[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 7325-7326]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          TRAGEDY IN OKLAHOMA

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I really appreciate the hard work of 
the Senators from Michigan and Mississippi, moving a farm bill through 
the Senate. It is one of the most important bills we will take up this 
year. Action on this bill is long overdue. I am very hopeful we can 
continue to make progress and produce a bill that is excellent for 
every region of our country. Of course, representing the South, we 
always like to have special attention given to our agricultural needs. 
The Senator from Michigan certainly has been attuned to the farmers in 
rural communities in Louisiana. We appreciate her leadership.
  I come to the floor today, though, just for a few moments to speak 
about the tragedy unfolding in Oklahoma, in Moore, OK, a city that was 
devastated--portions of the city in the suburban areas--by a horrible 
tornado, one of the largest to hit our Nation in quite some time. While 
I do not know all of the details, I understand that it was a very high 
level tornado that stayed on the ground for almost 40 minutes. This was 
miles wide and created a terrible path of destruction. There are, of 
course, adults and children who lost their lives. Recovery and rescue 
is still underway as I speak. I am certain that the delegations--both 
the Senate and House Members from Oklahoma--are doing everything they 
can, working with the Governor and local officials, to provide as much 
support as they will need.
  I come to the floor as the chair of the Subcommittee on Homeland 
Security and I come to the floor as a Senator

[[Page 7326]]

who unfortunately has had a lot of experience in disasters to say how 
proud I am that there is about $11 billion available, without the 
requirement or necessity of an offset, for the people of Oklahoma. This 
was a battle that was fought over a year ago, led by Senator Harry Reid 
and me and others. This arrangement was made in the Budget Control Act 
so that there would be a significant pot of money set aside in the 
event that disasters such as this happened, whether it was a tornado or 
an earthquake or a fire or a flood. It has happened again.
  We don't know exactly when these disasters are going to happen. We 
don't know the exact nature of them. But we most certainly know from 
past experience and everything that our science tells us about the 
changes in the atmosphere that they are going to happen and that they 
are likely going to get worse. That is why I have been very focused on 
this issue.
  I am proud of this Senate, Republicans and Democrats, but I am very 
proud of the support of the Democratic leaders on this bill to say now 
is not the time--not this afternoon, not tomorrow morning, not Friday, 
not Monday--to be debating offsets for victims of the Oklahoma tornado. 
After a disaster, our citizens do not need or want a debate on funding. 
What they want is help, and they are going to get it from the committee 
I chair.
  Our people suffered so much in Katrina, Rita, and Gustav. I have 
watched the east coast have to recover from Irene and from Sandy. I 
have seen horrible tornadoes in Missouri. The last thing people want 
when they are digging their loved ones out of rubble and preparing, 
unfortunately, for funerals that are going to have to occur after what 
happened--the last thing they want to see Congress do is debate about 
how and when we are going to pay for this disaster. We are going to 
send them the money they need to recover.
  I want to say this to Senator Coburn, my good friend who is not on 
the floor--I do respect his consistency on this issue. Even when a 
tornado hit his State, he is still calling for offsets. He has been 
consistent, but in my view he has been consistently wrong. There will 
be no offsets. There is no need for offsets. I will not support 
offsets. The majority of Democrats, if not the entire Democratic 
caucus, will not support offsets for Americans in need in disasters. 
What we are going to do is support appropriate help and sufficient help 
for them.
  Let me say for the record that because of the Sandy supplemental--
which I also fought for with my colleagues from the Northeast--we were 
able to put some reforms in that bill. It was not just ``send the money 
and do what you will with it.'' We sent money to the Northeast. We also 
sent them new tools in a bigger, stronger toolbox to help them with a 
better recovery.
  We have a lot more to do in the Northeast. That is a subject for 
another day. I realize they are in lots of difficulty. But we did send 
some new tools that will help, even with Oklahoma.
  First, we sent them the ability to quickly establish mutually agreed 
upon estimates for project costs. That has been a real problem with 
recovery in the past, with local governments arguing one thing, the 
Feds offering something else. We now have a better, quicker process to 
agree on what the project costs to get it built more quickly. The 
project cost will be validated by an independent panel of experts 
protecting the taxpayer, which is important. Applicants are now allowed 
to consolidate projects in a commonsense way to build back smarter, 
reducing future recovery costs.
  Most important for this disaster--we fought hard for this in Sandy--
finally, there are some provisions in the recovery bill that will allow 
children to be the center of attention. Sadly, we have lost some 
children in this disaster. Sadly, many children were injured and 
probably thousands of children have been traumatized. But because of 
the new bill we passed under Sandy, there are some provisions to help.
  In addition, families can receive daycare now through their 
supplemental, so the parents who are going to have to figure out a way 
to get back to work and rebuild their businesses and their communities 
and their houses can have some additional Federal childcare, which will 
help.
  In addition, I think there are going to be more counselors on the 
ground helping children than in past disasters.
  I see colleagues on the floor, so let me finish quickly.
  We have implemented an automated family reunification database to 
ensure children are returned to parents. This is a relatively small 
place, well known. We do not believe there are any children whose 
whereabouts are unknown to their parents. All of the statistics, 
however, are not in of people missing, et cetera. But there are 
provisions right now at work with FEMA helping with family 
reunification. Coordinators are already on the ground specialized in 
looking out for the specific needs of children in disasters. I thank 
the coalition that worked with me for years to put that into place.
  Again, there will be no offset. There is no reason to need an offset. 
We have the $11 billion, thanks to the good work of many people in this 
Chamber and on the other side of this Capitol, to provide this funding 
for these disasters. I know FEMA is on the ground. They will do the 
best they can.
  In this case, with tornado insurance, which is carried by many people 
in this area--I am doing a little bit more research into whether it is 
mandatory or voluntary--with a combination of local help and State help 
and Federal help and private insurance and, of course, the great spirit 
of voluntarism, I am confident that after we finish this very sad 
recovery and shock this community is going through, that we will be 
able to help them build a stronger and more vibrant community of Moore, 
OK, in the future.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.

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