Making Appropriations for Science, the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, and Related Agencies for Fiscal Year 2006--Continued

Floor Speech

MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR SCIENCE, THE DEPARTMENTS OF STATE, JUSTICE, AND COMMERCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006--Continued -- (Senate - September 08, 2005)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I want to join my colleagues and all Americans in offering my condolences and my prayers to the residents of the gulf region. These families have suffered grievously. They have lost all of their possessions. They are without homes, without employment. We owe them a great deal of support and consideration, and, indeed, as I say again, all our prayers.

As news reports show, there are heroes throughout the gulf--those who helped neighbors survive the hurricane and those who continue to work in the region to help reunite families and restore order.

Americans throughout the Nation are opening their homes to hurricane survivors and volunteering their time and resources to meet the needs of evacuees. But while this disaster shows the best that America can offer, it also shows the worst. It shows that the Federal bureaucracy is ill prepared to respond to a natural catastrophe that we knew was possible. It shows the Federal bureaucracy ill prepared to respond to future potential disasters.

It shows a government so tied up in red tape that it is not serving its people at their time of need.

In the days, weeks, and months ahead, we will be investigating what went wrong, and there will be plenty of blame to pass around, but we cannot blame the victims of this tragedy as some have chosen to do. Many families in the gulf region did not have the resources or means to leave before Hurricane Katrina struck because this administration's economic policy favored tax cuts for the wealthy over programs that provide economic opportunities for all Americans. Over the last 3 years, poverty has risen in America and the real median income of workers stagnated. We must be willing to look honestly at how budget decisions and tax policy at Federal, State, and local level left New Orleans residents and other communities vulnerable to this tragedy. We must look honestly at how these policies continue to leave millions of Americans vulnerable across the Nation.

Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the economic, social, and racial divides that exists in America. As a Nation we must step back and evaluate our priorities. In my judgment, now is not the time to cut funding for social programs such as Medicaid, food stamps, and community development block grants while the administration pushes to repeal the estate tax. Now is not the time to continue to provide corporate tax breaks, while we must help rebuild a region in the midst of massive deficits as a result of the administration's policies. The damage to the national economy wrought by Hurricane Katrina, the expense to rebuild, and the need to provide for low-income and working families in light of this disaster will add to our growing debt. We must prioritize and deal with the needs of the most vulnerable among us.

For decades, we have known that New Orleans is in harm's way. Senator LANDRIEU has often spoken passionately about the Federal Government's duty to help protect wetlands in order to safeguard coastal states. Yet, we continued to allow coastal wetlands to degrade and cut funding to vital programs to protect these natural buffers as well as man-made levees to protect New Orleans. The flood waters from the city of New Orleans must be drained in an expedient fashion. However, we must not ignore the environmental impact that these heavily contaminated waters will have on the long-term public and environmental health of the city.

The stagnant waters engulfing New Orleans for the past week contain a myriad of contaminants, including human waste, oil, and even dead bodies. This toxic mixing bowl is rife with disease and harmful chemicals. We are facing a potential ecological disaster as these flood waters continue to be dumped into the surrounding area, and I am greatly concerned that the impact will be seen for years to come. New Orleans is surrounded by Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River, and many precious wetlands. All of these bodies of water drain directly into the Gulf of Mexico.

Now is the time not only to evaluate, but also to act to prevent further ecological damage in the region. More must be done to ensure that while we are clearing the city of New Orleans from this devastating flood, we are also working toward its future rejuvenation.

Our primary focus must be on getting rid of the red tape and getting aid and assistance to those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. But we must also begin to ask how did this happen. The only way to do that effectively and apolitically is to have an independent commission to investigate the long-term impact of Hurricane Katrina on the people of the gulf region and on our Federal Government's response to this disaster as well as our ability to respond to future events. The bicameral commission announced yesterday by the Majority Leader and the Speaker is not the answer. Having the President head up a task force to investigate his Administration's response is not sufficient. The only way the people of the gulf region and the people of America will get the answers that they deserve is through an independent commission.

I also support efforts to restore the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, to an independent, cabinet-level agency to ensure its effectiveness in preparing for and responding to these types of events. FEMA's director must have the qualifications and abilities to plan for, respond to, and assist in the recovery after such an emergency. We must do better.

As the recovery efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina continue, we must stand beside the survivors to provide relief and assistance for their immediate needs now. For this reason, I am cosponsoring Senator REID's Katrina Emergency Relief Act, which will help get these families by providing medical coverage, housing the homeless, educating children, and offering financial assistance.

Hurricane Katrina upset the lives of millions, displacing families from their homes and inflicting severe economic damage. Neighborhoods that were once called home are now wastelands, and people are concerned their lives may never be the same. The economic impacts are being felt by low-income and working American families throughout the nation. Indeed, there is an imminent emergency confronting millions of low-income Americans caused by soaring energy cost and diminishing affordability of home heating fuel as winter approaches. The administration cannot ignore this looming crisis. The administration must request emergency funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program so that these families can remain safe this winter. I also encourage the administration, and my colleagues, to support greater investment in energy conservation programs such as the Weatherization Assistance Program and the State Energy Program to help families.

In one way, Hurricane Katrina holds parallels to other situations. We could have anticipated this phenomenon. The reports of the class V hurricane were available to all Federal officials, State officials, and local officials. We knew the levees in New Orleans were not designed to withstand anything more than a class III. Yet we were not ready. This administration ignored what should have been obvious. We had to be ready for a severe hurricane with devastating consequences in New Orleans. This administration was not.

This also speaks to what may happen in the future. This should give Americans pause if they think about another natural disaster and, God forbid, perhaps an intentional mass-casualty effect in the United States. If we bring this same level of expertise and skill and insight, then we surely will see another major disaster on our hands. I hope we do not. That is why it is important to look carefully and closely at what transpired and to do so through an independent commission. I hope we learn from this and apply it to the future, but most particularly, I hope we give real, immediate, and effective support to hundreds of thousands, perhaps even a million Americans who tonight still endure the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

I yield the floor.

Source