William Jefferson

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I also would like to thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jindal) for offering this amendment. If anyone has been to the gulf coast recently, particularly if anyone has been to New Orleans recently, you will see that there are still many businesses that are still shuttered from the storm that happened now going on close to 2 years, and they are not at all ready to begin repaying loan obligations. There are still many obstacles to their recovery. This rightly recognizes that the reality is that these businesses will take a long time to get themselves back together. It is very important to understand one simple thing here. This is not just a call from the people of our State for humanitarian assistance in the wake of a natural disaster. The Corps has admitted that its negligence in constructing, maintaining and designing our levees is the major reason why our city drowned and why so many businesses were put out of business. And so there is a special responsibility, it seems to me, to make special rules to overcome these problems. I really appreciate this solution that is being offered here because I think it helps to address this extraordinary devastation we have caused in great respect by the action, or lack of action, the negligence, of an agency of our Federal Government. I thank you for the amendment. I really urge the Members to support it.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1562, the Katrina Housing Tax Relief Act of 2007. I am extremely grateful to Chairman Rangel, Ranking Member McCrery, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Camp, and the members of the Ways and Means Committee for their bipartisan support of this bill and for bringing it to the floor in this expeditious manner. As Chairman Rangel stated, it represents this Congress ``doing our part,'' he said, ``to make things right and that begins with helping people get back to their homes.'' Few needs are greater in the city of New Orleans and surrounding areas than affordable housing. One New Orleanian who currently resides in a FEMA trailer 1 hour north of the city surmises that many people want to move back to the city, but after looking at the rental prices has said, who could afford that? In the gulf coast, Katrina destroyed over one-quarter million homes. More than 30 percent of these losses involved affordable housing losses, most of which were rental properties. Post-Katrina, the average rental payment in New Orleans has risen 70 percent. Before Katrina, Mary Wright of our city paid about $300 in rent. Now she pays triple that amount. There are folks who were paying about $500 in rent are now paying $850. New Orleans' population has diminished to only 237,000 residents from 437,000 before the storm. It is not because residents do not wish to return. It is because many cannot afford to return. The lack of affordable housing has caused not only a problem for citizens wishing to return, but it is also a problem for developers, planners, and investors who are strapped in their options to increase affordable housing. The lack of quality affordable housing that is sustainable discourages the return of a workforce and the restoration of the economy of the city. The Low Income Housing Tax Credit is of great assistance to helping our people of the gulf region return home. The credits will be competitively awarded to qualified developers who are then put under the constant scrutiny by our State housing authority to ensure that the buildings that are built are quality affordable housing. The safeguard in the system also provides for 30 years of high-quality housing, and for 15 years the rental properties developed using these tax credits must be maintained as affordable units. Should the properties not continue to meet the criteria specified when receiving the reward, the IRS will recapture the tax credits. In December of 2005, Congress passed the Gulf Opportunities Zone Act, and among other much needed tax incentives it included a significant increase in housing credits for the Gulf States, and a 130 percent basis boost in which they treated all regions as difficult to develop areas, thus allowing them more funding for rebuilding. The gulf coast faces many obstacles to redevelopment. Extending the placed-in-service deadline for both the credits and for the treatment of difficult to develop areas will remove one of them by giving planners and developers in these communities a reasonable time to effectively reinvest in that community. Finally, mortgage revenue bonds have provided over 3.5 million lower- income Americans affordable homeownership opportunities and another 1 million with rental housing opportunities. Since Katrina, they have backed many homeowners but their utility has been limited in that these bonds are typically for first-time home buyers only. Provisions in this legislation waive this requirement for those whose homes were damaged by the hurricanes. This will assist with the rebuilding efforts, allowing mortgage revenue bond proceeds to go towards refinancing home loans, to free up funds for the reconstruction of homes and renewal of families. We need to do everything we can to facilitate recovery, and this bill removes critical obstacles to rebuilding the homes, rental properties, indeed the very life blood of the families of the gulf region. I urge passage and full support of this legislation.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1591, the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability Act. In order to have an open and honest debate on the war in Iraq, we must differentiate between the situation that existed in Iraq when we first arrived there, and the situation that exists today. No longer do we find ourselves facing a united front, the clearly identifiable enemy of insurgents and Saddam loyalists. The current instability in Iraq has become a sectarian civil war, a war in which we have no business participating. We cannot use the parameters of a war that have since changed. We are not aiding the enemy in any way by setting responsible, logical benchmarks, nor are we `micromanaging' our war effort. The situation has changed, and so must the course we take. This bill gives us the framework needed to focus our efforts on those who actually mean us harm, and extricate us from a situation in which we are nothing more than a police force, caught in the middle of a sectarian conflict. By committing to a gradual plan of benchmarks and a firm date of withdrawal, we create an environment in which the Iraqi people themselves become responsible for their future. No longer will they be reliant upon our presence to establish their own nation. The United States will be an important ally of the new Iraq, not an enforcer of the status quo in their nation. I am also pleased that this bill includes several measures to aid our communities along the Gulf Coast. Waiving the local match requirements and forgiving Community Disaster Loans will help the city of New Orleans recover financially from the effects of Katrina. These financial troubles have since been compounded by the Administration's stubborn refusal to treat our disaster, the worst the Nation has ever seen, the same way that all others have been treated. For all previous localities receiving Community Disaster Loans, ranging from Hurricane Andrew to 9/11, 97 percent have been forgiven. This bill would take the long overdue step of forgiving the loans that were extended to communities along the Gulf Coast. Free of this burden that has been unfairly put upon them, our communities can continue their extensive rebuilding efforts. Our hurricane protection system, battered by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, is still not in the condition it was in before the storm. With hurricane season beginning again just a few months from now, we cannot afford to leave the city unprotected for another year. The money included in this bill for the Corps of Engineers ensures the safety of all citizens in the New Orleans area. The Corps should not be forced to delay action on critical hurricane protection projects because they lack the necessary funding. We have already seen the devastation that can be wrought by a hurricane; it is crucial that the Corps have the resources it needs to protect our city. I also wish to highlight several other important programs within this bill whose importance cannot be overstated. We face a housing crisis in New Orleans, with public units drastically reduced in number, and no suitable plan for replacing such units in the short term. Eighty million dollars is provided in this bill for HUD tenant rental assistance so that our citizens can return home as soon as possible. Our elementary education system is in dire need of experienced teachers and administrators. Our colleges and universities were closed for months, and sustained significant physical damages. Sixty million dollars has been provided in this bill, and represents another step in the rejuvenation of our educational establishments. Additional funding for the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program has been provided, and is sorely needed for future disasters. The slow pace at which such loans were administered in the immediate months after Katrina was shameful, and by supporting this bill we have committed to ensure that it never happens again. I urge my colleagues to support this supplemental appropriations bill, which provides everything needed by our troops in Iraq, while setting a course for our necessary disengagement. The people of this great country eloquently expressed their disapproval regarding the course of this war in the November elections and, on their behalf, we should do no less than heed their wishes.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, and I am pleased to sponsor H.R. 1468, the Disadvantaged Business Disaster Eligibility Act. I would like to thank Chairwoman Velazquez as well as Ranking Member Chabot for their leadership in committee on this important bill. I would also like to thank the other members of the committee for voting in a bipartisan spirit to bring this measure to the floor in an expeditious manner. This bill provides that if a small business affected by Hurricane Katrina that participates in any section 8(a) business development program, the eligibility period for its participation in such program is extended by 18 months. The 8(a) program was designed as a 9-year business development program geared toward small businesses owned by citizens who are socially and economically disadvantaged. This program is of benefit to emerging African American, Hispanic, Asian American, and nonminority women-owned firms included in the program's coverage. Once the eligibility for the 9-year program has run out, the small business participating in the program is ineligible to re-enter it. When Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans on August 29, 2005, it left 80,000 businesses damaged or destroyed, 97 percent of which were small businesses. A significant percentage were participating in the 8(a) program and were forced to shut down for an extended period of time, losing time in the program through a series of events far beyond their control. It is only right and fair that we extend the period of eligibility so that the affected disadvantaged businesses are allowed to grow and flourish and enjoy the full 9 years of the program. Nineteen months since Katrina struck, most of our 8(a) firms across the gulf coast are still struggling to return. This bill is about equity and fairness at a time when the road to recovery has been anything but fair for disadvantaged firms in the region. For example, in the time just following the storm, 90 percent of the $2 billion in initial contracts were awarded to companies based outside of the three primary affected States and to large concerns. Minority businesses received just 1.5 percent of the first $1.6 billion spent there. Women-owned businesses received even less. This was the outcome in spite of laws such as the Stafford Act, which require contracting officials to prioritize awards to local businesses and to reach a goal of 5 percent of contracts to minority-owned businesses. The continued recovery from Katrina is made up of many interconnected issues, and we cannot fully recover without addressing all of them. Helping small businesses, as this and other bills such as the RECOVER Act do, restores jobs that our citizens can return home to and puts our businesses back on track. It broadens the tax base of our region and helps with our recovery. I look forward to continuing to work on the Small Business Committee with Ms. Velazquez and Mr. Chabot to address the needs of small businesses in the gulf region.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me. I am having a great deal of trouble connecting the debate here to the reality that people are facing back home. Starting out, you have to know, and just look back to what the conditions were in New Orleans before the storm. Before the storm there wasn't enough affordable housing there even then. There were 18,000 people on a waiting list, 10,000 or so for public housing, 8,000 or so for section 8 vouchers. There were people on waiting lists for 202 housing. All sorts of needs were there. The folks who were down and out then are worse off now. And the folks who were doing a little bit better then are worse off than they were. And so the need has expanded for more assistance there rather than less. With respect to the issue of permanency, which seems to be the gravamen of the gentleman's objection here, we are talking about people who were eligible for section 8 or 202 or whatever the programs might have been before the storm, who were displaced to other places, and who will remain eligible there in these new places. We passed laws early on after the storm to make sure that people were eligible who otherwise might have lost their eligibility because of the fact they were just physically in another place. We took care of that. Now, none of us here would have anticipated it would have taken so long to get people back in their places, to get folks back to New Orleans, to get this whole thing fixed. But it has. For whatever reason, it has. We can cast blame here or there, but whatever the reason is, people have not been able to come back home. I can tell you this much. There aren't many people I have met, and I have been all over the place, in Memphis and in San Antonio and in Houston and in Atlanta, just above in Baton Rouge and up the river. There aren't many people out there who do not want to make their way back home. They are trying desperately to get home. Many of them are close in, doubled up and tripled up in houses, trying to find a way back home. They do not want to be outside of New Orleans. They do not want to be away. We don't need to worry about creating a disincentive for people who return. They want to return home right now, already. Believe me, at the bottom of it all, people want to come back home. Our objective here is to say as long as they are displaced through no fault of their own, as long as programs aren't working to get them back home right now, we have got to make sure that they have a chance to live decently and in some order outside of the city. That is really all that is going on here. You need to understand that the need remains, and it is even greater than it was before the storm for the programs we are talking about here. As to this notion of setting a deadline, we have tried this before in almost every program. All we do is just kind of make people's lives unsettled. We say to people who are in assisted housing in someplace in Houston that by deadline X, you must be out of your place. This is, simply put, to put pressure on people to hope they'll find a way to find a house somewhere. They can't, and so the deadline gets moved anyhow. If we set a deadline here, it can only be arbitrary. We don't know that by December such and such there won't be a need for these programs. We don't know that. What this legislation does is take the more reasonable view that so long as they need the program, then they remain eligible. When they don't need it, then the eligibility disappears, and the people are no longer on the program. That is the only sensible way to deal with this, because no one of us knows, no one of us here can say today when this disaster will be at its end, when recovery will be done. We need to see this through and be logical about it.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1227, the Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007. This bill is just another example of the commitment of this Congress to rebuild the city of New Orleans and the towns and cities surrounding it. I thank Chairman Frank and subcommittee Chair Waters for their outstanding leadership on this legislation. I also thank my Republican colleagues who came down to New Orleans with our chairlady and who did an outstanding job for our people. And I thank them all for the urgency they attached to the housing issues in our region. The affordable housing rental units lost in Katrina represented about 30 percent of the destroyed or severely damaged rental housing in a city that had 60 percent renters before the storm. The crisis of affordable housing in the gulf coast has prevented tens of thousands of families from returning, and that is addressed by this bill substantially. Additionally, more than 4,000 families that resided in public housing have not returned because their developments remain closed despite their having valid leases with their rent paid on time. Some have made their way back to the city only to discover their units boarded up and padlocked. Two 60-year-old identical twins, Gloria Williams and Bobbie Jennings, came to Washington to explain what happened to them after Katrina. These women lived in adjacent apartments in the C.J. Peete public housing development for 24 years. After they were forced to evacuate for Katrina, they were relocated six times. For several months they were separated. They said it was the first time in their lives that they had ever been apart. HUD officials said the development should be torn down, but the women said they have cleaned their units of modest storm damage and believe they are habitable again. As Mr. Frank has pointed out, nothing in this bill prevents mixed housing or prevents reform or redevelopment. What we are most concerned about is that people right now have a chance to return home today, tomorrow, as opposed to a building that is going to be built within the next 3 to 5 years. To do as HUD has proposed across all public housing units in New Orleans is tantamount to forced homelessness. It has been 19 months since the people of New Orleans and surrounding parishes were forced out across 48 States through no fault of their own. It is now time for everyone who wants to come home to come home. Without passage of this bill, we are giving our implied consent to the permanent exile of residents who only wish to enjoy the same rights and privileges to a home that everyone else across the country would want to enjoy. This bill makes the road home smoother for our people and helps a great deal toward getting our people back home. I urge passage of this bill.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Madam Speaker, due to a prior commitment being held in my district on Thursday, March 1, 2007, I missed the H.R. 800 ``Employee Free Choice Act'' vote. If l had been here, I would have voted ``yes'' on this bill.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Madam Speaker, I thank you for this opportunity to address an issue of grave importance to our country. I rise in support of the resolution that is before us. The resolution continues to support our troops who are presently fighting in Iraq. But it calls into severe question the wisdom of escalating our military involvement there. I personally believe that escalating our efforts in Iraq is a tremendous mistake. It is time for us to recognize that there is no military solution to what is happening there. The only solution that will work in Iraq is a political solution. Even those who believe this surge to be an excellent strategy do so because they hope that it will lead to more favorable conditions for a political settlement. The political solution depends on the Iraqi people themselves deciding to work together to knit their country together and to fight in behalf of their own nascent democracy. The rampant violence in Iraq is the result of a civil conflict in that country, and the Iraqi people must decide whether they will truly have a real representative democracy that includes the Sunnis, the Shiites, and other significant segments of their society. If the Iraqi Government is to stand up for its own future, we must begin now to make it clear that we will not stay there forever and continue to add our troops. I personally believe that the best way to signal that our commitment is not open ended in this civil war is to start now the withdrawal of some of our troops. However, short of that, this resolution is an important first step toward ensuring that the people of our Nation know that we are changing direction in Iraq, and so that the people of Iraq will know that they must plan a future with the United States as an important ally, but not as an enforcer of the status quo in their nation. Madam Speaker, the justifications for the invasion of Iraq have long ago been discredited. There were no weapons of mass destruction. There was no nuclear threat. Every credible source and study has established that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda and the tragic events of 9/11. These were the reasons that were given as justification for our entry into the Iraqi war and that supported the statement that our national interest was at stake. Unfortunately, since the reasons were erroneous, no national interest exists. Winning a military conflict, even if it were possible, does not create a national interest. Adding more troops to fight under the present conditions on the ground in Iraq cannot create a national interest where none truly exists. Such a strategy will simply add more human targets in a civil war that does not threaten America. We are straining our troops and our military and financial resources beyond all reasonable limits. We are decimating our National Guard strength at a time when we have more than enough disasters here at home to which we must attend. At a time when Louisiana needs the support of our National Guard, members of our National Guard are being called to serve in Iraq. At a time when the New Orleans area residents struggle to rebuild following the worst natural disaster in our Nation's history, and following deadly tornadoes just 2 days ago, we need National Guard troops here at home to fight crime in our streets and to keep our people safe. We need the billions of dollars that we are spending on war and the rebuilding of Iraq to wage a war on poverty and ignorance here at home. We need a greater commitment to rebuilding the Gulf Coast communities, including my beloved City of New Orleans. Madam Speaker, let's not continue to make matters worse at home and abroad by pursuing a policy in Iraq that cannot work, that has not worked and that simply can no longer be justified. I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution which supports our troops in the field and supports, at the same time, the commonsense objections to escalating our troop presence in Iraq. The people of this great country eloquently expressed their disapproval of the course of this war in the November elections, and on their behalf we should do no less.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Madam Speaker, this is a very important subject on which we speak tonight. Most of what needs to be said has already been said by Members who have gone before me, and I know the time is short. However, I want to say a couple of things. I have had the privilege of serving in the military of our country. I was first commissioned as a military intelligence officer and then commissioned in the JAG Corps as a judge advocate general officer. I take it seriously when the Commander in Chief says we need to protect ourselves and defend our country. I have a district full of veterans. We have a large port facility that is vulnerable to attack and penetration. I had long talks with Colin Powell about these issues, and they were all very persuasive and convincing about what we needed to do to protect ourselves. I thought back about what we did when President Clinton came to us about Bosnia and Kosovo when he told us that we needed to give him authority to do what we needed to do to protect our country. I thought it was fair to treat both Commanders in Chief the same. We should not play politics over this issue. If we needed to protect our country, we should. We all know now there were no weapons of mass destruction, no justification for the war, no nuclear weapons could be found there. Nothing that the President told us was true was true. Whether he intended or not, as has been said, the information was untrue; and, therefore, we should not have based the war on it. The other thing that is important is that most of us who voted on the resolution decided and expected that the resolution would be followed. Number one, that the President would go to the U.N. and talk to folks and try to get a consensus. And number two, that he would only go when there was a consensus reached. He really just raced right past the U.N. and went right to war, from the very beginning violating the obligations and trust he asked us to repose in him. Now we are in the middle of a civil war, and we are asked now to add more troops, add a surge and escalate our efforts there. I don't believe that the American people want to see that done. I surely can't support that at this point down the road. As we look at what we need to do in our country, there is so much that needs to be done. I happen to represent a district that was inundated by flood waters, not because of a natural disaster only, but because the Corps of Engineers, a U.S. Government agency, failed to protect our people and built levees that were not designed properly, that were not constructed properly and that were not maintained properly. Consequently, they failed and our city drowned. It is time for our government to face up to domestic responsibilities, particularly for Hurricane Katrina. And all of the money that we are going to spend now on a surge in Iraq, I would like to see a great part of it spent to bring our people home and restore our communities and rebuild back the confidence that people ought to have in us right here in America. Madam Speaker and Congresswoman Waters, all of you who have done so much in this area, I thank you for giving me a chance to come here and say these few words tonight. I know our time is very short. But I want to see our emphasis placed on our domestic responsibility now in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. That is where our country needs to focus. If it was the Iraq war, after the wheels came off the war machine, that has brought about the change in this body, and if that was a major reason for what has happened here, I believe on the domestic front, Hurricane Katrina was just as important to the changes that we have seen in our Congress now. Therefore, our response must be as intense and as direct on what we do to adjust ourselves in that war as we do to come back here and take care of our people back home. Madam Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak tonight. I look forward to our getting together to get this war behind us and bring our troops home. I applaud diplomacy in this area, and I look forward to getting our focus back on our people at home, particularly on our Hurricane Katrina survivors and evacuees.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I wish to express my support for the fiscal year 2007 Defense Appropriations bill. Today we reaffirm our support and appreciation for the members of the armed services. We have fully funded an across-the-board pay raise of 2.2 percent and increased military housing allowances. $2 billion in funding will go to countering one of the gravest threats our soldiers face in combat, the use of IEDs. An additional $3 billion will go to outfitting our service members and their combat vehicles with stronger armor. These are undoubtedly important priorities, and I support the funding levels in the conference report. I am pleased with the commitment we have shown to both the Navy and to our Nation's shipbuilding industrial base. By funding five new ships this fiscal year, as well as continuing to adequately fund ships currently under construction like the LPD-17 and the LHA Replacement, we are ensuring the Navy will maintain its prominence on the world stage. As our Nation is currently involved in a long-term war on multiple fronts, the importance of this defense funding cannot be understated. I am in favor of the conference report and I thank the Defense appropriations subcommittee for its hard work.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I am in favor of the conference report and I thank the Defense appropriations subcommittee for its hard work. Had I been present for the vote, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Payne, Congressman McGovern, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee for their leadership and for their commitment to bring peace and security in the war-torn region in western Sudan that we have talked about today as Darfur. I rise today to echo what my colleagues of the Sudan Caucus have already said. We all know what is going on in Darfur and what needs to be done. What else needs to be said or done for the United Nations to act effectively? The situation in Darfur has deteriorated rapidly over just the last few months, with increased rapes, 500 rapes over the summer in one camp alone; renewed attacks on innocent victims, 12 humanitarian workers killed, including 2 in the last 4 weeks; 26,000 Sudan Armed Forces headed to the Darfur region to engage in a major offensive; renewed air bombardments; the peace agreement not working; continued integration of the Janjaweed into the security forces of the national police of the government; government-sponsored terrorism against innocent victims. How many lives need to be affected, Mr. Speaker, before we say it is enough? Two point six million, is that not enough? How many people need to be displaced, Mr. Speaker? Two million? Two million is not enough? How many people need to die? Four hundred thousand women and children, innocent people? How many women need to be raped before we say enough is enough in that region of the world, and our Nation will not stand for it? Someone said the death of any person diminishes each one of us. If that be true, and if we are truly involved in the global world, then all of us, every life in this country, every life in America, every life in the world, is made smaller and less significant by the suffering we let others endure and by the suffering we tolerate of them in Darfur. The people of Darfur are suffering a slow and painful death, and it is a catastrophe that doesn't have to take place. We have options. We can do things about this. And as other speakers have said, it doesn't involve brute force. It doesn't involve going to war. It involves making sure that the United Nations does its job, that America does its job, that we engage the government there, but that we don't wait for the government to give permission to come into the region, that we do what needs to be done. Because that region is so vast and so large and so difficult to patrol, it takes a lot of forces in there to make it work. And it takes, also, people on the ground feeling confident and hopeful enough to take some things into their own hands. Right now they don't have any idea what tomorrow is going to bring, and they cannot have hope in that sort of situation. So, Mr. Speaker, we are here tonight to urge the American people to become engaged with us in the Congress, with the voices that are here that are now trying to tell the people in this country how important Darfur is to all of us, to our country not because it has a lot of oil or a lot of sugarcane or a lot of other things that we are using in this country, not because it has a lot of people there who are committed to democracy and to America, but because there are human beings there who are suffering needlessly, and we can stop it. We can do something about it. And if we don't, it makes us smaller in our efforts to increase our stature in the world. There is no way, as some have said, that we are going to take America's credibility seriously on the issues of human rights and the issues of democracy if we do not do it where it is taking place in the worst and most flagrant fashion. So that place today happens to be Darfur. We watched in astonishment when we saw the atrocities in Rwanda. We watched in other places around the world. But the major place right now where we have so much going on in one place, one little corner of the world where innocent people are dying and we can do something about it, is Darfur. So I hope the American people get this name in their minds, look this country up on the map, and come to understand what is going on. It is important to us. It is important to us as human beings that we do something about this. And we are here tonight almost just as voices in the wilderness crying about this thing. Look, it is time for America to act. It is time for our President to act. It is time for our Congress to act. It is time for all of us to engage in this. So that is why we are on the floor tonight, to make sure that those who are at home now around their dinner tables, who are sitting and watching some show on television might take a minute just to think about the people in Darfur and try to find a way with all of us to join hands with them to help to end their suffering.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, as we honor Historically Black Colleges and Universities this week, I rise to applaud the commitment and tradition of HBCUs in my district. I am proud to say that in my district I am able to represent three of the most well-known HBCUs in the country: Xavier University, Dillard University and Southern University at New Orleans. Xavier University ranks among the top in sending African Americans to medical school and accounts for a large share of African American pharmacists nationwide. Dillard, highly regarded by U.S. News and World Report, has become widely known for its nursing program. After starting with only two buildings SUNO has produced leading African Americans in the disparate fields of social work and computer science. Collectively, these schools have served as profiles in courage and leadership as they rebuild in the face of Hurricane Katrina, which still threatens the future of all of them. They have done a great deal with sometimes lean resources; however, that is the signature of HBCUs across the Nation. As a proud graduate of Southern University in Baton Rouge, I have been one of the many beneficiaries of the positive, nurturing and high-quality education provided by these nationally significant institutions. I urge my colleagues to work towards ensuring that generations of African American students are able to benefit from the very special contribution that HBCUs provide to higher education.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to request the conferees on the Water Development Resources Act guarantee levee protection at a Category 5 level. Hurricane Katrina served as a stark reminder that our levee system in south Louisiana is inadequate. We are responsible for ensuring the safety of its residents, and today we can make a commitment that they are not forgotten. The economic and environmental benefits that south Louisiana provides to the nation are substantial. Coastal Louisiana produces over 30% of our nation's seafood, including 50% of our shrimp crop. Our wetlands are home to over 79 endangered species and serve as a vital habitat for migratory birds. The network of interconnected waterways and presence of several major port facilities are an important hub in our maritime industry. Over 70% of the grain produced in the United States travels through the area. 30% of our domestic crude oil and 34% of our natural gas is produced by or travels through south Louisiana, making us a centerpiece in America's Energy Coast. In addition to transporting much of our domestic oil supply, coastal Louisiana also refines 16% of our petroleum products. Knowing this, we must ensure that this valuable part of our nation's infrastructure remains intact and its people remain protected. Our current levee system in New Orleans dates back to the 1960s, and since then our whole environment has changed. The loss of coastal barrier islands and the erosion of our wetlands have led to a weakened first line of defense against hurricanes. These islands and wetlands help absorb the storm's tidal surge and weaken the strength of an approaching storm. We are losing our wetlands at a rate of 25 to 30 square miles per year, while we are making areas further inland more susceptible to flooding. We have seen hurricanes become more powerful and more frequent as the years go by. The risk of hurricanes will always be present in south Louisiana, it is up to us to decide how to best mitigate their destructive impacts. Looking at this situation, I am reminded of what I saw firsthand in the Netherlands. After the devastating North Sea floods of 1953, that nation committed itself to a system of water management projects that would ensure such a flood never happened again. Although the cost was high, their determination to provide absolute protection was justified. As a result, the Netherlands now has a significant number of its citizens living and produces 70% of its $480 billion GDP in areas that are fifteen to twenty feet below sea level, safely protected by flood control projects. By comparison, the lowest areas of New Orleans are only four and a half feet below sea level. Protecting the city is not beyond our technological capabilities, it is simply a matter of making the commitment necessary to do so. While the cost may seem substantial now, it pales in comparison to the cost we would face in human and economic losses should another hurricane strike south Louisiana directly. Mr. Speaker, it is time to get it right. We must ensure the safety of the city of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast, because we have seen the horrible effects of substandard, poorly designed, inadequate levee protection in the face of a powerful storm. A working flood control system for south Louisiana begins with sound levees. I urge the conferees to support levee protection against a Category 5 storm surge.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I wish to express my support for the reauthorization of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. In my home State of Louisiana, we certainly understand the vital role that our wetlands serve for wildlife. Over five million waterfowl utilize the Louisiana wetlands during migration, while there are 79 individual endangered species that reside there. Louisiana's wetlands also provide our country with substantial economic benefits. Over 30 percent of the Nation's seafood is harvested from our wetlands, and the network of interconnected waterways provides ample routes for waterborne commerce. I would also like to highlight the importance of Louisiana's coastal wetlands as our first line of defense against hurricanes. As we lose 25 square miles of wetlands per year, we lose the buffer that these wetlands provide against storm surge. The destructive effects of hurricanes were made abundantly clear last year with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A healthy wetland system, combined with improved levees and other flood control projects, will help minimize the damage to south Louisiana when future storms arrive. With about two million people-- over half the State's population--living in Louisiana's coastal parishes, we cannot afford to underestimate the importance of our wetlands. Had I I been present for the vote, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to speak in support of establishing a National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week. I am not only the product of an HBCU--Southern A&M College in Baton Rouge--but I represent three of these colleges in my district, Xavier, Dillard and Southern University in New Orleans. These universities are the leaders in Louisiana in graduating African-Americans. Xavier graduates more black pharmacists than any university in the country and has a near 100 percent bar passage rate. The university also sends more African-Americans than any other university to medical school. Dillard University is nationally known for its nursing program and Southern University educates nearly 100 percent New Orleans residents who may not have received a college degree if SUNO was not open. These universities, as well as the other schools in the Southern University system and Grambling State University, have been vital in producing the best and brightest African-Americans in the American workforce. For their work in educating African-American students for over 100 years and their continued need for those who may not have the opportunity to go to college otherwise, they certainly should be recognized. The Historically black institutions in my district were the hardest hit of our university system in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. SUNO is operating out of a trailer campus and Dillard will reopen this spring in the Hilton Hotel again. And all of the universities are struggling to recruit and retain students. We need the continued support of Congress to recognize the importance of these institutions in our community. Graduates of these universities often stay in New Orleans to work as teachers, doctors, or nurses in underserved communities because they want to give back to the community in which they have fostered an education. We need this to continue. Furthermore, these universities are critical to the recovery of our professional workforce in New Orleans. We could not rebuild our community without the support of the students who come to learn in our city or the professors who commit to stay in our city. This resolution is important to me personally because without Southern A&M College, I might not be here today. But beyond that, the continued need for the opportunity that HBCU's provide and the local need for these universities to be involved in the recovery of the Gulf Coast region makes this resolution even more timely and necessary and I encourage all of my colleagues to support it.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend the members of the ``Michoud Hurricane Ride-Out Team'' for their extraordinary efforts to protect NASA's Michaud Assembly Facility in the face of Hurricane Katrina. The employees of NASA, Lockheed Martin, and members of the New Orleans Fire Department who made up this team exhibited uncommon bravery and dedication. Cut off from the surrounding area due to roadway flooding, they remained on-site despite the lack of electricity and severely limited communications. These individuals willingly stayed on the facility in the face of the approaching storm and operated the pumps and generators that kept the facility dry. As a result of the team's commitment, damage to the facility and the external tanks and hardware they produce was minimal. Within 5 weeks, the Michoud Assembly Facility was resuming production operations. I would like to thank the members of the team once again for their courage. The nation is grateful for the contributions they have made to the space program.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, today this body will take up reauthorizing critical provisions of the historic Voting Rights Act for another 25 years. Every year new cases of voter intimidation are reported to the Department of Justice, and every year changes to voting laws threaten to curtail the power of minority voters. In my home State of Louisiana, the State legislature has faced objections to proposed election law changes every year since this historic bill was signed. Mr. Speaker, my own mother had to pass a literacy test to vote just a few years before the Voting Rights Act became law, so it has special personal meaning for me. Yet, since its passage, challenges to minority voting rights continue in my home State and across the South. It has been 41 years since President Johnson signed the original legislation that restored faith in our democracy and gave truth to President Lincoln's demand for a government of the people. After Hurricane Katrina, minorities in Louisiana face new obstacles in exercising our right to vote. The Voting Rights Act is just as relevant today as it was in 1965. The struggle is not over, and we must not stop now. I urge my colleagues to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act now and in the spirit in which it was intended.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the passage of the Voting Rights Act is informed by past history, by recent events and by current needs. As one who grew up, watched his mother in 1963 study and struggle to try and pass the literacy test there, which she had to try and remember as best she could the Presidents in order, to recite the Preamble to the Constitution, and to compute her age to the year, the month and the day, as one who witnessed that, you know how important this act was to folks back then and how the legacy of discrimination still obtains in our present provisions today. When you see our State legislature in Louisiana every year pass election laws that are discriminatory, that meet objections by the Justice Department, you know the need for this act continues. As we just saw with Hurricane Katrina, so many of our people, displaced back home, who struggled to get back and to have their right to vote expressed and who met objection at almost every corner of that being done, you know the need for this act continues. So I urge my colleagues to vote to support this act, without amendments, and get it passed now because the struggle does continue.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, this bill is not about alternative fuels or about the environment or about any of the things we are hearing about here today. It is about the price of natural gas and getting it down in our country. It is about fairness to the coastal States that are now providing so much of the resources for this country that are not getting their fair share of the resources back. It is about inclusion and including folks in this industry who are not yet included and have not had the trading to be included or the education to be included. Right now, natural gas prices are $12.68 per million btu, $4.85 in China, $1.21 in Iran and 95 cents in Russia. We cannot compete with those prices. This high natural gas price is devastating our industries; and, therefore, we are losing jobs across the country in manufacturing and in the petrochemical industry in my State and around the country. Eighty-five percent of the Outer Continental Shelf is off limits for natural gas production. That is wrong. Louisiana is America's energy corridor. Approximately 34 percent of the Nation's natural gas supply and almost 30 percent of the Nation's crude oil comes through our State. We need to have the right kind of support to continue providing this help to our country.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the latest supplemental appropriation for hurricane relief. We cannot move forward with rebuilding our city unless we are sure that such a disaster cannot happen again. For this reason, we must ensure the integrity of our flood control and hurricane protection system, which so disastrously failed during Katrina last year. To date, the Corps of Engineers has been directly appropriated a total of $3.3 billion. This amount not only funds the reconstruction of flood control projects that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but also the restoration of these projects to their design specifications of Category Three protection, which had lapsed over the course of time. Over $500 million of this total will go to the construction of previously authorized new projects. The current supplemental provides $3.7 billion, which more than doubles the amount previously given to the Corps. This funding will help to ensure that the city is protected against future storms of Katrina's magnitude. Our long-term goals for rebuilding and improving the community can only be achieved with significant support from the Federal government. The Community Development Block Grant program has been used with great success in the past when confronting disaster-stricken areas and has proven to be an invaluable tool for recovery. A total of $11.5 billion went to the five states impacted by last year's storms, of which Louisiana received $6.2 billion. The flexibility of this program provides our local government officials with the resources they need to aid businesses and provide services to residents. Over 220,000 homes were damaged as a result of this storm and are in continuing need for relief. In this bill, an additional $5.2 billion in overall CDBG funds is allocated. $4.3 billion tent to fund Louisiana's ``Road Home'' project enabling our citizens to return to their homes and begin rebuilding their lives. This funding is a welcome addition to the recovery efforts and will assist all those affected by the storms in a very real and profound manner. This bill provides $285 million for hurricane-related education programs. Funding will focus on direct assistance to displaced elementary and secondary school students, a group that is perhaps the most helpless of all the hurricane's victims. Previously, $1.6 billion was provided in the last supplemental to aid the devastated educational system not only in New Orleans, but in I the entire Gulf South. The relocation of much our city's population into other areas has placed a strain on school systems across the country. This funding bolstered the school systems that were kind enough to take in large numbers of displaced students. Department of Defense personnel, along with the Coast Guard and other Homeland Security agencies, performed much of the heroic search and rescue operations that saved the lives of thousands of citizens. Because of their sacrifices and hardships, and our appreciation for those actions, we are assuring that their needs will be met. DoD received $4.4 billion in previous supplemental appropriations, covering their storm-related activities as well as repairs to damaged facilities and equipment. This bill gives them an additional $1.5 billion to ensure the presence of the Armed Services in the Gulf South. The medical community in New Orleans has been decimated by the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The capacity of hospitals in the city is down to less than a thousand beds, a reduction of over 75 percent from its capacity prior to the storm. Today's supplemental provides $550 million for a new VA Hospital in New Orleans. Not only will this assure that New Orleans remains a viable outlet for the health needs of veterans across the Gulf coast states, but it will also serve as a valuable training outlet in conjunction with the Tulane and LSD medical centers. Together with the $550 million previously allocated to the Social Services Block Grant program, the healthcare infrastructure of the city is well on its way back to full strength. Mr. Speaker, the challenges we face in rebuilding our community demand a great deal of attention. This supplemental appropriation is a welcome addition to the recovery process and an indication that we in Congress are committed to helping those affected in New Orleans and in all other hurricane-affected areas. But Mr. Speaker before I close I would be remiss if I did not remind my colleagues the challenges remaining after Katrina are still daunting. Moreover there is one aspect in terms of our recovery and rebuilding that has not been addressed fully by this Congress and that is healthcare in New Orleans. According to a recent issue of U.S. News & World Report, the New Orleans area is now home to one million people, just under the pre-Katrina population of 1.3 million. But the healthcare resources necessary to adequately serve that level of population have not returned: only half of the previous 4,000 hospital beds are available; there is no Level I trauma center; there are 34 nursing homes, down from 63; and 19 clinics, down from 90. The area's only certified Level I trauma unit is still closed (the 35-bed, limited trauma unit opened recently cannot provide full Level I trauma services), and the number of staffed hospital beds in the City of New Orleans was estimated to be about 80 percent less in February 2006 than before Hurricane Katrina. Moreover, to date, many patients are still getting primary care and rudimentary emergency services provided in tents that have now been set up by Charity Hospital in an old department store. Mr. Speaker we cannot allow for New Orleans's healthcare system to die-on-a-vine. For as the statement goes: ``Justice delayed is Justice denied.'' Healthcare delayed is healthcare denied. Thus, Mr. Speaker I implore my colleagues on the relevant committees to hold hearings and investigate the problems we are facing. Furthermore, I ask that Congress consider one more legislative package that would focus solely on rebuilding our health care system and the associated social services.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, after almost 9 months, I suppose it doesn't surprise anyone to hear that FEMA is failing the citizens of the gulf coast. In the wake of the storms, FEMA expressly advised the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that they could expect 1 year of assistance. Moreover, section 408 of the Stafford Act provides for 18 months of assistance to victims of natural disasters. Yet just 9 months after these devastating storms, FEMA is working feverishly, not to house the victims of the hurricanes but to terminate their housing assistance, to kick them out into the street without any assurance that the survivors will be able to find housing for themselves or their families. Why? Because FEMA says it's time to move on. May 31 is the deadline. After that, you're on your own. There is a reason the Stafford Act provides for more than $20,000 in aid per household and for up to 18 months of assistance. The Stafford Act, unlike FEMA, recognizes that every disaster is different and that each disaster cannot be treated the same. Over the next few months, our State's housing plan, The Road Home, will be up and running; SBA loan funds will begin to flow into homeowners' hands; insurance claims will be resolved and paid; and then the people of New Orleans will begin rebuilding in earnest. The President has the authority to issue waivers, to make adjustments to accommodate the survivors. FEMA also can behave more reasonably, more humanely. Until FEMA has a workable plan for transitional housing for these American survivors, it must not evict them. To do so is unconscionable.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, not only does the Black Caucus budget restore fiscal discipline and fund important programs, of personal significance to me and to my constituents and the millions of Americans along the gulf coast whose lives are turned upside down by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the CBC budget acknowledges a reality that the Republican budget ignores. announcement by the acting chairman

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Chairman, that reality is that recovery is a long- term effort. Recovery in New Orleans will not be achieved in a single fiscal year, and it should not be accomplished with emergency appropriations. There are a number of pieces of the recovery that we know will take time to achieve, for example, enhancing the levees and flood protection systems along the gulf coast, and restoring homes and businesses. The Army Corps of Engineers has told the Congress repeatedly that this project will take from 5 to 7 years to complete; and yet not only does the Republican budget provide no funding for this project, it actually cuts overall funding for the Corps of Engineers at a time of extreme need. By contrast, the CBC provides significant additional funding to enhance our hurricane and flood protection systems back home. The Republican budget starves housing programs at a time when along the gulf coast we are facing the gravest housing crisis in our Nation's long history. The CBC budget recognizes the need for a long-term commitment to solving our housing crisis confronting thousands of Americans across Mississippi and Louisiana and provides significant resources for this critically needed project in our area. Mr. Chairman, the budget of the United States government should reflect the values and the priorities of the American people. After all, as our nation's first Republican President described it, the government of our great country is supposed to be a ``government of the people, by the people, for the people.'' The Republican budget before us today, however, ignores the needs of the vast majority of the American people in order to preserve tax benefits that overwhelmingly benefit very few, very wealthy Americans. In other words, the priority of the Republican budget seems to reflect a devotion to taking care of those with the most, while overlooking those with the greatest need. The preparation of the federal budget by Congress is similar to a family's preparation of its household budget. In order for it to succeed, priorities must be set, and discipline must be exercised. Too often, however, discipline is sacrificed to the pleasures of the moment. In Washington, we call the consequences of such behavior budget deficits. In our households, we call those consequences debt. Neither is good--for the country or for our families. As a reflection of our nation's priorities, the Republican budget resolution that we debate today is a clear demonstration of just how fundamentally the Republican majority misunderstands the needs of the American people. It is fiscally reckless, morally bankrupt, and utterly devoid of the type of economic discipline and leadership that the nation requires--a budget that sets yet another record budget deficit and threatens to unravel completely the social safety net that protects the least among us in the places where the need is greatest. The Republican budget resolution continues to drive our nation's budget deficit higher; fails to protect Social Security and Medicare; underfunds education; makes damaging cuts to community and regional development programs, income security programs, the Earned Income Tax Credit, child care and foster care programs, and nutrition programs; cuts veterans programs while simultaneously imposing new fees on veterans for current services; and includes harmful cuts to Medicaid, thereby jeopardizing health care for over 52 million children, parents, seniors and disabled individuals who rely on the program for their healthcare. In sum, the Republican budget we are considering today offers the most to those who need the very least and takes the most from those who can least afford it. During debate of this budget, I have heard a great deal of rhetoric about hard choices and shared sacrifice. However, it seems that the only choice my Republican friends have made is the easiest one a politician can make--to continue to cut taxes, however fiscally irresponsible perpetuating them may be. With respect to shared sacrifice, the evidence leads me to the unavoidable conclusion that the only sacrifices in this budget are being borne by the poor, the elderly on fixed incomes, the infirm, children and students. Accordingly, in the Bizarro world of the Republican budget, those with the least are compelled to sacrifice the most, while those with the most are not asked to sacrifice at all. That formula certainly does not reflect my priorities; nor, I am confident, does it reflect the priorities of the American people. In one of his great parables, Jesus once said, ``when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.'' If you compare this budget to the great banquet He described, in this budget, there are place cards and a sumptuous feast for the Forbes 400 and the Fortune 500, for the rich and the powerful-- but, like Lazarus at the rich man's gate, the economically disenfranchised, the working families struggling to make ends meet, the students trying to get the education they need, those whose lives of poverty shocked the conscience of the nation when Hurricane Katrina exposed the straits so many grapple with daily in this wealthiest country in the world--they will be lucky to get even the scraps that fall from the table this budget constructs. By contrast, my friend from South Carolina, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, and the Congressional Black Caucus have offered two alternatives to the Republican budget that are fiscally responsible while meeting the real needs of the American people. Both alternatives restore fiscal discipline, protect Social Security, narrow disparities for minorities in healthcare, education and wealth creation, and fund national priorities like education, veterans' programs, and community development programs. The Democratic substitute achieves a balanced budget in 7 years, by 2012, all the while balancing fiscal responsibility with the moral obligation to maintain the social safety net for Americans in greatest need. The CBC budget alternative achieves balance even earlier, by 2011, and yet still makes great progress toward narrowing the growing disparities in America's communities by focusing on education, health care, economic opportunity, justice, and retirement security. It fully funds the President's No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB); provides an extension for the Head Start Program; increases federal funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions; enhances the Pell Grant allotment for college students; provides additional funding for the Minority Health Initiative and for Community Health Centers in urban and rural communities; increases assistance for job training, workforce development and adult education; funds home ownership programs; restores funding for Community Development Block Grants; and improves funding for law enforcement programs such as COPS. Of personal significance to me, to my constituents and to the millions of Americans all along the Gulf coast whose lives were turned upside down by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the CBC budget acknowledges a reality that the Republican budget ignores--that recovery is a long- term effort. Recovery will not be achieved in a single fiscal year, and it should not be accomplished through emergency appropriations. There are a number of pieces of the recovery that we know will take time to achieve, for example, enhancing the levees and the hurricane and flood protection systems along the Gulf coast. The Army Corps of Engineers has told the Congress repeatedly that this project will take from 5 to 7 years to complete, and yet not only does the Republican budget provide no funding for this project, it actually cuts overall funding for the Corps of Engineers at a time of extreme need. By contrast, the CBC budget provides significant additional funding to enhance our hurricane and flood protection system back home. The Republican budget starves housing programs at a time when, along the Gulf coast, we are facing the gravest housing crisis in our nation's long history. Both the Democratic and CBC alternatives recognize the need for a long-term commitment to resolving the housing crisis confronting thousands of Americans in Louisiana and Mississippi and provide significant resources for that critically important effort. In the face of a natural disaster that laid waste to colleges and schools all along the Gulf coast, the Republican budget turns a blind eye to both the immediate and long term needs for reconstruction and rehabilitation of our education infrastructure. By contrast, both the Democratic and CBC alternatives provide additional resources to meet those challenges. Finally, Mr. Chairman, both these alternatives recognize the success and critical importance of community and regional development programs to our nation's economy and to the recovery of our economy back home. Both alternatives allocate additional monies to these programs, while the Republican budget significantly shortchanges CDBG and other programs despite tremendous support and real current and long-term needs. For these reasons, I am proud to rise in strong support of both the Democratic and CBC alternatives and in fervent opposition to the Republican budget. I will continue to fight to ensure that the needs and values of the least among us--hard-working American families--are reflected in the legislation we consider in the Congress. A responsible budget is the first step towards building a future worthy of the trust of the American people; and the Democratic and CBC alternatives are a step in the right direction; the Republican budget resolution is, at best, a step backward. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank the Black Caucus budget for what it does for my district back home.

Mr. JEFFERSON

Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, on the day of April 27, 2006, I was unable to vote due to an important prescheduled engagement with the President of the United States for which I was granted a leave of absence. I would like the Record to reflect that, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 109, and ``nay'' on rollcall No. 110.