Making Appropriations for Science, The Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, and Related Agencies for FiscalYear 2006

MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR SCIENCE, THE DEPARTMENTS OF STATE, JUSTICE, AND COMMERCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Hurricane Katrina may be the worst natural disaster in my lifetime, maybe in modern memory. The stories that come back from that hurricane and that disaster are so touching. Today, a man was rescued in his home. It was reported in the news that had he gone another day without water, he would have died. It is amazing that he survived through these weeks since Hurricane Katrina struck.

Senator MARY LANDRIEU, our colleague from Louisiana, came back with so many real-life stories that were so touching. There is one she told me and several others that I repeated back in my home State of Illinois. It is an amazing story about a 65-year-old woman who was living alone in a simple house in New Orleans and had nowhere to go and no way to leave. She thought her little house, which had been through an awful lot, could take whatever God would give, and she was relieved when the hurricane skirted around New Orleans.

Within hours, of course, disaster struck in the form of a flood. She told MARY LANDRIEU, who found her in one of the hospital facilities, that the water just came rushing in, first 4 feet of it, and then more. As it was rising, she was wondering where she would turn. She went through her house and thought maybe, just maybe she could crawl up into the attic. She set a stepladder up in her kitchen, but she did not have the strength to move from her stepladder up into the attic. She could just barely get her head up into the attic. The water rose to the ceiling, to her chin, while she was standing on that stepladder. She stood on that stepladder for 2 days. She told MARY LANDRIEU that she kept wondering why the level of the water was changing every once in a while. Of course, it was the tidal flow of the water from the Gulf of Mexico, the tidal flow in her kitchen.

Finally, one of her neighbors thought about her, came and helped her out, and the two of them scrambled up to the roof. With a little help, she survived to tell the story.

She told MARY LANDRIEU that in those dark hours, standing on that ladder with water up to her chin, she survived on faith, faith in God but faith in the belief that someone would come to help her.

For many people in New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama and throughout the State of Louisiana, that someone was our Government. People knew that at the worst moments they could count on our Government to be there because our Government is our American family and we do pull together. When one part of our family is in distress, we pull together to help. And she waited and waited and waited.

A doctor I met in Chicago on Friday at one of the evacuee centers happened to be in New Orleans on Monday when the hurricane and then the flood hit. He said he didn't see his first rescue worker until Thursday in the city of New Orleans. He was lucky. He was on high ground in a hotel--a doctor. He really became the head of a small hospital in that hotel.

Something awful happened as a result of this hurricane. Too many people were left behind. Too many people were let down. The most vulnerable people in America didn't have their Government, their American family standing there to help them in their greatest hour of need.

For a long time there was a political exchange back and forth in Washington: Who is at fault? Who made the mistake? The talk shows, the talking heads, all of them had an opinion. The White House said: Don't get involved in a blame game. That was their phrase. Many others said it really wasn't the Federal Government's fault, it was this, it was that. It went on and on.

Senator Mikulski, who just came back to the floor, managing an important bill, was one of the first, if not the first, who came to the floor and suggested the head of FEMA should move on to another job.

Senator Mikulski, thank you for your leadership. He is gone. I joined her in that chorus. Whatever Mr. Brown's qualifications were, they were not up to the job of handling this natural disaster.

The President came out within the last day and conceded the fact that he had not met his responsibility to the American people in Hurricane Katrina. That is an important admission on his part. I think, once having conceded that point, we can move forward.

I come to the floor now because the Senate missed an extraordinary opportunity to move forward on a bipartisan basis today. There was an amendment offered by Senator HILLARY CLINTON of New York, who certainly knows about disasters, having lived through 9/11 with her colleague, Senator Schumer. Senator Clinton came to the floor today and said: We learned a lesson on 9/11 that if you really want to get to the bottom of what failed in Hurricane Katrina and what we can do to repair the damage in the future, to make certain that the American Government and the American family stand behind its most vulnerable members, we need an independent 9/11-type commission, a bipartisan commission that will take an honest look. Don't load it up with Congressmen and Senators who may have some political axe to grind but make it truly independent.

It worked for 9/11. The two men who were chosen, Gov. Tom Kean, former Republican Governor of New Jersey, and Congressman Lee Hamilton, former Democratic Congressman from Indiana, did an extraordinary service for our country. Their analysis of 9/11 led to the most significant intelligence reform in modern history in our country, and it passed with an amazing, strong, bipartisan vote, thanks to the exceptional work of Senator SUSAN COLLINS, a Republican of Maine, and Senator JOE LIEBERMAN, a Democrat of Connecticut, and Congresswoman JANE HARMAN of California. They all came together with this intelligence reform that grew out of this independent commission.

Senator Clinton came to the floor today and said it worked well for America's greatest terrorist attack. Let us apply the same concept, the same model for this Hurricane Katrina disaster.

We had a chance on a bipartisan basis to rise to the occasion today, and we failed. We failed to pass the Clinton amendment. On a partisan rollcall, Senator Clinton's call for an independent commission was rejected. Why? Why? When you consider the devastation of this hurricane, when you consider the billions of dollars that need to be spent now to bring back these communities and the families and the lives, why, when we know that we want to be prepared tomorrow, God forbid, if another disaster strikes? Why wouldn't we follow Senator Clinton's suggestion? Why wouldn't we create this independent, bipartisan commission that can get to the heart of the issue?

The American people want this, and the Senate rejected it on a partisan rollcall today. That is truly unfortunate. Those who lived through 9/11 recently commemorated a sad fourth anniversary. The lives of those who were lost, of course, will never be reclaimed. Their memories live on. But their families have dedicated themselves, not just to preserving their memory but to doing something important for America. Those families stood behind the 9/11 Commission. They were the political force that kept that commission moving forward when politicians on both sides of the aisle found plenty of excuses to stop.

We need another group of families today. We need the Hurricane Katrina families to come forward. We need for them to say to this Senate, the House of Representatives, and this Government, we truly need another independent commission. We need their voices and we need their strength. I think with it, we will succeed.

Today, Senator Clinton, despite her best efforts, did not succeed. But for the good and safety and security of this Nation, we must.

I look forward to returning to this issue as quickly as possible. I hope we can find a way to not only analyze what we failed to do with Hurricane Katrina but make certain we bring the relief and recovery families need and make America safe again for so many vulnerable Americans who count on our leadership.

I yield the floor.

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