Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act To Meet Immediate Needs Arising from the Consequences of Hurricane Katrina, 2005
EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT TO MEET IMMEDIATE NEEDS ARISING FROM THE CONSEQUENCES OF HURRICANE KATRINA, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - September 02, 2005)
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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time, and I thank him for his very strong statement. I wish to right off the bat associate myself with the remarks of the gentleman from Wisconsin, our ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, his remarks that he made in reserving the right to object. I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), who knows firsthand as do I what an impact a natural disaster is to a State and how important it is to hear right away from the Federal Government as to what our commitment is to recovery.
I remember, as I am sure the gentleman from California does, when the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit Northern California, it was such a shock and such a surprise as with our colleagues today. We could see in my area of San Francisco parts of the city burning, bridges down and impassable, the people in need, without adequate shelter and the rest. The San Francisco Bay Area, let me broaden it, Loma Prieta is in the southern part of the bay area, as the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Zoe Lofgren) is reminding me.
Jamie Whitten came to the floor that day and said, Last night there was an earthquake in San Francisco. I immediately called in my staff and said, what is it that we can do to help. We want to remove all doubt in anyone's mind that we understand the gravity of the situation, that the social compact that the people have with the Federal Government will be one that will be honored and that this will not be part of their problem, the same thing that I know that the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) understood at the time of the Northridge Earthquake in Southern California where the response was one that helped remove doubt as to the fact that we are one Nation and that we are always moving to be a more perfect Union.
That challenge that our Founding Fathers gave us in the Constitution's preamble, to form a more perfect Union, it is the first responsibility listed there, is one that we must remember now, because we are faced with a situation where so many people in the Gulf States, in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and Florida, are affected by this. In other natural disasters, as with our earthquakes in California, certain parts of the community were affected and other parts of the community helped the emergency relief and the recovery. Here we have a situation where we have a total devastation of a region. Who is there to help? All the more reason for us as the Congress of the United States to come together, to give hope to these people, to say to them that we hear your cries.
We hear them and we are told about them, also, from our distinguished Members of Congress from the region. The gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) lost his home, his only home, and those of many of his staff did as well. The gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Melancon) has been manning an emergency center to help people get help. The list goes on. The gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jefferson) saw his whole city practically get wiped out. But I am sure that everyone on each side of the aisle has stories that they know firsthand. The gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the ranking Democrat on our Committee on Homeland Security who knows full well what our capability is as a country and what an attack this is of nature and therefore what more we need to do to get this all done. The list goes on. There are many heroes in this.
So when I hear my distinguished colleague for whom I have great esteem, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), say that we cannot have a full debate on this, we will just do it as a Special Order because we have got to get this to the President right away, that would have been a very good argument to have this special session of Congress much earlier this week, because it was clear that although we did not have all of the facts, we knew that people were hurting very badly in our country, that there was a need for additional resources, and it was important to bring the considerable talent on both sides of the aisle together in Washington, DC to make a judgment about the facts and to allocate the resources.
Just a couple of days ago it was thought that there was enough money to cover until next week, until we came back. So what? As it turns out, that was not a correct assessment. But even if it had been, why should we not have been here to give hope, to give inspiration if we are capable of that, but at least to remove all doubt in everyone's mind that this is the first order of business for us and that is to protect our people and try to make them whole in time of a natural disaster.
But we are here, and what we need to do and what we need people to hear is the strongest bipartisan cooperation, whatever the timing, on how we address their needs. Their needs have been referenced in terms of energy. Energy is important, not just at the pump, although let me say about that, pox on those who would price gouge at the pump to our people in our country who are already suffering from debilitating prices at the pump that enable some not to even be able to get to work, and now in this tragic time we do not want matters made worse with price gouging and there will be a price to pay for that. But energy for many reasons. Energy to get product, plywood, whatever it is, to where it is needed, to rebuild in the Gulf States, energy to keep the lights on, too. Such a high percentage of people, there are probably 5 million people, without electricity as we gather here today. Two million homes, 5 million people without electricity as we gather here.
Energy, and I know others will address it more specifically, is a very important part of this, especially since the Gulf States are such an important source of production and transport of energy to the rest of the country.
Our children. Think about the children. Right now they are supposed to be starting school. Instead, they are starting to wonder where their homes are, where their loved ones are, if their parents have jobs and if indeed they even have a school to go to. We have an enormous task ahead of us. Our children will forever be marked by the trauma of this hurricane unless we quickly take them to a place that says, there was a tragedy, people responded, you were considered a priority. Hopefully, they will get through. My own grandchildren who live in Houston and see all these children coming into the Houston area, Mr. Speaker, your area, they are becoming afraid of rain. If it rains, will our house be washed away? Just after 9/11 when kids were saying if a plane goes overhead, should we be afraid of that? We must reassure our children and eliminate the traumatic effect on top of the physical displacement that they are suffering here.
So whatever the allocation of these resources are, I hope it is enough. And if it is not, again with the facts as our friends, we must allocate the resources to make sure these children are in school.
I was telling some of the leaders yesterday in a conference call that when I visited Macedonia and other places in the Balkans, when these children were displaced and they did not have any classroom situation, it compounded the terrible experience that they had until a school situation was created for them. Think of what this is going to mean with people who have been sent to other States. How are those schools going to absorb all of these children even within their own States, but in two different school districts. In the allocation of our resources, I hope that we will have children first in terms of their education, their health.
That takes us to the significant public health issues that we are facing there. Dead bodies floating in the water, some say that is not a danger. I do not know. It sounds dangerous to me. The chemicals that are in the water. There are so many things that we do need the facts on. So it is not a question of speculation. What are the facts? What is the public health challenge that we face? How do we allocate the resources to stop that immediately, because if our children are sick and they see death around them, much of the rest that we do is not going to seem as relevant.
We know that the list goes on. Shelter, people losing everything. I can tell you from my earthquake experience, and this is a little discouraging, you really are never made whole. The history of your family, the photographs, the sentimental attachment that you may have, some of that is just now to be forgotten. But if we cannot make them whole in the same way, we certainly have to give people hope in a new way that the life that they will lead will be something that not only replaces, but enhances, their experience, because they have been through a lot and in our perfect Union, as we embrace each other as people of America, we have to do so in a way that honors the social compact between the people and the government.
That means all people. It does not mean people who have the wherewithal to get away to a second or third home. It does not mean people who can get helicoptered out, and God bless them for their success in being able to do that. God bless them for taking that route. But it does mean that if people are left behind because of their economic status, then that is wrong. That is wrong and that is not something that this $10 billion should support.
We must, if this is not enough, do more. It is all an investment. It will cause an economic growth in the region as we rebuild, creating jobs, giving hope, bringing people home that I think will more than return to the Treasury what we are putting out there. But right now they need our help and they need it in a very substantial way. They need it for their health, for their housing, for their jobs, the education of their children, for the environment in which they live so that it is healthy and not again a public health hazard. They need to be considered full participants in this great country that we are.
Let me say that there are many heroes in all of this. I named some of our colleagues, the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Melancon), the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor), the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), those whose experiences I know firsthand. The list goes on and on. Again, others will speak from their firsthand experience about it. But the biggest heroes of course are the people who are on the front line all the time working very hard. I would hope that as we did in our earthquake situation, and forgive me for keeping returning to it, but it is an experience that we thought was the most desperate until we saw what we are seeing now, and this goes beyond anything I think that anyone can imagine, that the disaster assistance centers must be established, that people have to know what they have a right to in terms of their emergency assistance and that what people have a right to in terms of recovery, in terms of SBA loans and the rest of that.
There are some things in place that can help people right away if we can get FEMA in place to help them. But again we must remove all doubt that we are there for all people. It cannot be viewed as for those who will receive assistance and those who have not will go by the wayside. This issue of social justice, of economic justice, of the economic life of a city, of a State that rests on the fullest participation of all of its people must respond in the fullest way to all of its people.
I will say once again that I regret we could not have come here sooner with fuller participation of Members who have, again on both sides of the aisle, enormous experience in public health and energy issues and housing issues and education issues and the rest; but let us say that we get this running start now, and I have asked the Speaker that when we come back next week with the full participation of our membership that we establish a hurricane task force that would include the ranking members, the chairmen of the committees of jurisdiction relevant to this emergency relief and recovery and that that task force will immediately move forward in an expedited manner and not be slowed down by business as usual, but instead again give hope to these people.
Again, I associate myself with what the gentleman from Wisconsin said. Even 4 years later after 9/11, there are still many things that have not been done, that have been clearly indicated are necessary. We have the resources to do it. It is just a question of priorities. That takes us to what this is about, what our priorities are as a country. How we allocate our resources is a statement of our values. As we leave here today and we go forward in the weeks ahead, we must make sure that everyone understands that a statement of our values is to form a more perfect Union by meeting the needs of our people and not having half a loaf when they are all Americans and entitled to full recovery.
If we can spend $20 billion on reconstruction in Iraq, we can certainly use that as a start on reconstruction in America. I say that with the fullest appreciation for the importance of the reconstruction of Iraq. I respect that that is important to stability there. I respect that it is important to stability here, for us to do that. Again, I wish we were here sooner. We are not. Let us go forward. Let us do it in a bipartisan way. I think the last thing that the American people need to see is any kind of partisan bickering about how we go forward, but nonetheless we have to have a strong commitment to these people.
In the Bible, Isaiah tells us that to minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us. Let us make the work that we do here an act of worship to the God who made us and an act of respect for the people who sent us here.
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