Alcee Hastings

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record at the appropriate place the letters earlier mentioned from the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on July 24, 2001, the Secretary of Education passed on a letter to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink), and I ask unanimous consent to include it in the Record.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation to establish the National Office for Combating Terrorism within the Executive Office of the President. With more than three dozen different federal agencies tasked with countering terrorism, an umbrella agency with responsibility for coordination and communication is sorely needed. It is not enough for our government to be united in word. We must also be united in deed. If we are truly fighting a sustained and long-term battle against terrorism, then we must produce an efficient and effective system to wage a full-scale war. This bill, the House companion to legislation introduced by my friend and colleague, Senator Bob Graham, creates the National Office for Combating Terrorism under the direction of the President. This office has the responsibility for developing a comprehensive national strategy for the prevention of, and response to, acts of terrorism. This encompassing strategy will be known as the ``National Terrorism Prevention and Response Strategy.'' Priorities must be set, and clear and effective policies, goals and objectives must be delineated. This office will coordinate, oversee, and evaluate the implementation of this strategy, which will include joint efforts with both state and local governments to ensure clear communications. The National Office for Combating Terrorism will also have the responsibility for developing an annual budget for the national strategy, including the budgets of departments and agencies within the National Foreign Intelligence Program that deal with international terrorism. However, military programs and projects will not be incorporated into this budget. Personnel will be appointed by the President with proper and timely Senate confirmation. Mr. Speaker, the Bush Administration continually emphasizes the multifaceted front of this war on terrorism. Our military forces are stronger and better trained than the terrorist forces. Our economic livelihood is light years ahead of theirs, our intelligence network is more capable, and our resolve is more powerful. On all fronts of this war we have the upper hand. So let us make sure that our organization is more effective than theirs. Our counter terrorist agencies are making the right moves. Let us ensure that they all move in the same direction. I sincerely hope that my colleagues will work with me to ensure the passage of this important legislation. Thank you.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to introduce the Family Leisure Incentive (FLI) Act of 2001. The events of September 11 have left our country desperately searching for some level of normality. Indeed, Americans are slowly beginning to return to their lives--or at least as much as can be expected. But in their efforts to move on, Americans remain hesitant to travel, whether it be by plane, train, or ship. In turn, the tourism industry in our country, and subsequently the industries directly affected by tourism, have come to a virtual standstill. Everywhere I look in this country, industries are hurting. In Florida, we are feeling the wake of September 11 more than ever. For the first time in my life, hotels in South Florida are reporting record lows in occupancy levels, travel agencies are losing customers by the dozen, and the cruise industry is reporting that its ships are leaving port half empty. These figures do not even begin to take into account the tens of thousands of people who work for the airline industry in my district and are no longer employed. The bottom line is that if people do not get on planes, then people do not check into hotels. If people do not check into hotels, then businesses and cities that depend on tourism fail to survive. If businesses lose money, then people lose jobs. If people lose jobs, then stress at home increases. In turn, families break up, alcoholism and domestic violence increase, depression is imminent, and at times, even worse, suicide becomes an option. The FLI Act provides individuals and families with tax incentives to travel in the next year by air, land, or sea, and not be afraid to vacation. It allows individuals to deduct up to $750 from their taxable income to help cover the costs of travel and lodging, whether on land or on sea. Families who file jointly can deduct up to $1,500. The FLI Act is a relatively inexpensive and cost effective way that Congress can help stimulate our faltering economy. Airline bailout bills only provide a temporary solution to potentially, a long term problem. The FLI Act provides Congress with the needed vehicle to address the needs of America's hurting tourism industry, and at the same time, provide tax relief for working class and low-income families at a time they need it most. I urge my colleagues to move swiftly and pass this innovative and necessary legislation.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant). (Mr. TRAFICANT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the ranking member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, it is a distinct, pleasure and honor to serve with the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Goss) on both the Committee on Rules and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this rule providing for the consideration of H.R. 2883, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, House Resolution 252. This is a modified open rule requiring that amendments be preprinted in the Congressional Reocrd. However, Mr. Speaker, the preprinting requirement has been the accepted practice for a number of years because of the sensitive nature of much of the bill and the need to protect its classified documents. The bill is not controversial and was reported from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence by a unanimous vote. I underscore that in these times, since the events of September 11. The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is fully mindful of the extraordinary pain suffered by the victims and all of us in America as it pertains to those events. Thus, this year, this bill becomes as important as at any time in America's history. Members who wish to do so can go to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence offices to examine the classified schedule of authorizations for the programs and activities of the intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the national intelligence program, which includes the CIA as well as the foreign intelligence and counterintelligence programs within, among others, the Department of Defense; the National Security Agency; the Departments of State, Treasury, and Energy; and the FBI. Also included in the classified documents are the authorizations for the Tactical Intelligence and Related Activities and Joint Military Intelligence Program of the Department of Defense. Mr. Speaker, last week the House considered and passed the authorization for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2002. The intelligence bill we consider today is another critical component in our national defense. Today, as I indicated earlier, more than ever we need to be vigilant about the myriad threats to our national security. Mr. Speaker, while there may be debate on a few worthy amendments, this is a noncontroversial bill providing authorizations for important national security programs. I urge my colleagues to support this rule and to support the underlying bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment. I want to make it crystal clear to all of my colleagues, but especially to the sponsors of this amendment, all of whom are my good friends and for whom I have the greatest respect. I want them to know that I fully support the spirit of their amendment and in the past have supported similar freestanding bills. It is the substance of this particular amendment that I object to, and my objection can be distilled to one word: jobs. At a time when a different company each day announces massive layoffs, this amendment in my opinion would ultimately mean more unemployed people in this country. And, by the way, these are not people, by and large, who can just switch from company to company. No, some of these people are some of our Nation's farmers, the people who actually put the food on our table. In mine and the district of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley), 50 percent of all the winter vegetables in this country are grown in the Glades area that we represent. These people help to put clothes on our back. I will not stand on this floor and support an amendment which will put some of the hardest working people in this country and in my State and district out of work. I exhort my colleagues to think about this before they cast a vote on this amendment. Sometimes we speak from personal experiences here on the floor, and some people who claim some interest in farms visited their grandmama or grandpapa at some point during the course of their lifetime on a farm and do not know very much about it, and some would argue, ``Well, what do you know?'' Well, I come with the experience as a boy of having been a migrant laborer. I picked beans, cut chicory and stripped celery in the district, interestingly enough, that I am now privileged and honored to represent. Mr. Chairman, I applaud my colleagues who have moved this amendment. Like each of them, I am proud of the environmental record I have accumulated in 9 years in this House of Representatives. In fact, according to the League of Conservation Voters, I have one of the highest environmental ratings of any Member in my State and most Members in Congress. But let me get down to brass tacks. I wish we had the money to do everything we need to do today, not only about this, but certainly about the residual of the events of September 11. I wish we had the money to increase funding for conservation and make certain our farmers get what they need. Unfortunately, this House, in my opinion, passed an unwise tax cut months ago, and we must now live with the consequences and within the budget that we passed. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Combest) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) have recognized that and have forged a good farm bill for us all to consider, and they are to be complimented along with the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) and the subcommittee as it pertains to this particular measure being debated. This is not an either-or situation. It is simply a false argument to say that you are either for conservation or for farmers. I am both. And the authors of this bill, Chairman Combest, Ranking Member Stenholm and others, have provided $16 billion for conservation programs. This represents a 75 percent increase over current funding. A 75 percent increase. I challenge any of my colleagues in the House to find another program that we give such an increase. Look, there is an old expression around here that everything that needs to be said has been said, but everyone has not said it yet, so I am not going to go on much longer, Mr. Chairman, but I think the ranking member of the committee the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) had it right when he said that this amendment cuts the legs out from under our farmers. I could not agree more. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment and support the underlying bill.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for yielding me time. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask this body, are there any Members here who know more about this farm bill than the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Combest) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm)? The answer is no. And both of them oppose this particular measure. The sugar industry supports 420,000 jobs in America. I do not know of any candy manufacturer or big food chain that has gone out of business because of the price of sugar. I wish I could answer all of my colleagues' statements, but I cannot. Assuredly, they are dead wrong about the Everglades. I do not just fly there; I live there. The sugar industry has reduced its circumstances with reference to the Everglades by 55 percent and is ahead of the Everglades restoration schedule all the way around the board. What you need to know is, among other things, the sugar industry has contributed $279 million towards paying off the national debt since 1991. No other commodity has done that. I personally am just tired of the misinformation that I continue to hear. I understand Members' parochial concerns. That is what I have. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) and I represent 75 percent of the sugar cane growing that is done in the United States of America. But I can tell you this, I have checked a little bit around the world. Our nearest neighbor, our biggest, nearest neighbor, Mexico, Mexico's sugar costs 3 cents more today than in America. I do not understand whether or not these people have traveled anywhere in this world or not, but there is a basic economic principle: find a void and fill it. That is what other sugar producing countries are waiting for. Kill the sugar industry, if you will, and you expect that they are just going to sit on the sidelines? Name me the product that when it went out of business in America, all of a sudden became cheaper? How about steel as an example? We are driving our industry offshore. Now, understand this: as I said, I do not just fly there; I live there. When I drive down Highway 27 to Pahokee, I see a town choking. When I go there to Okeechobee, I have tears in my eyes at the pain that is caused because of the loss of jobs. The same holds true for Belle Glade and Clewiston. I was in Clewiston on a day when 44 people were told they did not have their jobs anymore. Now, I want candy to exist, I want the food chain to exist, and I want the sugar program to exist; and I want all of us to do right by each other, rather than kicking each other when we are down.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I have a very strong feeling that American Airlines should have some of those slots, if we are going to open it, safely, for all of the airlines to be able to undertake to do their responsibilities as well. Mr. Speaker, sometimes bipartisanship takes on characteristics where even on one side of the aisle there may be divisions on issues. Tomorrow, if America is looking, my good friend, and he is my good friend, the gentleman from Chicago, Illinois (Mr. Davis), is going to be opposing a measure that I support. So if they want to see Democrats in a cat fight, wait until tomorrow when the gentleman and I go at it. But tonight, for America, the gentleman and I stand totally together. We will have our dispute about the sugar industry and the confectionery industry on tomorrow. I do not want to take too much of the time, since I control it. I now yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I was about to commit a major mistake. The previous speaker pro tempore, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons), is a cosponsor of this measure as well, and, in light of the fact that he was in the Chair, I was not ignoring that. I want to acknowledge and thank the gentleman, not only for his support, but for his demonstrated leadership here in the House of Representatives. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton), a champion of working and rural Americans, who clearly understands that this tragedy has impacted us all and has impacted North Carolina's industry, its hotel industry, its tourism, and its rural communities.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. I thank the gentlewoman. I make note of the fact that when we prepared the legislation, the gentlewoman was the second person to speak with me about being an original cosponsor. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my distinguished colleague and good friend from Houston, Texas (Mr. Green).

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. I thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee) very much. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I can pretty much assure the Speaker that I will not take the whole hour, but the gravity of why I am here allows that time is of no moment. Time stood still on September 11 for this country and the world. Indeed, time ended for the countless victims that we know so well now lost their lives and many are still missing. Time stood still for the families of those victims and continues to stand still. When that kind of tragedy occurs, in spite of our hope that we will get back to normal, the reality is that we will be normal; but it will be a different kind of normal, and those persons that were lost, Americans and persons from other parts of the world, will have their memories best served if those of us that have the immense responsibility of assisting in getting to the different normal were to take our time and make sure that we do everything that we possibly can to protect the interests of those victims, their families and the various workers and the industries and entrepreneurs that make this great structure of ours function. Toward that end, last week I filed a bill that I come to the floor to speak about tonight, the Displaced Workers Relief Act, which is H.R. 2946; and in addition thereto, the minority leader and myself filed yet another measure that deals with virtually the same subject, but expands the definition of eligible employees. I am proud to report to America this evening that 100 Members of the United States House of Representatives have signed on in that short period of time to the bill that was filed by my Republican colleague, the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart), and myself as the initial movers of 2946. Among that 100, are 10 other Republicans. And, hopefully, in time, more will see the wisdom of this particular measure or will come forward with measures of their own so that we will not be standing still while the lives of others are lost. There are so many creative notions as to what ought be done, and this is minuscule by comparison to some that have been introduced on either side of the aisle. In the other body, Senator Jean Carnahan filed the legislation that our minority leader, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt) and myself and other cosponsors filed. It is not that all of us do not understand the seriousness of where we are in this country, but there is such a great need for us not to obfuscate, for us not to be about the business of trying to one-up each other, of our being prepared to sit down. I am fond of saying that we probably should be locked up here in the Capitol, all 540 of us that represent the people of this great country, until such time as we have come up with appropriate legislative answers that will address our needs and the needs of our constituents. In the past 2 weeks, Mr. Speaker, more than 100,000 airline employees have been laid off as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11. In the coming days, weeks, and months, it is almost certain that the number of layoffs in the airline industry alone, as well as the industries directly affected and indirectly affected by airline travel, will affect all of us as far as the change that comes; will affect us all and the effects of same will be drastic increases in unemployment. The residual from this tragedy is beyond anything any of us ever comprehended would happen in our homeland. And it has not only devastated one portion of our industry that we rushed, correctly, to assist, the airline industry, the linchpin, the literal vertebra of this country insofar as our commercial activity is concerned, we correctly addressed that. But at that time, we left out the airline workers; and we left out the collateral. And now we say we are going to come back to that. I want to make it very clear that while I am advocating this evening in this legislation for airline workers, I really am advocating for all of America and all of America's workers. When the National Airport is not open, it does not just affect United States Congress persons, it affects 16 million people that travel through that airport, and it affects everybody from the salesperson of the magazines and newspapers that we purchase to the sky captains, to the mechanics, to the restaurant workers. All of us are affected when this kind of tragedy occurs. Aviation experts as well as the Government Accounting Office note that the airline industry has a high multiplier effect. It is thought by some that for every 100 jobs created by the airline industry an additional 250 jobs are created by those industries who service the airlines. In turn, as many as 250,000 workers may have already lost or will soon be on the brink of losing their jobs. I was standing on the floor speaking with both the representatives from Hawaii, and I am sure the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink) will not mind my telling this story about the loss that is occurring not only in Hawaii, but in my home State of Florida, in California, and all over this Nation. The City of Washington, D.C. has under 50 percent registration in its hotels. But the gentlewoman from Hawaii was telling me that she and her family were planning a celebration, a family reunion. And what transpired when she went to a meeting where they were organizing the effort, they learned that the hotel that they were scheduled to hold their family reunion in is closing. I can tell my colleagues that that is going to happen in an awful lot of places. The vignettes, Mr. Speaker, the anecdotes that we all have picked up on on both sides of the aisle from our colleagues are ad infinitum with reference to the losses that are occurring. I went to the Miami International Airport yesterday. I had received a letter from the Miami-Dade Mayor, Alex Penelas, as well as my county commissioners in Broward and Palm Beach County that have come here to discuss, among other things, the losses that are the derivative in all of this. Yesterday, I saw two people that were leaving the airport, having been alerted that their jobs were no longer needed, one woman, a Latino lady, with tears in her eyes. Now, we have a responsibility to do something about that; and I, quite frankly, believe that we will and that we can. One of the things that Minority Leader Gephardt or Senator Carnahan's bill, and I cannot continue to talk about this bill without continuing to mention my colleague, the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart), but what we forgot was something that a lot of us forget, that is definitional with reference to legislation. We forgot to include Guam and American Samoa and the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia in our definition. So I will be amending my legislation to reflect that. And I thank my colleague, the gentleman from Guam (Mr. Underwood), for bringing that to my attention. Very occasionally we file legislation not mindful that Americans in our territories also need to be contemplated. What would have happened had my legislation fortunately passed is that Guam would not have been eligible for any of the consideration that I had offered. That must be corrected. Those kinds of little things are why we need to share, why we do need to make sure that we are talking with each other. The Mayor of Dade County wrote me about the airline and aviation industry, that it is the county's primary economic engine, consisting in that county alone of more than 90,000 workers and representing more than 9 percent of the county's total workforce. The loss of jobs and income in Miami Dade and in Broward, that is Ft. Lauderdale, my major city that I am fortunate and privileged to represent, and in Palm Beach County, the multiplier is something in the neighborhood of 160,000 workers at airports alone. Without them there is no doubt that Florida's economy is going to be hindered for years to come. If Florida's economy, just like the District of Columbia's economy, is hindered, then all of America's economy is hindered. I am fond of teasing my friends who act parochially all the time by telling them if the sparrow falls, it will not necessarily fall in their district. I mean no offense when I say that, but this is not a district thing. It is an American thing. It is an international thing. We live in a global village, and we are fortunate that God has given us the privileges that we have in this country. To preserve them, this Congress, this institution, has the responsibility of passing not just this legislation but companion legislation that will address all of our needs. A lot of times we do not take into consideration the human dimension when tragedy occurs. I want us to be sure that, while we did what I perceive to be the right thing in protecting airplanes, that we do what is the right thing in protecting people. When we introduced this legislation, among the things that the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart) and I hoped would happen is that we would extend unemployment benefits from 26 to 78 weeks. This is the same amount provided to workers under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program. We hope and we believe that it would be helpful to provide 26 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits for workers who would not otherwise qualify. The gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart) and I feel and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the minority leader, and Senator Carnahan feel that to extend job-training benefits from 15 to 78 weeks, this is the same amount provided under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, and it is the right thing to do for America. We would want to provide up to 78 weeks of federally subsidized Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 premiums, COBRA it is referred to in the vernacular here. We will provide up to 72 weeks of optional Medicaid coverage to workers who are not covered under COBRA, and they are too numerous to mention. Under either bill, all airline and airplane workers, including transit workers as well as employees who work for airline suppliers, such as service employees and plane manufacturers, like the upwards of 30,000 people in the State of Washington in the Boeing manufacturing part of the airline industry, not to mention the other places where parts are made, those persons too will be eligible to receive these benefits. The two bills are cost-effective ways to assist workers and their families as they deal with these hard times and at the same time, help stimulate our faltering economy. Working families will not be saving this meager assistance that we are trying to provide them. On the contrary, they will be putting it back into the economy at a time it desperately needs it. Everywhere I look in this country industries and businesses are hurting. Hotels are reporting record lows in occupancy levels. I am a native Floridian. For the very first time in Florida, Florida's hotels are occupied at a single digit level. Need I remind people of Las Vegas and Mississippi and California and Hawaii and other places, not to mention just New York and the places where the tragedy impacted severely, physically. The residual is that we are losing. I filed another measure to assist in protecting travel agencies who were losing customers by the dozens, and their number of unemployed within the next 2 weeks is expected to be 8,500. The cruise industry that borders my shores, including the day cruise industry, those persons that provide some luxury, and I will be filing another measure that will now address the American family and the American middle class who misses out so often when we do things here in the House of Representatives, and that measure that will be introduced before the end of the day tomorrow or at the earlier portion of the next day, that will be cosponsored by the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) and the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Mrs. Mink) and the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie), will give the hotel industry and the travel industry a shot in the arm if we would allow tax deductions for families when they take their vacations in the places that we need to get back to normal. Service industries dependent upon airlines are closing their doors as we speak. One person said to me that in the Fiji Islands, people got off of the airplane and were ready to go on their cruise. They were deboarded from the cruise line because the tour operators at the rest of their destinations, which included the territories, had gone bankrupt. We need to fly planes but protect people. Both of the bills that we are using as vehicles here in Congress can use all of my colleagues to address the human dimension in national tragedy we all know affects us all. Mr. Speaker, let us look at another country which is accustomed to terrorism and how they handled their situation. Yesterday morning, USA Today ran an editorial arguing that Congress should not be helping out hurting industries and unemployed workers in this time of need. The paper claimed that Federal assistance to these faltering industries is unnecessary and fails to truly stimulate the economy. Fortunately, USA Today was fair, and I had the opportunity to respond to what I perceive to be a misleading and incorrect editorial. Mr. Speaker, I take tonight as an opportunity to ask USA Today to consider again the response that I offered and to allow for other Members of Congress to display their views, which I am sure they are willing to do. In preparing the response, I was curious as to how other countries dealt with acts of terrorism and the result of these cowardly acts. As many of us would have done, I sought a visual, a country which has dealt with terrorism for more than 50 years. Interestingly enough, in responding to decreasing profits in many industries and increasing unemployment as a result of continuing terrorist attacks in Israel, the Israeli Government has responded in a similar manner to how we are responding here in the United States. Just in the last week and a half, the Israeli Government provided the hotel industry with emergency funds to offset their single digit occupancy levels. The Israeli cabinet has approved emergency measures to fight unemployment that has come as a result of the increasing amounts of terrorism within Israel's borders. It is time for Congress to follow that kind of lead and not allow any unemployed worker to go on living without help. Mr. Speaker, I have been joined by several of my colleagues, and I yield to the gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson).

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. I thank the gentlewoman. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee). I mentioned earlier the losses. I am sure that the gentleman from Washington will be able to bring us current. I am sure that my statistics do not reflect all of the collateral damage that has been done in his great State.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. I thank the gentlewoman. I would alert my colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon), and his traveling companions, and I would ask the American public to pay attention to the next hour that interrelates in this global village. I just want the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) to know that we have less than 10 minutes, and I will not take all of that time. His traveling companions are my good friends, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes), with whom I serve on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. And they are going to consume the next hour, and I am sure they are going to enlighten us with reference to recent and laborious travel they have undertaken and as it relates to our present circumstances. Mr. Speaker, last week I received a call from George Mador. Mr. Mador is the President of L&M Aircraft Services, and he called my office looking for help. L&M is a small aircraft maintenance company that services charter airlines transporting passengers to and from the Bahamas. L&M has only seven employees, and many of them have been with the company for the majority of the company's existence. However, in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, L&M is now facing imminent bankruptcy; and its seven employees, therefore, are facing certain unemployment. George told me that he did not want to get out of bed this morning because of the reality that he will have to lay off at least half of his staff by the end of the week as a result of zero income in the past 3 weeks. Last week's payroll left George and some of his employees without a paycheck and L&M $500 in the hole. With no apparent income coming in the past 2 weeks, the future of L&M airport services and its seven employees are undoubtedly in jeopardy. At the three international airports that I am privileged to serve, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Palm Beach, and Miami, there are more than 300 small businesses like L&M that are now on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of lost income. In Miami-Dade, as I have said earlier, the airline industry is the economic engine representing more than 9 percent of the county's total workforce. Thousands of employees already have or will lose their jobs, and hundreds of businesses will go under nationwide if Congress does not expedite this legislation, as well as other legislation. The headline in this morning's Palm Beach Post read, ``Florida's layoffs worst in 10 years.'' That is not unique to Florida. It happens to be the place that I am privileged to represent. But those layoffs nationwide are immense, and we have a responsibility here in this institution to do something about it and to do it now, for all of the workers of this country. This country has a historical precedence in protecting our economy when it needs it most. During the Depression, and I was born during that period, and my mother saw the earlier stages of the real Depression, the 1929 crash. Although we were in a different kind of society, I can tell you that the week of the crash itself, 1,000 persons committed suicide. So last week when I introduced this legislation someone said I was being incendiary, because I was using the facts to demonstrate what can and likely will happen in this country, and among those things are increased child abuse, increased domestic violence, increased alcoholism, and, indeed, crime will increase. People ask, how can we afford to do what you are saying, Al? I ask them, how can we afford not to? During the Depression, President Roosevelt worked with Congress and initiated the New Deal. From Social Security to Job Corps programs, the WCC and the WPA, the New Deal succeeded in stimulating a dead economy, much more dead than ours is now, while at the same time creating a safety net and programs such as Social Security that would provide immediate relief as well as long-term security. Reflecting on the programs that were created in the New Deal, President Roosevelt in 1936, the year of my birth, said, ``America got something for what we spent, conservation of human resources through the CCC camps and through worker relief, conservation of natural resources, of water, soil, and forest; billions of dollars for security and a better life. While many who criticize today were selling America short, we were investing in the future of America.'' Today, at a time when our country mourns and hurts, it is the responsibility of the Federal Government and the United States Congress to do what it needs to do in order to help all Americans deal with these hard times, all working Americans especially. For Congress to remain silent at a time hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost their jobs as a result of the terrorist attacks would be nothing short of irresponsible. Another Roosevelt quote from May of 1932. President Roosevelt said, ``The country needs, and unless I mistake its temper, the country demands, bold, persistent experimentations. It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.'' Domestic security is not just protecting our borders with guns and soldiers. It is not just protecting our planes and airports. On the contrary, domestic security is also about protecting our economy. It is about protecting our industries and our entrepreneurs, and it is about protecting all of America's workers. If we fail to consider these crucial elements of our country, while charting a response to the cowardly acts of terrorism that occurred 3 weeks ago, then we ultimately allow the terrorists to succeed in altering our lives for not just days, but for years to come; and that new normalcy that we will have will be but a fading memory of the old normalcy before September 11. I want to applaud, Mr. Speaker, as I conclude, all of the agencies of our government: FEMA, the firefighters in New York and at the Pentagon that came from all over this great country of ours; the police officers here on Capitol Hill that have worked, as reported today in Roll Call magazine, some of them, lots of them, most of them, 72 hours a week, protecting the interests of America's Congress persons, as well as those of us that live here and work on Capitol Hill. I applaud those officers, the officers in New York, as well as those from around the country. I would like to especially applaud the FBI for the enormity of the task that they have undertaken in the face of sometimes unwarranted criticism; the same for the Central Intelligence Agency, and FEMA, which lost its own building, its own offices, in the World Trade Center. They too are to be complimented. But most of all, the people of New York City, the people of Washington, D.C., the people in Pennsylvania where the tragedies struck home the hardest, and they felt the victimization more than those of us with our rhetoric, more than those of us with our creative notions about what we can do in order to set and stabilize our economy. They felt that pain, and they responded in kind as Americans are wont to do when they are faced with difficult and tragic times. I ask all of our colleagues, what would we be doing, what would we be doing if a tactical nuclear weapon had been used in either of the three sites where folks were victimized and lost their lives and families who are still mourning them? And what makes anybody think that if these fools had the tactical nuclear weapon that they would not have used them, for they feel they have some divine mandate from God to eliminate people who do not think like them. Had it been a nuclear tactical weapon, none of us would have gone home, no airports would be open, and we would be here in this building and the people in the other body would be in that building until such time as we could conference with real solutions, not just for big dogs feeding at the trough, but for all Americans. I entreat this country to answer that question, How we can afford it? Simply by saying, we cannot afford not to afford it. There are outyears in this tax cut that has been put forward. Anybody in their right mind would know that we can repeal those tax cuts in the years 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, and take care, as Franklin Roosevelt did, of the needs of our country now.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I would hurry through this in the interest of time. I was saying that I wanted to thank the chairman of the subcommittee and the ranking member, as well as the chairman and ranking member of the full committee. I know that they have observed the necessity by virtue of the fact that there are funds that are here, but I also know that in the District of Columbia there are significant problems that have not been addressed with reference, as we did at the Committee on Rules last night, I pointed this out, that they in some respects have inadequate resources in the fire and police department. As our Nation's capital, the District of Columbia is an obvious target. However, as we saw 2 weeks ago, it is in many respects unprepared for such attacks. I applaud, as I have, and commend the efforts and actions of the District's law enforcement agencies and officials. I am equally concerned about the inadequacy of resources available to the District's police and fire departments, however. No plan was in place on September 11 that dictated how the D.C. police and fire department would deal with a plane attack anywhere in the District, and I am unaware of any plan currently in place that deals with chemical or biological attacks or any other domestic disaster that may occur in the future. This is unacceptable. In a day and age that warfare is unconventional and casualties will most likely occur within our homeland, our country needs to be prepared. Cities, States and the Federal Government, all need to do their part in developing emergency plans on how to deal with such disasters. Congress needs to do its part today, and that is why I had offered the amendment which at this time I do thank the chairman and the ranking member for giving me the opportunity and the great hopes that if a supplemental comes along that we will contemplate the fact that we, this capital, are in the District of Columbia and that they need resources in order to be prepared for any future attacks that we may suffer. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. The amendment that I would offer, I talked with the chairman and ranking member about the fact that I will withdraw it. I apologize for the delay. I was trying to get an additional copy for the Reading Clerk. I rise to have this considered to provide the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police and Fire Department with an additional $5 million for the purpose of emergency preparation. In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, it is clear that our country needs to do more to prepare for such attacks. Let me make it very clear, the chairman and ranking member of this committee, as well as the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, have already addressed this particular subject.

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.