Mary Landrieu

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Reserving the right to object, would this be OK with the leader? I ask if I may have my 10 minutes starting now if it would be OK with the Senator from Alaska.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Senator for that inquiry. As he knows, and I completely agree, more production in the continental United States and Alaska is definitely a step we should take to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and to increase job opportunities here in our own country. Particularly at this critical time, not only is it part of our overall energy strategy but now it is part of our security strategy for homeland defense and homeland security to reduce our dependence on oil and gas, liquefied natural gas that may come from other sources. We are very proud of the shipbuilding we do in Louisiana and the engineering and the construction of the landforms and infrastructure that make it possible to drill in extraordinary conditions, in very deep water, leaving a minimal footprint. In days past, there were terrible environmental consequences to drilling. We simply did not have the know-how or the technology to handle some of the negative environmental impacts. That has changed dramatically over the last few years. While there is risk associated with every human activity, we have minimized the risk to the environment in tremendous ways. The Senator knows we build some tremendous ships and off- and onshore oil and gas equipment in Louisiana. We agree the production numbers need to get up. For the record, the Senator from Alaska should know that one-fifth of the entire Nation's energy supply depends on LA-1 and its connection to Port Fourchon. The Department of Interior mineral management identifies Port Fourchon as the focal point of deep water activity in the gulf. There is perhaps a deep water or perhaps a focal point in Alaska. I am not familiar with that focal point, but in Louisiana it is Port Fourchon. Eighty-five percent of the deepwater drilling rigs, working in the gulf, are supported by Port Fourchon. We have a highway that is not worth skating down, let alone with the 1,000 18-wheelers a day trying to supply the Nation with the energy it needs to operate. I look forward to working with the Senator as we try to improve and increase production. I see the Senator from Hawaii on the floor. He has been an outstanding spokesman of conserving where we can. It will be a combination of strong conservation measures and alternative energy and more production in Alaska and all the States, and in many places in the lower 48.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I know the Senator from Kansas is on the floor to speak on several important issues, and the Senator from Alaska will be addressing the Senate later this evening on the important issue of energy security for our Nation. I agree with so many of the points of the Senator from Alaska, as well as the Senator from Mississippi, who has been taking with us this evening on that subject. I want to talk about a subject that is actually somewhat related. The subject I want to spend a few minutes on tonight is most certainly related to the issue of energy security for our Nation. It is related to the situation that we find ourselves in, combating this new war against terrorism in many different ways and in ways very different than our past conflicts would have us be engaged. Let me just try to bring this into focus. We have troops in Afghanistan and, luckily and thankfully, and because we have the best equipped, best led, and bravest and most courageous fighting force in the world, we are making extraordinary progress on our front in Afghanistan. You can see the headlines in all of the newspapers that would attest to the great effort that is being made. But we all know, and we are all learning quickly, that this war on terrorism is something we are going to have to fight on many different fronts. One of those fronts is in our own homeland. We hated to see what happened on September 11, and we were all heart broken and angry and justifiably angry at the devastation and the horrific attack on our Nation. As I was saying, we now have to fight this war on many different fronts, not just the front in Afghanistan but the front here at home. We were all terribly horrified and righteously angry. We have to turn that righteous anger into concrete steps to protect ourselves in the future. Many of us in our various capacities and many different committees are about doing that. We are stepping up airport security. We are trying to step up the security of our cyberinfrastructure in the Nation. We are looking at ways to set up medical response teams on health care, our public health system. And all of these efforts, if we do them correctly and come up with good policies and funding streams, will most certainly help to protect our Nation against these attacks that, unfortunately, are going to certainly come. Even if we are successful--and we have been--in cornering bin Laden and taking down the Taliban regime and capturing or destroying that particular cell, it is likely, based on everything that we know--not to alarm people or frighten people, but we know that it is likely that there will be future attacks. The point of my short presentation today is to simply say that we are not sure where these attacks will be aimed. We never imagined that a group of people, with three of our own airplanes filled with fuel, would take down some of the most important buildings in this Nation. So we have to think: What might the next attack be? What could possibly come at us? There are so many things that could happen that we have to be smart and strategic about how we spend our resources. One of the issues that I am going to argue for a few minutes on the floor today is some of the critical infrastructure in our Nation--some of it is rail, some transportation issues, such as highways and tunnels, some of it is critical infrastructure protecting our nuclear powerplants, our electric grid, our cyberinfrastructure that we now rely on to run so much of our communications, transportation, health care systems, et cetera. We can't do all of it at once, but we can most certainly begin taking some steps. I think we need to identify where we can--whether we do it in the supplemental bill or in the energy bill, or whether we do it in the stimulus package--some projects that are worth giving some attention to in the event that there would be some effort to cut our resources. One of those resources is energy. Let me be very clear. In Louisiana, there are many critical highways, as there are in many States. There is a highway that is of critical importance not just to our State but to the whole Nation. It doesn't look like much because it is a small highway. Right now, it is a two- lane highway. I will show you a picture of it in a moment. It is Louisiana 1. I think it is called LA-1. It is rightfully named because it is the one highway in Louisiana, and perhaps in the Nation, that we rely on so heavily for our oil and gas production in this Nation. Oil and gas production takes place, as you know, primarily off the southern shore of our Nation, off the coast of Texas and Mississippi and Louisiana and Alabama, primarily. We get 18 percent of our imported oil off of the loop facility, which is right off the coast of Louisiana and down this highway, which I am going to show a picture of in a minute. One can see clearly from this picture there are a thousand trucks a day on this highway on a regular day. This is not a fancy highway. It is a small highway. It runs from Port Fourchon all the way up to the 90 loop. There are a thousand trucks a day that bring pipes, supplies, men, women, equipment, and engineering services to produce oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico that help this Nation to be secure every day. So when people walk into this Chamber or they walk into their building at Cisco or IBM or eBay or whether they walk into Shaw Enterprises or any number of the shipbuilders in Louisiana and they turn the lights on, lights come on. When they fire up those plants, that energy runs. This energy comes, in large measure, off the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. This highway is the highway that is the bridge to Port Fourchon, where these trucks and this equipment are located. Even in a slight rain this highway goes under water. Imagine if there was any kind of purposeful attack on the infrastructure with some minor effort. This highway in the shape that it is in and the condition that it is in could cause a major disruption in energy flows to the United States. The Gulf of Mexico has 20,000 miles of the most extensive network of offshore oil and gas pipelines in the world. There is only 2,000 miles from the east coast to the west coast, approximately, as the crow flies, in the Nation. Ten times the amount of the length of our country are the miles of pipeline that come out of Louisiana to bring oil and gas to the rest of the Nation. This highway is the only way one could basically get to the point where this oil and gas comes off of our shore. The loop facility is the only offshore oil terminal in the country. There are not three. There are not four. There is one. It is the loop facility, and it is just a few miles off the shore of Louisiana. The only way to get to the loop facility, other than helicopter or ship, is to come down this highway to Port Fourchon, at the end of Louisiana, and to get to the loop facility, where 18 percent of our imported oil comes into the Nation. It comes up through the pipes and again all the supplies for the coast come through this highway. It is time that this highway be designated as a special highway for the Nation, a high priority corridor for this Nation. There are such designations in the Transportation bill for many of our highways, and I am sure every Senator could stand up and claim there are at least one or two highways in their States that are particularly important, whether it be for trade or for commerce. We could say that, too, about all of our highways, particularly for I-10, that is connecting Houston in the southern part of the State; I-49 that is now going to be a trade route hopefully to Canada and down through Louisiana; I-20 that connects our State, of course, east and west to other parts of the United States. But clearly LA-1, which is primarily responsible to help this Nation keep its oil and gas supply not only operating but in a vigorous, robust manner to supply the rest of the Nation, deserves to have a special designation. I am requesting by the amendment I am offering to the Transportation bill to get Louisiana-1 designated as a high-impact corridor so we can be in line for appropriations to change this from a two-lane highway to a four-lane highway to give it some of the protections a highway of this magnitude deserves. Let me show what happens when there is a turnover of an 18-wheeler, one of the thousands that are in this lane. The traffic is backed up for hours. There is no way around it. The services to the rigs out in the gulf are basically shut down for all practical purposes. If one cannot get to the port, they cannot basically get service to the rigs or the supplies or the pipes that are needed. I hesitate to actually give this speech. Frankly, I hope no terrorist is watching because it would be so easy in some ways to disrupt the supply of the oil to this Nation, but one thing September 11 has to teach us is putting some of our resources into building up the critical infrastructure in this Nation so we are not so vulnerable. I wanted to give this speech because I would feel terrible if something happened and people said: Well, Mary, you did not tell anybody about this highway and, after all, it is not a major interstate and we did not know about it. So I want to give my colleagues fair warning there is a little highway in Louisiana. It only has two lanes, but it has a thousand trucks a day that are bringing supplies and equipment to the offshore of this Nation that helps turn on lights in every schoolhouse and hospital and office building and run factories from Louisiana to Illinois and from Maine to California. If we cannot find a few million dollars in these trillions of dollars of budget to help us improve this highway so we can withstand a natural occurrence of a hurricane or a man-made attack that we would be better equipped to handle than what we have now, then I do not want to be held responsible for not bringing this into the light. I have been in this Chamber many times talking about all the critical infrastructure around our Nation. I have several bills and amendments to try to direct some of our resources to fund those projects, but this one comes to mind as one of the most important we should address. I urge my colleagues to look carefully at our needs for LA-1 to help us to direct through any of the bills that are moving forward. I am prepared to stay in this Chamber and to come back many times until we can get some relief to get some funding for Highway 1. I should also mention I-49 and I-10 which handle the bulk of our domestic production. Production in the United States of America is basically limited to this area of the country. There is virtually no production off the eastern shore, as the Senator from Alaska will say in his speech later tonight. There is virtually no production going off of the eastern shore. All of the offshore oil and gas production is coming off of this part of the gulf. So the infrastructure, for the Port of New Orleans, for the Port of Mobile, for the Port of Galveston, for the I-10 corridor that links basically Houston and New Orleans into Florida, is critical for the development and the spreading of the gas and the oil that comes off of the gulf to the different parts of the Nation. Finally, we are not complaining about producing the oil and gas. We recognize it brings jobs and wealth to our State. While others do not want production, we want production that is environmentally responsible. We are happy with the jobs and the wealth that it creates. I need to say, though, we are not creating the wealth and the jobs and the energy for our State. We are creating it for the entire Nation. So it is only right, it is only fitting, that some of the taxes that are paid by the oil companies from this exact production would come back to help us reinvest in Highway 1, in I-49, in I-10, in I-69, because it is those roads that support the oil and gas drilling. I thank my colleague from Alaska for yielding to me. He knows this subject in many ways even better than I know the subject. He has been in the Senate longer than I have, but it is so obvious to some of us that we have to dedicate some resources to protecting the critical infrastructure of this Nation. This is at least one highway that deserves to be No. 1, as its title would suggest. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, for the last 60 years, National Bible Week has been an annual observance in this country. It has come each year at Thanksgiving time since 1941. We were on the brink of World War II that year, and about to face the bombing of Pearl Harbor. That was certainly a difficult time in our Nation's history, but this country has truly been blessed. In truth there have been only a few times since then that we as a nation have felt the need to turn to the worn pages of our Bibles for strength and comfort and guidance. We are in the midst of such a time right now. This year National Bible Week runs from Sunday, the 18th of November through the 25th. I am pleased and honored to serve as one of this year's Congressional cochairs for National Bible Week, which is sponsored by the National Bible Association. The Bible has had remarkable influence on American life, literature, music, art, and the system of justice that governs our laws. Inscribed on every piece of American currency is the phrase, ``In God we trust.'' Freedom of religion is guaranteed under our constitution. And despite the many differences in our religious views, we proclaim ourselves to be ``one Nation, under God.'' I join the majority of Americans in believing the Bible to be the Word of God. For those of the Jewish faith, the Old Testament, or Torah, offers understanding and serves as a reminder of obligations to God and country. Islamic followers consider Christians and Jews to be ``the people of the book,'' and their Koran recognizes the Bible's significance in the development of civilization. Certainly now, as evil people seek to pit one religion against another, and try to justify acts of hate committed in the name of God, this is the time to strengthen our beliefs, and to do this, we turn to the Bible. I encourage believers everywhere to open their Bibles, and read the scriptures. Find a favorite passage, and give thanks.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Alaska have 3 minutes, that I have 7 minutes of the remaining time, and I see the Senator from Delaware. How about 5, 5, and 5?

Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent for 3\1/2\ minutes for the Senator from Alaska, 4\1/2\ minutes for myself, and the remaining time for the Senator from Delaware.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I inquire, under the agreement, how much time was I allocated?

Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I am proud to support the Baucus-Byrd stimulus and economic recovery package and believe that it is exactly the right package at this time to defend, protect, and make our Nation stronger. The preamble to our Constitution states that the purpose of our Federal Government is ``in Order. . .to provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.'' The Framers of our Constitution, Madam President, as you know, were very deliberate; they were very exact; they were very careful in the wording of these documents that helped to create and sustain our Nation. For that reason, it strikes me as very important that the first priority of our Government is to provide for the common defense. I believe the Baucus-Byrd stimulus economic recovery package does exactly that. Let me explain. We fund a military operation whose sole purpose is to protect American lives, our property, and our well-being. Our lives, our property, and our well-being are at risk because of the attack we are under. This is a two-pronged war in which we are engaged: We are engaged in Afghanistan on the ground trying to find the people and groups responsible for the attack on the United States and our allies, and we on the homefront are trying to keep our Nation standing up under this attack. I ask my colleagues: What would it matter or what difference would it make to a businessperson if his or her business were destroyed by a terrorist in a direct attack or if his or her business were destroyed due to the impact of a terrorist attack? The business is lost just the same. We can come to this Chamber in a bipartisan spirit and support our military, and I do. The military is to protect our interest, our lives and our livelihood. There are thousands of families who have been directly hit by a terrorist on our shores. There have been thousands of businesses and millions of people in jeopardy because of that attack. This Government, under the Constitution, and all that we know about our Government, has a responsibility to those individuals to help provide economic recovery. That simply is what this package does. This is not an entitlement. This is not a special interest. Our country exists to help us protect and defend ourselves, and that is what workers and businesses are trying to do. They have been attacked, and Government has a right to respond and respond in this way. The package before us provides some very important help to keep these businesses open, to help people continue to receive a paycheck so they can pay down their mortgages. Think about this: Our Army, our Navy, our Air Force and Marines are assembled all over the world to keep Americans or keep foreign armies from taking homes away. Whether they come on to our shore and take our homes away by confiscating the building or whether homes are taken away because the homeowners inside cannot pay their mortgage, what difference does it make? The home is gone. Senator Baucus has been working morning, noon, and night to come up with a package to help Americans pay their mortgage. We can ask Americans who live in Louisiana or Montana, what difference does it make if they do not have their house? So let us craft a stimulus package that helps businesses stay open, workers pay their mortgage, people be able to use their benefits. This package that has been put together by Senator Baucus, Senator Daschle, Senator Reid, and the Democrats recognizes the responsibility for common defense. It also recognizes it does not really make a difference how a person loses their home. The loss is the same, and let us fashion a package that helps them. Give 75 percent of COBRA premiums for displaced workers. In Louisiana, these premiums cost $7,000. That represents 75 percent of the unemployment check. So if we do not provide health care, it is as if a foreign army came and took over a hospital and stood at the door with a machine gun and said, no, we know that you are dying and need surgery, but you are not going to have access to this hospital. If we do not give COBRA payments, it is the exact same. People cannot use the hospital. It is the same thing for unemployment. So I want to strongly urge this package for Louisiana, for our Nation, and to say that for the nonproliferation issues it is a direct risk to our Nation if we do not invest in ridding this world of weapons of mass destruction. I yield back my time.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. I yield 2 additional minutes to the Senator.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Will the Senator yield for just 1 minute for opening remarks from the manager of the bill?

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Virginia for yielding. Let me quickly support my colleague from New York in her remarks about how important it is for us, as we fashion homeland defense, to be cognizant, as Mayor Giuliani beautifully showed us, so that the mayors and local officials are really on the front line. Our Federal Government needs to recognize the great role they have played and can play. Our budget should reflect the principle of getting those resources down to the lower level. I thank the Senator from New York for her very instructive remarks to us this morning. Let me, as I begin again this morning on the DC bill, very briefly-- within 1 minute--just hit the highlights of the bill before we turn to the three or four amendments we may be considering today, with that of Senator Allen being the first one up for us to consider. First, there is great consensus in this underlying bill. Again, I thank my colleague from Ohio, Senator DeWine, for his excellent work. We thank Mr. Byrd, the Senator from West Virginia, and the Senator from Alaska, Mr. Stevens, for helping us get this bill to the floor, working across party lines and in a very dedicated way to bring a good bill to this floor. The five points in this bill are: No. 1, this is the first bill over $7 billion that comes to the floor in 5 years without the Control Board being in effect. So there is great responsibility that we have to make sure this and future budgets reflect the fiscal discipline that is now a part--and hopefully will be even a stronger part--of the District's future. The budget is not only in balance but the District is in a surplus, having swung $1 billion from a deficit now to a surplus. We would like to keep it that way. There are going to be great challenges ahead, but Senator DeWine and I are committed to fiscal discipline, transparency, accountability, and excellence in management for the District. No. 2, there is an underlying principle--we will debate some of that this morning--about local decisionmaking. We believe generally local governments should be allowed to spend their money and local funds in the ways they are directed. There is some debate about that issue. That debate will take place this morning. No. 3, there is a significant investment in child welfare. I want to say on behalf of Senator DeWine and myself and many of the Members who helped, we are investing $40 million in new moneys to set up a better child welfare system in the District. Too many children have died. There are too many families torn asunder. There are too many children without parents, too many parents without children who cannot be found. This investment will help the courts work better and help us to put our money where our mouth is and invest in kids. No. 4, there is a $16 million increase for security in the District. After September 11, it is obvious the District itself is a target, hosting the Capitol of these great United States. So we have recognized that. Finally, there is an investment in the environment and in education. Amendment No. 2109

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I yield 2 minutes to the Senator from New Jersey.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Agreed.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Illinois for his usual force and clarity in outlining many good arguments supporting the tabling of the Allen amendment. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record letters from the American Public Health Association, the District of Columbia Housing Authority, the nonprofit organization called Prevention Works, as well as the Whitman-Walker Clinic, Inc.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Virginia have 5 minutes and that we have 2 minutes for closing remarks, and then we will be ready to vote.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, our side rests its case. I believe our speakers have concluded. Senator Durbin and I have some closing remarks, and I have some things to submit for the Record. I understand the Senator from Virginia may have some time remaining on his side. I understand from the leader he would like to get to this vote as soon as possible. I inquire of the Senator from Virginia what his intentions are and how much time he intends to use.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, as we move to final passage on this bill, I again thank my ranking member for his very extraordinary and dedicated work over the weeks and months to bring this bill to the floor and to work out many important and challenging issues. Together, we have tried to focus our efforts on post-control board financial discipline and laying a foundation so that the District, which is in a surplus today because of a lot of hard work that has been done, will remain in a surplus. Together, we have tried to enhance local decisionmaking, where appropriate. I believe we have made a lot of progress along that line. In addition, particularly with Senator DeWine's excellent leadership, we are reforming the child welfare system in the District and working with the mayor and the local government officials to do that. We have put significant investments in this bill to accomplish that end. In addition, because of the September 11 attack, we have provided additional resources for the mayor and the local government and for regional public officials--our own Senators representing Virginia and Maryland--of course, to be a part of that to enhance the security of the District and this region. Finally, we have together made some tremendous headway in providing resources to create more excellence in the public schools here in DC and reform that system, as well as to step up the environment and children's health with some of the projects with which Senator DeWine has been particularly helpful. In closing, I again thank publicly the mayor and the city council chairperson, Linda Cropp, and all of the members of the city council who have been so helpful in working with us on this bill. I would like to acknowledge the work of the District chief financial officer, Dr. Gandhi, and particularly his staff, Sam Kaiser, for their work in putting the local portion of this bill together. I want to recognize Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton. She continues to work with us almost daily on these issues. I thank her, and also the shadow Senator from the District, Paul Strauss. Our staff members, Cathleen Strottman, Kate Eltrich, Kevin Avery, Chuck Kieffer, and Mary Dietrich on the Republican side have been terrific in their help bringing us to this point. I have no further remarks.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I move to reconsider the vote and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I understood it was 30 minutes equally divided.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I suggest the Senator from Connecticut be recognized--and this has been cleared on both sides--as in morning business for 7 minutes. (The remarks of Mr. Dodd are printed in today's Record under ``Morning Business.'')

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I am happy to yield.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.