Making Emergency Supplemental Appropriations For The Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2006

MAKING EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 -- (Senate - April 27, 2006)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I know the hour is getting late, but I appreciate the opportunity to talk a little bit about the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the State of Texas.

As a member of the Committee on the Budget, I am keenly aware of our fiscal challenges. During the consideration of the budget resolution, I had offered an amendment which would slow the growth of mandatory spending, hopefully to allow a little bit more flexibility so we can fund our Nation's priorities while we also manage our fiscal house.

The amendments I have offered that I wish to talk about at this time are No. 3699 and No. 3672. These amendments aim to make Texas whole from the 2005 hurricanes, and it won't cost the Federal Treasury a single dime more. They are specifically tailored to deal with the needs that are true emergencies in every sense of the word.

I need to set the record straight about some misperceptions with regard to the state of my State; in particular, the impact these two natural disasters, the worst storms in our Nation's history, Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, had on the State of Texas.

Although the State was not hit directly by Hurricane Katrina, it was significantly affected by that storm. It came in a flood of evacuees fleeing New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In a matter of days, the Texas population grew by roughly the size of an average U.S. city, some half a million people, many of whom you see pictured to my right in a picture of the Astrodome floor where the evacuees were housed temporarily. It is estimated that at one point, there were 17,500 people housed at the Astrodome. It was only one of four megasites in Houston to house evacuees. Another 4,000 were housed at Reliant Arena and 2,300 at Reliant Center. The George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston took the remaining people, about 2,800 evacuees.

I have shown a picture of the city of Houston, but this is just one large concentration of the evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. We can show similar pictures of evacuation sites and housing sites all around the State. It was obviously no small feat to take care of the needs of these people who just had their homes and their lives taken away from them as they previously knew them.

I remember shortly after this occurred there were many people who would stop me here in the Senate, in the hallways of the Senate office buildings, around Washington, DC, and elsewhere and tell me how thankful and grateful they were that the people of Texas were so willing to take in their neighbors at a time of need.

The fact is, a large number of the people who have come to Texas in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are those with some of the greatest needs. That was true where they lived previously--many of them in Louisiana--and among the people were those with the greatest needs in our country in general. This shows thousands of people in Houston and elsewhere who were in wheelchairs. This man has a cane, and many of these individuals had special needs. They were not necessarily able-bodied when they came to the State. This obviously has put an incredible strain on Texas's local support systems in the midst of this flood, a flood of humanity.

This hurricane and the subsequent hurricane, Hurricane Rita, went straight up the Sabine River between Texas and Louisiana. I still remember talking to one of the computer scientists who had actually modeled the potential impact on the State if Hurricane Rita had not taken a right-hand turn and gone up right through southeast Texas. He said that if a category 4 hurricane hit Houston, there would be a minimum of $80 billion in additional property damage. Thank goodness that did not happen, and thank goodness there was no loss of life on a massive scale. But that was primarily because of the evacuation of the city of Houston and the fact that Mother Nature decided to spare Houston a direct hit while it took a right-hand turn straight up the Sabine River between Texas and Louisiana.

The coast, private property, critical infrastructure, and millions of lives were devastated by the storm. As this picture indicates--and I am sure the Senator from Mississippi and other Senators from other States directly affected can identify with the devastation we see here--this is just one example of the devastation in southeast Texas caused by Hurricane Rita.

In light of these two unprecedented events, Texas counties that were most seriously affected need help, like the other affected regions of our country that are more visible. I am sorry to say, notwithstanding all of the good work that has been done by the Federal Government, the reimbursements now range in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but Texas has not been made completely whole as a result of these hurricanes.

I am deeply troubled by reports I have received from some that there is a widespread perception that Texas is doing just fine and that we somehow managed to absorb half a million people, including their needs for housing, food, security, health care, education, and employment, just to name a few, and that somehow some people still believe that Texas should have no special need for additional Federal assistance, no need to make the State whole or to have restored to us a reasonable portion of the resources we willingly gave and continue to give to our neighbors in need.

Consider that the parishes of western Louisiana that were most directly affected by Hurricane Rita--not Katrina--were granted a much more favorable Federal-State cost-sharing ratio of 90 percent Federal to 10 percent State versus the 75/25 that was granted to Texas. The counties in southeastern Texas were denied that same benefit, even though their damage was similar and they suffered a similar impact. The only difference we are talking about here is on which side of the Sabine River these counties were located.

I am in no way minimizing the devastation and destruction that affected places such as New Orleans and Mississippi, Alabama, and elsewhere. They have suffered tremendously. But the people of Texas have experienced their share of destruction, as well. So I take this opportunity for a few moments to provide my colleagues with a summary, a snapshot of the current situation in Texas nearly 9 months after half a million evacuees flooded our State.

Based on FEMA registrations, an estimated 450,000 to 490,000 Katrina evacuees currently remain in Texas. Approximately 5,900 are individuals with essential needs that I mentioned a moment ago, those who are mentally or physically disabled, frail, or otherwise require special care. Approximately 286,000 of the evacuees are still housed in Texas hotels. Approximately 130,000 of them are in rental housing. Only 27,000 housing units are now even available to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

Many Texas communities were hit with a one-two punch: first, providing shelter to half a million Katrina evacuees and then suffering enormous devastation from Hurricane Rita themselves. Funds are needed to provide housing assistance to Texas residents whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Rita and to assist the nearly 400,000 residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama who continue to reside in Texas, albeit on a temporary basis.

Unfortunately, Texas only received $74.5 million of the $11.5 billion made available in the community development block grants in last year's Defense appropriations bill. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has estimated that more than 27,000 homes in southeast Texas and 75,000 homes throughout the State were damaged or destroyed while thousands of businesses suffered heavy damage resulting in more than $1 billion in loss. I have offered an amendment that ensures Texas and all other States affected by hurricane devastation receive no less than 3.5 percent of the $5.2 billion included in the bill for CDBG.

I note that Senator Landrieu, from Louisiana, is one of the consponsors of that amendment.

Considering Texas has taken in almost half a million evacuees, it seems reasonable we would receive a modest 3.5 percent of the funds allocated for housing.

With regard to jobs and welfare, currently about 62,000 evacuees are receiving food stamps from the State of Texas allotment. Of these, 97 percent are from Louisiana. Sixty-one percent of the food stamp recipients stated in a poll that they expected to return to their State within 3 months. Yet notwithstanding their response to the poll, they remain in Texas, and we must provide for them. Texas Workforce Commission has worked diligently to process more than 60,000 unemployment claims from Louisiana. Yet there are thousands more who will need employment training skills as they remain in our State.

One of the amendments I have offered directs the Secretary of Labor to prioritize States that have taken in Hurricane Katrina and Rita evacuees when distributing the remainder of fiscal year 2006 national emergency grants.

I note that Senator Hutchison has joined me as cosponsor. I ask unanimous consent that she be added as a cosponsor to that amendment.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. CORNYN. With regard to health care to help accommodate the large influx of people to Texas, my State was given a waiver by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that allows the State to reimburse providers who incurred costs for uncompensated health care. Evacuees at any income level who did not have insurance coverage were provided medically necessary health care through this waiver. Texas provided evacuees health care, long-term care, prescription medicines, and medical transportation through two programs, Medicaid and the Uncompensated Care Program. Those not eligible for the Medicaid Program but who had incomes below a certain cutoff were provided coverage under the Uncompensated Care Program.

I next will talk about education. This chart depicts an evacuee, a young lady who is showing up for elementary school. There were 45,099 Katrina evacuees enrolled in Texas on October 13. Today, there are still about 36,000 Katrina children in our public schools alone. The photo next to me depicts one of the many such centers that were quickly established at conference centers and temporary shelters to register children who had evacuated to our State. Each of these children represents a cost of about $7,500 a year for the State of Texas to educate.

Furthermore, approximately 5,000 Katrina evacuees are currently enrolled in Texas public universities and colleges. I give special credit to Texas institutions of higher education that took in students and faculty from other States with limited reimbursement.

This massive evacuation, this wave of humanity, also has had an impact on crime in our State. According to a recent news article, evacuees have been victims of or accused of committing 39 of the 235 murders in Houston since last September, according to Houston's police chief, Harold Hurtt. In the month of January, Houston saw a 34-percent rise in felonies over the previous year. This city had 800 officers retire in the past 2 years; it recently moved 100 officers working in city jails to high-crime areas while also significantly increasing overtime. It is no small thing to reallocate those resources which are already stretched thin.

Texas has given generously of its resources to our neighbors during a time of need. That is something we will continue to do and that we are enormously proud of. I have made a commitment to the people of my State that I will do all I can to ensure that the affected communities are reimbursed for the cost of providing care to victims of Katrina and that those affected by Hurricane Rita will receive fair treatment as they also face the daunting task of rebuilding their lives.

This shown here is another picture. Here again, I am sure the Senator from Mississippi recognizes this kind of devastation, with cars turned on end as a result of the force of the storm in southeast Texas. I am talking now about Hurricane Rita again.

When the good people of my State signed up for helping their neighbors, they were in it for the long haul. We will continue to support the evacuees who come to our State, even as we work to recover ourselves from Hurricane Rita. But I am here to make sure we have the tools and the resources necessary to do the job right.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

http://thomas.loc.gov