and 
other flood protection systems that are in place.
  So we have made a lot of progress, but there is a great deal for us 
to do. And we are here tonight to highlight for the people of our 
country how much there is to be done and to ask them to stand with us 
and stay with us over this long period of time because it is going to 
take years and years to bring our people back.
  And, look, folks aren't asking for our government to take care of 
them forever. They know, though, that they can't do this by themselves. 
Because no one has seen this kind of damage before in this country. It 
is a catastrophe beyond imagination. It has never happened anywhere on 
the face of America ever before to this extent, to this dimension.
  So we are saying, give us a chance to help ourselves. Let us get back 
into our home places. Let us get back to the places we live and to the 
places that we want to live. Recognize the right that our people have 
to return, to restore their lives, the right to rebuild in their 
places, the right to reclaim their experiences back home. We want our 
people back home. We need your help to get them back home, and they can 
live in New Orleans safely. They can live in our environment safely.
  So when people ask this question of what should the footprint of New 
Orleans be, it is a misplaced question. The issue isn't where can we 
rebuild. Because we know from the experience of the Netherlands we can 
build anywhere. If they can live 15 feet below sea level, and in New 
Orleans we talk about 4\1/2\ feet at the lowest point, if they can 
secure themselves 15 to 20 feet below sea level, we can secure 
ourselves 4 and 5 feet below sea level in the lowest points.
  We can have this vibrant city restored and have our people in a place 
to reclaim their lives, and for our city and our region to continue to 
be the force that it has been for our country in natural resource 
development and distribution throughout the country; our pipeline 
system, our oil and gas system that we have invested in across the 
gulf.

                              {time}  2115

  And for our fisheries, the provisions we make for our country and the 
work that we do with our port system that moves the goods from mid-
America to the rest of the world, these are very important assets that 
New Orleans provides and our country cannot do without. We are 
extraordinarily valuable, not to mention our cultural contributions to 
this country.
  We want to see the people of America understand how deep our problems 
are. That is why we have come to the floor tonight, to make that point 
to the people of this country and to our colleagues in Congress, many 
of whom we have had a chance to bring down our way, and many others we 
want to invite down so they can see for themselves what they need to do 
to help us.
  I thank my colleague, Mr. Melancon, for helping to bring this matter 
to the attention of the American people and giving us a chance to talk 
about it tonight. I am pleased to join with him and soon with Mr. Gene 
Taylor of Mississippi and our other colleagues.
  Mr. MELANCON. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas 
(Ms. Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
this hour, along with Mr. Gene Taylor and Mr. Bill Jefferson.
  Sitting and listening to Mr. Melancon and Mr. Bill Jefferson, I 
believe they have appropriately set the tone for why we are here 
tonight. I beg the indulgence of my colleagues, because we are 
obviously concerned about both what we have seen, who has been 
impacted, and what we can do better. For many of us who are members of 
the Gulf Coast Disaster Recovery Caucus, this has become a cause, a 
passion, and a desire to ensure that there is a final resolution for 
the people who are in need.
  Let me just take a moment to acknowledge that this is Congressman 
Bill Jefferson's birthday. And of course we all know that the good news 
about birthdays is we have an opportunity to give back, and you have 
just seen Congressman Jefferson on the floor talking about the needs of 
his community.
  I want to spend just a moment to thank Mr. Melancon, Mr. Bill 
Jefferson and Gene Taylor. I have never seen more collegiate Members 
under the auspices or under the umbrella or under the pain of 
devastation.
  Certainly there are other colleagues throughout Louisiana, 
Mississippi and Alabama, but in our caucus we have seen this unified 
team, and certainly Mr. Thompson, who is the ranking member of the 
Homeland Security Committee, has been very helpful to this team, but 
you all have been the voices of reason and strength, the voices who 
have refused to back down, yet trying to bring along Members from both 
sides of the aisle. I want to thank them, particularly as a Member from 
Texas where many of their constituents are, and seeing how hardworking 
and diligent so many of the survivors are in our community, wanting 
nothing more than to return to the quality of life, the love of their 
community, the service they have given to their community, more than 
anything.
  Many are mourning the loss of loved ones, and still having to toil 
finding work, maybe temporary work, making sure their children are in 
school, seeking to get the necessary benefits, benefits for elderly 
parents and relatives that they are taking care of. And many have had 
to funeralize relatives.
  Madam Speaker, 1,100, possibly more, had to be funeralized. How many 
of us saw or was able to glean what kind of place New Orleans was by 
having to bury and funeralize 1,100-plus individuals, and there are 
those who never found their loved ones.
  I want to tip my hat to Mr. Melancon, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Taylor 
for continuing to press forward even in spite of the fact that there 
are many agenda items that take up the time of Members of Congress, but 
you are saying to us that the lives of our fellow Americans must be 
premier in our concern, and I am forever grateful. Texans are ever 
certainly grateful because as we fight for resources in the Gulf 
region, not in conflict and not in fist fight, but certainly in 
coordination and in collaboration.
  So I rise today to sort of weave into this debate the needs of 
Louisiana and Mississippi, certainly Alabama to a lesser extent, but 
also to join with the State of Texas as a partner in the efforts that 
are necessary to be made.
  Madam Speaker, just about 2 weeks ago, we joined with the delegation 
of 34 Members of Congress who saw fit to meticulously travel through 
three States and a number of different cities, and of course, we had 
the hospitality of Mr. Melancon, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Taylor. We were 
able to see and hear firsthand not only local officials but real 
people.
  One of the key elements that I want to raise tonight that really 
brought me to a degree of almost frustration, because when hardworking 
people do the right thing, when you follow the law, when you provide 
for your family, when you make sure you have insurance, when you pay 
your mortgages

[[Page 3531]]

and pay your taxes and get up every morning and go to work, you should 
be able to rely on your local, State and certainly your Federal 
Government.
  May I present my frustration in the context of visiting New Orleans 
and Mississippi and bending down and picking up a family picture, a 
mother holding her baby. When you go throughout these areas, you find 
the debris of life scattered about. A picture, teapot, a pink dress of 
a little girl blowing in a displaced closet, having been blown out of a 
house and sitting on the side of a road. This is the scene of broken 
hearts and broken lives for people who have tried to do everything that 
they thought was right.
  One issue that brought great pain was at a stop by the side of a road 
where a family was in a trailer in Mississippi. It happened to be one 
of the law enforcement, our first responders of whom we are so proud. 
To hear him tell the story how he paid his insurance, how he gets a 
busy signal or no signal or a hang up, and how the insurance company 
tells him, almost like in the biblical times in the birth of Jesus 
Christ when Mary and Joseph were looking for places to give birth, and 
there was no room at the inn and they wound up in a manger. This man 
could find no relief.
  None of his insurance policies, or the main one that he thought he 
had appropriately paid for and applied to, would provide him recovery. 
I hope, Mr. Melancon, in the Disaster Recovery Caucus, one of the main 
issues will be to confront this catastrophe, this crisis that impacted 
Hurricane Rita victims as well, to be able to rely upon paying 
insurance and not having to read the fine print to be able to find out 
whether or not I am going to be covered or denied.
  In fact, in going throughout the region, I did not find one person 
that said, oh, yes, my insurance has covered me. There was one denial 
after another, one lawsuit after another. Two women that I spoke to 
said they were still waiting for recovery.
  This issue needs to be confronted by Congress. Democrats are taking 
the lead on this issue. We welcome the joining of our colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle because we rise today to focus on the needs of 
people, and we need to rush toward victory by helping individuals who 
are suffering.
  Let me also say that today we stood together to speak against this 
question of the eviction of almost 40,000 families, we believe, 
tomorrow. If the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Deputy Secretary 
of Homeland Security can hear our voices on the floor tonight, we are 
pleading with an extension of that eviction date. What will be said is 
we have extended it. In fact, I am looking at a time line hear that 
talks about October 25, November 15, December 15, November 23, December 
12, January 9, and it says FEMA requires all evacuees staying in hotels 
and motels register for an authorization code by January 30, and then 
they went on to February 7 and then January 13. They were going to be 
kicked out, and now it has been extended.
  Let me say one simple sentence. Why don't we extend the time to 
remain in place, if necessary, until the anniversary of the Hurricane 
Katrina and Hurricane Rita tragedies. Why not just do that.
  I want to conclude by mentioning these items, and I see we are joined 
by Ms. Lee, who has been very helpful on these issues, particularly on 
the Financial Services Committee, where we have gathered to try to work 
with that committee on the housing issue. So eviction from a place 
where you have no place else to go, where countless trailers are lost 
in Hope, Arkansas, but they are going to evict people from places where 
they have no place to go. I am asking America, does that make any sense 
to you?
  I am standing here making a plea that even in the midnight hour, that 
we can get an early morning accountability or response from the 
Secretary of Homeland Security to extend for a couple more months the 
idea of those last individuals being able to live.
  And I want to make sure that we have a response to the insurance 
debacle that has opened up a searing wound in America: Pay your dues, 
and you get smacked in the face.
  And then I would like to ensure that we have accountability. What 
does that mean? I heard Mr. Melancon say, and he was very astute in 
teaching us when we went down and met with a number of his constituents 
in his parishes and other areas where the local elected officials said: 
I just wanted to put our community to work. That is what I asked for. 
In fact, I went out front to ask the Army Corps of Engineers to ask 
whether we could put our community to work.
  They said if you want anything done quickly, you better go the route 
we are taking and if you go that route, you will get things done 
quickly. But lo and behold, we did not know that our contractors would 
not get paid, our small contractors and minority-owned contractors 
would not get paid. We did not know that the large contractors would 
bill and bill and bill and bill, and have excessive amounts of dollars, 
using of tax dollars, and none of that generating down to those who 
obviously are in need of those dollars.
  So this is a plea for help to this Congress. It is also a plea to 
recognize that we do have a vehicle that I think will be enormously 
helpful. So I close by just counting these points on the omnibus bill 
H.R. 4197, the Congressional Black Caucus bill, that I hope we will see 
all Members of Congress use as the vehicle to bring relief to the gulf 
region.
  It has a one-time payment, like 9/11, to all of the survivors; down 
payment assistance for your new house or rebuilding; bankruptcy 
protection for individuals who are being asked to pay mortgages and pay 
taxes and being asked to pay credit cards when they have no money; and 
voting protection, so that we have satellite voting and the Voter 
Rights Act is implemented in the April 22 election, particularly in 
Louisiana.

                              {time}  2130

  Environmental cleanup, the opening of hospitals and clinics and 
mental health coverage for those who are suffering.
  I, Mr. Melancon, appreciate you bringing us here to, if you will, 
vocalize or, more importantly, galvanize our efforts, and our promise 
to those of you in the gulf region is certainly to continue to work. 
And as a Texan who will be addressing the supplemental, as we all will, 
to ensure that there is fair compensation for much of the work that we 
are doing in education and security in Texas, we are not going to stand 
against you. We are going to stand alongside of you, and we are going 
to make sure that our efforts are a unified voice because the relief of 
the gulf coast is unified not divided, and we can do this together. We 
can do better. We can do it for Americans, our fellow brothers and 
sisters.
  Mr. MELANCON. Thank you, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee. I truly 
appreciated you and the 23 other people that have joined the caucus 
that we formed up this past week before going home.
  With that I would like to yield time to Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
  Ms. LEE. Thank you very much. And let me begin by also thanking my 
colleagues from the gulf coast, of course, Mr. Taylor and Mr. 
Jefferson, and to you, Mr. Melancon, for organizing this special order 
tonight. But also more importantly for staying on the front lines, 
helping your constituents and your communities recover and rebuild. 
Each of them has suffered tremendous personal loss from the tragedy of 
Hurricane Katrina. But all of you have worked tirelessly to focus 
national attention on the Gulf Coast and to win the support of Congress 
and the President to provide more funding and more assistance.
  Also, they continue to ask the tough questions, the tough questions 
in demanding accountability for this administration's failure to lead 
and coordinate the response to Katrina. They are a credit to their 
constituents, to our country, and you deserve our support and our 
thanks. Thank you, Mr. Melancon.
  Let me just say tonight, Madam Speaker, that we know the entire world 
watched the wealthiest, most powerful country on earth, quite frankly, 
turn its back on those who couldn't

[[Page 3532]]

afford to evacuate this horrific hurricane called Katrina. People were 
left to fend for themselves on rooftops trying to save their lives and 
the lives of their families. And the majority of these people were 
African American. And we cannot sweep under the rug the faces of those 
who were disproportionately abandoned by their government because 
unfortunately, today, 6 months after the storm, the majority of these 
people are still fending for themselves.
  If we don't deal with this up front we will continue to be in denial 
about the unfinished business of America in addressing the issues of 
race and class.
  Now, 2 months ago, I had the opportunity to visit New Orleans and 
Mississippi as part of the first congressional field hearing which was 
held in the gulf coast. We toured New Orleans. We saw the Ninth ward, 
New Orleans East, Lakeview and other areas. We went to Mississippi and 
passed through Waveland, Bay St. Louis and Gulfport. And I tell you, 
like others who have visited the region, it takes a visit to the region 
to really fully understand the impact and the devastation that this 
hurricane brought upon the people of that region.
  We saw firsthand this devastation and quite frankly, I will never, 
ever be able to sleep as well ever again in life based on what I saw 
during those 2 days.
  We heard from victims of the storm who lost their homes and were 
displaced, who were living with friends and relatives or staying in 
hotels or motels mostly waiting for their FEMA trailers. They wanted to 
know that they would have a place to stay so that they could call 
someplace, just someplace their own. They wanted to know that FEMA 
wouldn't terminate housing assistance for people living in motels or 
hotels. They wanted to know that they wouldn't be discriminated against 
in seeking housing because of their race, ethnicity, age or disability. 
They wanted to know that the levees would be rebuilt so that they could 
go back to their homes and their communities to rebuild. And they 
wanted to know that they wouldn't be evicted from their homes or be 
gouged.
  And we heard of the price gouging over and over and over again. And 
they wanted us to help them to make sure that they would not be gouged 
by the high rental prices or that some opportunistic developer wouldn't 
buy up their land and gentrify their communities. And they wanted to 
know that they would be hired to carry out Federal contracts to clean 
up and rebuild the gulf so that they could work, they could work and 
get a steady paycheck and participate in the equitable development of 
the region. They wanted to know that their kids could go back to school 
and still be children. And they wanted to know that they could go to a 
clinic or a hospital if they got sick.
  In short, they wanted to know that they mattered and that their 
government would do all that it could to take care of them and put them 
back on their feet quickly.
  And, Madam Speaker, the survivors of Hurricane Katrina are still 
wondering the exact same things today. 6 months after Katrina, 
virtually nothing has changed. Only now, our government is about to add 
insult to injury by disenfranchising over 300,000 displaced survivors 
from New Orleans, who will not be given the right to vote in elections 
that will determine the future of their city.
  And tomorrow, we have learned that FEMA will boot out probably 
another 7,000 families that are still living in hotels and motels and 
have no other place to go.
  This is a disgrace. The administration failed to prepare a plan of 
action to respond to Hurricane Katrina, and they have failed to put 
together a coherent plan to rebuild and restore the gulf coast region.
  H.R. 4997, a comprehensive bill to help the gulf coast rebuild, which 
is supported by Katrina survivors and introduced by the Congressional 
Black Caucus under the leadership of Congressman Mel Watt should be 
supported. This bill provides for housing rights, a victim restoration 
fund in the spirit of 9/11 Victims Fund, expanded opportunities in 
rebuilding the gulf coast and voting rights for all.
  We also work very closely with Mr. Baker and improved upon his will 
to rebuild New Orleans and to help the region recover; got bipartisan 
support in the Financial Services Committee for that bill. But the 
administration has rejected both of these plans.
  And now we are 3 months away from the start of the new hurricane 
season. And we can not afford to allow the continued incompetence of 
this administration to hinder the recovery and rebuilding process any 
longer.
  Tomorrow, when we vote on the supplemental appropriations bill, I 
will offer an amendment to basically block FEMA from using, any money 
to evict people living in hotels or motels as a result of Katrina. We 
should not allow FEMA to kick people out on the streets. That is just 
plain and simple. That should not be done. So I urge my colleagues to 
support my amendment.
  And we must continue to stand with the people of New Orleans and gulf 
coast and send a clear signal to the rest of the world that we must 
take care of all people. We must put people first regardless of their 
race or their income or their age or their disability. We have got a 
lot of work to do, and we don't have a lot of time to do it, Madam 
Speaker.
  And so I just want to thank my colleagues from the region for their 
tenacity, their continued support for staying strong in the midst of a 
storm and for allowing those of us from other areas to try to help and 
try to do something.
  I am very proud of my congressional district, immediately raised 
money to send to the gulf coast region and to New Orleans. The Ninth 
Congressional District, like other Congressional Districts and other 
non profit organizations and charitable groups, should be commended for 
stepping up to the plate.
  But our government must do more and we must do more now.
  Mr. MELANCON. Thank you, Congresswoman Lee. I want to try, and of 
course we are getting towards the end of the hour, and Congressman 
Jefferson and I were hoping to have a few minutes.
  I want to thank leadership for their assistance in trying to provide 
us with time so that we can make the issues known to the Members of 
Congress that are going to be voting on these issues.
  This is not just a Louisiana thing. This is not just a New Orleans 
thing. This is an issue for the entire gulf coast. These are Americans, 
good tax paying citizens who have been left, not because they didn't 
buy the insurance that they were told to buy by their local government, 
by their insurance agent, by FEMA itself, the mortgage lenders. They 
bought those things. They did, they paid their taxes. They cared for 
their homes and now they are totally gone, with insurance companies 
saying no coverage, that is flood, and many of those houses being 
outside of flood zone.
  Mr. Jefferson can attest to a lot of those issues being from New 
Orleans and my having Chalmette and South Plaquemines Parish. I would 
like to yield a little time to Mr. Jefferson.
  Mr. JEFFERSON. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I think it is 
important to make a point here that often gets lost in these 
discussions. We did suffer a tremendous natural disaster in our region. 
But so much of what happened to our people, and what really drowned our 
city was not the storm itself, but the deluge that came from the 
breakage of our levees. Our levees gave way because they weren't 
designed, constructed or maintained properly. This was a Federal 
responsibility. This was the responsibility of the Corps of Engineers. 
And therefore, when we talk about the responsibility of our government 
now to make an appropriate addressing of these issues, it is important 
to understand that we are asking a government that, in large part, 
caused the loss and devastation there to step forward now and help us 
to fix it.
  And so our position isn't just that we are victims of a natural 
disaster alone, but that we are also victims of a manmade disaster made 
by the men and women who were responsible for building, designing and 
maintaining our

[[Page 3533]]

heavy system. And so there is an additional responsibility for this 
government to come to our aid, not just because we are victims of a 
storm, but because they had a hand in bringing about the devastation 
and destruction that occasioned us.
  Had it not been for the drowning of our city, we wouldn't be here 
talking about these issues today in large part. Yes, there would be 
some overtopping of levees and there would be some flooding, but there 
would be nothing like the devastation that we witnessed and our people 
are enduring now. So let us not forget the main reason for our being 
here. It is because our area was flooded. Flood water stood for many, 
many weeks because our levees did not hold, after the government told 
us that they would, assured us that they would.
  As Mr. Melancon says, they told people they didn't even have to take 
flood insurance in many cases because the levees were going to prevent 
any flooding there. And they did not do that. And so I think we have a 
moral high ground here with respect to our demand of our government, 
and not just because we are citizens and taxpayers. That is enough in 
itself, but because the government had a big hand in bringing about the 
catastrophe that struck our people.
  Our city drowned. Our region drowned because our levees failed. And 
that was the responsibility of our Federal Government.
  And I think, Mr. Melancon, people are coming to realize that now. And 
they can't embarrass us to say you are just coming as victims asking 
for more and more. The government did this to us as much as anyone else 
did, much more than it just being a natural disaster for. We have a 
right to demand that our government set things right.
  Mr. MELANCON. Thank you, Mr. Jefferson.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MELANCON. Yes, for a minute please.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Let me if I might, join and just reaffirm, 
Mr. Jefferson, what you said one of the reasons, because I come from 
the gulf coast region. And I really think that as we work in this 
caucus, Mr. Melancon, we really should focus on the educating of our 
Congress on the problems or the distinctiveness of the gulf region, 
which I think America should be proud of its regional diversity.
  Tragically, this past weekend we had a number of tornados, I believe, 
or windstorms throughout the Midwest, loss of life, a loss of property. 
These are regional climatic issues that come about.
  And so I suffered too. Houston is 50 feet underwater. We were almost 
in the eye of Hurricane Rita. And we don't have exactly levees, but we 
have bayous and our bayous have tended to overflow, and we have needed 
the reconstruction of our bayous.
  So I think it is important that as we look at the other social needs, 
the housing and electricity, that we really need to have a separate 
massive agenda, infrastructure, Army Corps, Department of 
Transportation, Homeland Security, all the elements that deal with the 
infrastructure of helping to safely secure the gulf region, all along. 
And Florida is likewise included, having suffered so many of the 
hurricanes. We really need that agenda.
  And let me finish on this point that I indicated I would make clear. 
We discussed earlier about the voting, just or in a moment, and this 
goes directly to the April 22 voting. And I don't want my colleagues 
and others to think, you know what? They are going to let those people 
who live in New York and Utah and Houston, they are going to let them 
vote twice. They are living there and then they are trying to get them 
to vote in New Orleans.
  Well, I don't want, if I might use this terminology, for anyone to 
apply to us the okey-doke. We are not here standing talking about any 
fraudulent activities or any suggestion that anyone is voting twice or 
in two different places. We know under the law that you can choose your 
residency, and where you choose your residency to be, that is where you 
will be allowed to vote.

                              {time}  2145

  When you pool the thousands of individuals in Houston, and I would 
imagine elsewhere, they will say to you that they are residents of 
Louisiana and that is where they want to vote. And that is why, as I 
yield back, our argument is to have the voting rights protection, to 
allow residents of Louisiana where they might live, one, to have 
satellite voting where they might live, but also to ensure them the 
right to vote, one vote, one person.
  Mr. MELANCON. Let me see if Congressman Jefferson and I can wrap it 
up. If you use the cost-ratio method that the Corps of Engineers used 
for projects, and what many Federal and State agencies use to determine 
whether there is value in investments into areas, the resources and the 
area that was destroyed, and this is just Louisiana, I am not talking 
about Mississippi and Texas and Alabama now.
  Thirty percent of the United States's energy comes from Louisiana 
offshore oil fields, straight through the state of Louisiana. 30 
percent of the United States seafood comes through Louisiana. 42 
percent of every commodity that is exported from this country goes 
through the Port of New Orleans. And that does not count the other 
three or four ports that are located on that river.
  This city, this region, this southern port of our country is an 
important part that needs to be revived, needs to be helped back along. 
We can put money into projects, as I said, rebuilding other countries 
when they are having problems. We have got to be able to do this for 
ourselves.
  There are a lot of folks that wrap themselves in the American flag 
and their politics, they are patriots, I am a patriot. There are a lot 
of people that espouse religion in their politics. And I say to those 
folks, what would Jesus do?
  I do not think that he would leave these people wanting. This is not 
black, this is not white, this is not rich, this is not poor, this is 
not Republican, nor is it Democrat, it is about Americans that have 
been hurt and need the help of the citizenry, their fellow citizens to 
get back on their feet.
  There are people returning to their communities and starting to do 
the planning in spite of the fact that they cannot get answers to the 
questions of how high, and when, and is anybody going to do anything at 
all?
  There is resiliency in the people of the gulf coast. They are going 
to come back one way or another. It is going to be a tough bill. It is 
going to take time. It would take time whether the Government helped or 
not. But it sure would make it a whole lot better in my mind for other 
countries in the world to say Americans help each other.
  I yield to Mr. Jefferson.
  Mr. JEFFERSON. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Melancon for yielding to 
me. I want to say how grateful he and I are for the bipartisan approach 
that was made in our region just a few weeks ago when the Speaker of 
the House and our Democratic leader, Mr. Hastert and Ms. Pelosi, came 
together and worked together in that region to address some of the 
issues we are talking about tonight and to bring to the attention of 
the American people how crucial it is that all of us pull together for 
this region.
  As Mr. Melancon has said, it is a very important region to our 
Nation. And so it is not just a matter of helping the folks of 
Louisiana, it is a matter of helping people across this country. Yes, 
our folks are strewn in 44 States around the country, but we are not 
talking about that sort of a national problem, we are talking about one 
where we actually, the country needs our region and we need our country 
to come to our aid so we can continue to supply these vital services to 
the rest of the people of our Nation.
  I believe that if someone were to take a poll, Mr. Melancon now, and 
ask people of this country whether they were standing with New Orleans 
and with our region and wanted to see us brought back, wanted to see 
our country helped, I think they would all say yes to that.
  We just have to get the message here to the Members of Congress that 
people

[[Page 3534]]

out there want to see us rebuild, want to see us recover. And if we 
keep this measure in front of them, the American people will see us 
through this. So a part of our mission here tonight is to make sure 
that the American people understand how deep and abiding and enduring 
our issues are, and to inform their Members of Congress how much we 
need their continuing help on a bipartisan basis to see us through this 
set of problems.
  I think it is good for our region, it is imperative for our country, 
and it is the way that we ought to address these issues. We cannot go 
out with credibility with the rest of the world and say we are going to 
fix their issues, their problems, their infrastructure requirements, 
and not say the same thing for our people here at home with any 
credibility.
  So I thank Mr. Melancon for what he has done to arrange this. I thank 
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee for her contribution tonight, for 
Congresswoman Lee, and for all of our colleague who have joined us in 
this colloquy tonight. I appreciate the opportunity that the House has 
given us to bring this message to the people of our country.
  Mr. MELANCON. Madam Speaker, in closing, the days immediately 
following the storm in Katrina, before Rita even came and devastated 
southwest Louisiana and eastern Texas, the only way I can get to 
Chalmette and St. Bernard Parish was by boat on the river. And when I 
got there, I met the sheriff.
  And they were organizing people they were lifting off the roofs at 
the port facility referred to as the Chalmette Slip. And all of these 
people, they had lined up about 200 people putting life jackets on 
them, putting them on a barge to bring them across the rivers to what 
is known as Algiers Point in hopes that there would be buses there 
could take them to a good place, because nobody really knew whether the 
buses would come and where they would ultimately end up.
  But we gave them two MREs and we put them on the barge and we sent 
them out to Algiers Point, one we said for supper tonight with a bottle 
of water, one for breakfast in the morning with a bottle of water and 
let's just hope that the buses will get there.
  And as the sheriff and I said goodbye to these folks, the first guy 
that was in line looked at the sheriff and looked, and he said, 
Sheriff, you know me, told him his name. He says you know my brother, 
Joe. You know where we live. Joe drowned. Do not forget him.
  The next person in line was a lady who just burst into tears and 
hugged the sheriff and she was excited. She thought she was going 
somewhere. I do not where that lady is today. She may be in a hotel 
somewhere waiting to see when she can get back home.
  The third person, this guy was standing there with a plastic grocery 
bag in his hand. And the sheriff said, I see you have got your lunch 
already. And he told the sheriff, this is not my lunch, this is all I 
have left now. My house went under 20 feet of water, at least that is 
about how high my roof is.
  There are people that have suffered tremendously. We talked about the 
voting rights. I think there is enough safeguards. I believe that if 
America can spend millions of dollars to help Iraqis vote in this 
country for transitional government and elect officials in their 
country, then surely we can safeguard and make sure that Americans, 
regardless of where they are from, can vote in the elections in the 
communities of their choice where they reside, where they want to 
reside, where they want to return to.
  In closing, I can only say that what we have done, while it is a good 
beginning, and every bit that is parceled out to the southern coastal 
States, we are thankful for. But this is far beyond the capacity of 
people or individuals to comprehend without physically seeing what is 
down there.
  I do not care if it is Biloxi, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana, 
Venice, Louisiana, Bayou LaBatrie, Alabama, it does not matter, if you 
go and you see you will understand.
  It is inexplicable to try and describe it. I encourage, as I did with 
the leadership, when the CODEL came down to Louisiana, every Member of 
this Congress to go down there. If you make the trip, if you see the 
areas that were hit, and if you do not feel differently about trying to 
help these Americans, then there is nothing more that I can do.
  I want to thank the leadership for allowing us the time. My job I 
feel is to keep this issue in front of the American public, because the 
gulf coast area is not back up on its feet and still needs quite a bit 
of help. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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