Hurricane Katrina

HURRICANE KATRINA -- (Extensions of Remarks - September 12, 2005)

SPEECH OF
HON. AL GREEN
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2005

Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to join with persons across this great Nation and this world to express my condolences for those who have suffered as a result of Hurricane Katrina. I also want to commend all those people who have worked hard to lift up their fellow man during this time of crisis.

This disaster is one unlike anything we've ever seen before. At one point 80 percent of the city of New Orleans was under water. Up to 1 million families have been displaced. There are estimates that 400,000 to 500,000 people could lose their jobs because of the hurricane. And despite the magnitude of these numbers, they still don't do justice to the human suffering we have seen on television and in person.

But out of every tragedy comes the opportunity for each and every person to show his or her humanity through acts of compassion. That is why I am so proud of my fellow Texans and my fellow Houstonians. Our elected leadership, coalition of community groups, ministers and clergy have come together to make sure that we do everything in our power to help the quarter of a million evacuees we have taken in. In the Houston area alone, we have taken in over 100,000 of our neighbors to the east, 15,000 of which were sheltered in the Astrodome, which is in my Congressional District.

Several organizations in the Houston area are leading the disaster relief effort. Some of the help is coming from volunteers with Operation Compassion, a massive relief effort led by Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston and spearheaded by the Second Baptist Church. The thousands of volunteers from 131 local congregations have assumed primary responsibility for feeding the masses of storm victims who have taken refuge there. I commend them and others for extending their good will towards others.

As we in Congress look towards our next steps, we must ensure that our top priority remains caring for those who have lost loved ones, lost their homes, and lost their means of providing for their families. They have, through no fault of their own, become the least, the last, and the lost of our society. It is our responsibility to help them back on their feet. To do so they will need food stamp assistance and access to Medicaid. They will need temporary emergency housing and the Federal assistance to help them rebuild their homes and their lives.

We have taken important first steps by passing a $10.5 billion disaster relief bill last Friday, followed by an additional $51.8 billion for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security today. But these are only the first in a long series of actions that we will need to try to repair the physical damage caused by Hurricane Katrina as well as the lives of those affected by the hurricane. I ask that all of my distinguished colleagues and the people of this Nation join in the effort to help rebuild and sustain the lives of the Hurricane Katrina victims.

http://thomas.loc.gov