[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 22620]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          DISASTER DECLARATION

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, finally, I wish to urge this 
administration to provide a 100-percent disaster declaration for at 
least these parishes. Our Governor has asked for 100 percent for all 
the parishes--and I am going to put up that chart in a minute--but the 
Governor believes the entire State deserves to have a 100-percent 
reimbursement because Gustav went through our whole State, and then Ike 
came up a few weeks later and flooded and did a tremendous amount of 
wind damage.
  We are not designated as a 100-percent cost share yet, which means 
the Federal Government would step in and pick up 100 percent of some of 
these parishes that are on their last leg. They have been through four 
storms in the last couple years. Unfortunately, and I am not sure why, 
but several counties in Texas have been granted the first 0 to 14 days 
at 100 percent. Yet our parishes, which were hit equally as hard, have 
not yet received that designation.
  So I am asking, on their behalf and with the full support of our 
Governor, our Lieutenant Governor, and others who are leading our 
effort in the recovery, if the administration would please consider at 
least giving equal treatment--100 percent, 0 to 14--for the parishes 
that were as hard hit as the Texas counties were in this aerial.
  But do not forget, as I close, that when Hurricane Gustav was in the 
gulf, our Governor called for a mandatory evacuation, and 2 million 
people, the largest evacuation in the country's history, left their 
homes to move temporarily, for a couple days, and then came back. The 
damage was very bad. It wasn't catastrophic such as Katrina, but it was 
as bad as Hurricane Rita. But when they came home, the Federal 
Government said: Well, thank you for evacuating, but there is virtually 
no help for you or your counties.
  It is expensive to evacuate. I know people don't understand, those 
who have never had to go through it, but it costs hundreds of dollars 
to fill your tank with gas, if you have a car; it costs hundreds of 
dollars to stay at a hotel, even if it is just for a day or two; it 
costs hundreds of dollars to drive down the road to pick up your 
elderly aunt or your grandmother, who lives in another parish, to get 
her to evacuate. I can't tell you the expense that people incur.
  I don't think the Federal Government should pick up 100 percent of 
the expense of mandatory evacuations, but I do think, for some period 
in some parishes, particularly those that have been very hard hit, that 
the Government, the Federal Government, if they can do it for some of 
the counties in Texas, most certainly should consider the parishes in 
Louisiana. So I am going to submit that as my last plea for the Record.
  I know it has been a long day, but I feel as if we got some things 
accomplished. I don't know what the schedule will be as the leaders 
decide on how we bring this particular Congress to a close, but I have 
to say the work of the recovery is still going on. It will go on for 
many years. My heart goes out to my neighbors from Texas who are just 
now discovering with awe and shock, shock and awe, what a hurricane can 
mean. They haven't had one in 50 years, such as the one in Galveston, 
and they had one last week. So I know what they are experiencing 
because we have been through that. I will stand ready to work with them 
in my committee, as chair of the Subcommittee on Disaster, when we 
return. Whether it is floods in the Midwest or hurricanes in the gulf, 
we will continue to, first, try to protect ourselves by better levees 
and flood control; and then have a better system of aid and help that 
is reliable and dependable for these people--for our people, our 
constituents, and our citizens in need.

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