Mary Landrieu

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, in a few minutes I am going to offer an amendment and ask for its consideration. It is an important amendment, although it is quite small and has virtually no impact on the underlying cost of this bill, which is why I believe I can bring it with good faith to the Members for their consideration. It does not add a penny to the underlying bill, but it does send some directive language to SAMHSA, which is the agency that funds mental health and substance abuse programs for our country. Because of the good work of Senator Harkin and Senator Specter, there is an increase in funding for this important program. This money is given out in grants through competitive bids and has been ongoing for some time. I don't know exactly the year the program was authorized and commenced, but it has been a fairly longstanding program and usually gets good marks. This particular amendment would direct the Agency to give consideration to programs providing mental health services to children and families in the gulf coast area. It seems, for some reason, a very effective program that had received some funding in the past few years--that is the only program operating in the gulf coast region that is giving support and counseling and clinical services to a population of children and adults, but this is for children literally traumatized by the catastrophic disaster, not only in my State but Mississippi, somewhat in Texas, and Alabama--was not considered to be a priority. So my amendment will basically direct the agency to consider programs operating in the gulf coast area that are serving children who have very good records, to provide a priority for them. If I could, I would like to send the amendment to the desk now. It simply, as I said, establishes a priority for these programs, and it adds no money to the bottom line of this bill. I send the amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I understand the managers have cleared it. I ask for it to be accepted now.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5 minutes to pay tribute to a Louisianian who passed away this past week.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, it is with sadness that I come to the floor today to pay respects to one of our former congressional leaders who passed away earlier this week. Congressman Joe Waggonner represented the Fourth District of Louisiana from 1961 to 1979. Literally up until the last weeks of his life, he stayed very active in the Fourth District. He was active on what went on there both at a political level and a civic level, lending his voice to many important efforts in the community--and I emphasize literally up until the last few weeks of his life. He was always engaged, always open, always welcoming to leaders coming into the Shreveport area. He was not from the big city in that district, Shreveport, LA; he was from a small town called Plain Dealing. It was actually a very fitting name for this Congressman because he was a very straightforward, plain-speaking, progressive- leaning Congressman from this small town called Plain Dealing of only a thousand people. That small community of loving and supportive families, made up of farmers and small business owners and churchgoers, provided a great foundation for Joe Waggonner as he grew and came into his professional life and then became a Congressman from this small town. He was down to earth, he was honest, and he was a Congressman who represented his constituents with a lot of enthusiasm and intelligence. He was a Congressmen who would see an issue from all different sides and then make the best decision he could. His favorite saying was: ``Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'' So he was always quite courteous and respectful in the way he treated other people. He was a natural leader. He was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and after returning from service there, he began his political career as a school board member. Throughout his career, he carried an enthusiasm and excitement and energy for school issues and for the children of the Fourth District in our State. In 1961, he won a special election after longtime U.S. Representative Overton Brooks died in office and again continued that great tradition of representing the Fourth District. I can't name all the things Joe did for our State. It would be such a long list. But there are a few things that cannot be overlooked. Because of Congressman Waggonner's work in his congressional district, Barksdale Air Force Base is now one of the largest and strongest Air Force bases and is home to the mighty 8th Air Force. This base had been scheduled to close some decades ago, but because of his efforts and others, led by many of the business and civic leaders in that district but primarily because of this Congressman, Barksdale is not only open, but it is now going to be the proud home of U.S. Strategic Command's Cyber Command. Joe was also known for being a pioneer of interstate highways in their early days, wanting to put Shreveport on the map. Shreveport and Bossier City today are growing in large measure because of his fierce advocacy for ports and airports and transportation hubs, as well as the Barksdale Air Force Base. Along with my predecessor, Senator Bennett Johnson, Joe's efforts created a whole new image for Shreveport because of the work they did regarding the Red River. With their hard work they opened it to trade and transportation. Also, this river is now home to several ``floating'' casinos that have transformed Bossier City and Shreveport, LA, from very sleepy small towns to really booming commercial developments attracting gaming interests from all over the region and contributing mightily to the economy in north Louisiana. I personally say many thanks to his family--his wife Mary Ruth Carter Waggonner, his two children, Carol and David, and his three grandchildren--for the contributions they made supporting a man through many careers in public service in Louisiana. David is a personal friend and I know him and his son, Peter, are mourning the loss of their father and grandfather. He was a man of tremendous faith. He made Louisiana proud. He served us with distinction and with honor. He will be remembered as a very distinguished and dignified leader for our State, particularly north Louisiana. Joe Waggonner was a straightforward, straight-thinking man from Plain Dealing, LA. He was a graduate of Louisiana Tech University and was very proud of his alma mater and very proud to call Plain Dealing home. His leadership and friendship will be missed.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 3223 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the leaders for their work on this bill and for continuing to support NASA, as we clean up our criminal justice system and bring some reconciliation to Jena and LaSalle Parish.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, let me associate myself with the remarks of my colleague, the Senator from Rhode Island. He has raised several important initiatives: the ocean initiative, basic research and development, the disparity between some of our research dollars to a few universities and leaving out so many other good and fine universities, and many of those universities in the South. It has been a program where I have supported more equitable funding. We are proud of our southern universities. I know the Senator from Alabama most certainly is. That is one way his bill, along with the Senator from Maryland, is helping many of our universities. I rise today to give support to the amendment that is under consideration now, the $1 billion amendment to add funding to the NASA budget. When people think about New Orleans and Louisiana, they think about good food and Mardi Gras and fishing and maybe even wetlands and other things, but they might not think of space and space programs and high tech, but we are all of the above. In New Orleans east, particularly, there is a great national asset called Michoud, which has been there since 1961, which has done some of the basic research and manufacturing for the space program, which also has parts, of course, in Texas and in Houston, in Huntsville, AL, where I have had the pleasure of visiting, in parts of Florida and along the gulf coast of Mississippi. Senator Mikulski honored me and honored our State by coming to visit the Michoud facility several years ago and walked through--actually, I think we might have skated or rode carts through.

Ms. LANDRIEU. The Senator was not on skates--strike it from the record--but we were on carts, and some people were on bicycles because this facility is so large. It is 43 acres under roof, air-conditioned, employing 4,000 people, committed to our space program. Right down the road in our neighboring State of Mississippi, there are another 4,000 people employed at the Stennis Space Center--of course, named after our former colleague, Senator Stennis himself. But the reason I bring this up is not only because this is important to Louisiana and to the gulf coast area of Mississippi and to the State of Alabama, our sister States, but it is important to the Nation. When the Columbia accident happened, as the leaders have so eloquently said, NASA had to scramble and take a lot of money from other parts of its budget to cover the battle back to space, to support back-to-flight missions. We have not ever reimbursed them appropriately for that. Their program is quite challenged because of it. So that is why this amendment is so important. It is a great boost to the rebuilding of our region. Let me say, for the employees at Michoud, they have been back at work even though they had no houses in which to live. They were back at work building levees around this facility even though there was water all around. They kept this program and this building open and operating, and there was not a stop, even during some of the worst parts of this storm. That is how committed this workforce is to this program. So I want to support this amendment. I thank the Senator for her leadership, and I am proud to be a cosponsor of the $1 billion amendment to add much needed revenue to the NASA budget. Again, I am very proud of this work in New Orleans Parish, in St. Tammany Parish, as well as along the gulf coast of Mississippi. If I might, before I yield the floor, also thank the leaders of this committee for already approving an amendment I offered, and it has been accepted by voice earlier today. It is a small amendment, but I actually think it can help in a very timely situation in the country right now. As my colleagues are aware, we have had a terrible series of events in Louisiana commonly referred to as the Jena 6. There have been many allegations made on all sides about events that occurred on and off the school grounds in Jena, LA, a small town I represent. Looking into the situation and talking with many people involved, it came to my attention that there were really very little resources that the Federal Government had to bring to bear early on that could have potentially avoided some of the conflict that occurred, some of the attention that rose up about these incidents. The more I looked into it, the more I became concerned because I found out that the Community Relations Service does exist within the Department of Justice. The service's mission, when appropriate, is to serve as a mediator during and after periods of racial tension in our country. This was created some years ago. I read its mission and its statement, and it seems as if that would be a very good way for us to spend a very small portion of money that is allocated to help because, of course, the American dream is for all of us from different races to be able to live and work together and to prosper. It has not really been done in any other country as well as it is being done here in the course of human history, so it is something we should be proud of, although we do have problems. But we need all parts of our Government coming forward and committing to making this happen. It occurred to me--and I learned--that this is a very excellent service. The problem was, there were only three people employed in the service for the 31 million people who live in New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and the two other States in our region. So it occurred to me that it might be a good use of taxpayer money to add some money to this Community Relations Service, specifically directing some of the new hires to this region, to keep money in the field--not here in Washington but pushed out into the field so when these incidents happen, maybe a well, trained mediator from the field could show up, work with the community leaders, work with the attorneys general, maybe work with some local elected officials, and prevent some of the harsh things that were said and done over the course of this time. This is in no way saying who was right and who was wrong. I think it is a very good service that our Justice Department could do. I was pleased to offer this amendment. I understand it has been accepted. It will be most certainly a help to us as we try to reconcile and heal this community, Jena and LaSalle Parish in Louisiana, and bring the community back together after a series of very unfortunate events. Finally, let me say I thank the Chair, and I can either call up now-- or it can be accepted later--another amendment regarding the COPS Program, which will help some of the disaster areas that are still struggling with law enforcement challenges. If it is appropriate, I think both sides have cleared this amendment No. 3223.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to pay tribute to a group of 96 World War II veterans from the Acadiana region of Louisiana that is making their way to Washington this weekend. Here they will visit the World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Marine Corps memorials as well as Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The trip to the Nation's Capital this Saturday is being paid for by group in Lafayette, LA, called Louisiana HonorAir. The organization is honoring each surviving Louisiana veteran by giving them a chance to see the memorials dedicated to their service. So far this year, there have been two trips to these Washington memorials and three more are planned, including this one. World War II was the deadliest conflict in our history. More than 60 million people worldwide were killed, including 40 million civilians, and more than 400,000 American servicemembers were slain during the long war. In Louisiana, there remain today about 44,000 living WWII veterans, and every one of them has their own heroic tale of their experience in achieving a noble victory of freedom over tyranny. Mervin Harmon from Lafayette was one of the Tuskegee Airmen, our country's first African American pilots. While serving his country, he had to endure the racism that was prevalent in our society during that era. Mervin, who is 80 now, joined the service at 18, becoming a mechanic and crew chief at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He oversaw the P-51 Mustang fighters the Airmen flew during the war, ensuring that planes were safe for battle. When Mervin trained at Ft. Smith in Arkansas, he remembers German prisoners of war eating in restaurants while black MPs guarding them were not allowed to be served. Mervin and the other Tuskegee airmen helped our country bridge the racial divide. He went on to serve in Lafayette Parish government for 14 years and had an upholstery business in the city. I ask the Senate to join me in honoring Mervin Harmon, the other 95 Louisiana heroes we welcome to Washington this weekend, and Louisiana HonorAir for making these trips a reality.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business for 2 minutes to pay tribute to a great Louisianan who passed away.

Ms. LANDRIEU. And that Senator Harkin would follow me for 15 minutes.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, first let me associate myself with the remarks of the Senator from Iowa who just spoke so eloquently, strongly, and forcefully about the need for our children's health program in the country. I will be speaking later on that subject throughout the week as we all battle to get a better plan to cover more children at such a critical time now in that debate.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to speak just very briefly about a loss Louisiana has suffered--and, in many ways, the Nation--of a great political leader, a great political figure, and a friend to many. Earlier this morning, Sheriff Harry Lee of Jefferson Parish passed away after a battle with leukemia. As my colleagues know, I come from a place of rich political heritage, colorful characters, and of amazing and fantastic stories at times about our political figures. Among the most colorful, though, was Sheriff Harry Lee, who stood out and stood tall for so many years. He served the people of Jefferson Parish since 1979 as their sheriff, but he started life in Louisiana in a much more humble way. Harry was born in the back room of a Chinese laundry in downtown New Orleans to immigrant parents, Bing and Yip Lee, who instilled in him a strong and very determined spirit that would serve him well and serve all of us well for the rest of his life. After a promising educational start at Francis T. Nicholls, where he served as both senior class president and student body president, Harry went on to college at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He joined the ROTC Program there and was recognized early on as an outstanding cadet. He didn't stop there, though. His next step was to serve the country in the Air Force during the height of the Cold War. He served in the famous Strategic Command. His Air Force career led him to make a great decision in life, and that was to marry Lai Beet Woo, his wife of 40 years. When Harry returned to Louisiana, he took over the family restaurant and convinced his father to allow him to attend law school. He excelled and became the first Federal magistrate for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He soon then, through many political contacts and his great spirit and gregarious nature and classwork, became parish attorney for Jefferson Parish. Then, in 1975 and shortly thereafter, he was elected sheriff, a post he held for more than two decades, and he became a household name in Louisiana. This story has probably been tracked by others, but for Harry Lee, who comes from a Chinese-American background, at the time he was elected sheriff I think he was the highest ranking Chinese official and the only Chinese-American sheriff in the country. He was always extremely proud of that, proud of his heritage, always reminding us of that singular accomplishment. After being a larger-than-life force in the realm of criminal justice for over 30 years, as I said this morning, he finally lost his own battle with leukemia. He had fought and won many battles on the streets in Jefferson Parish, in the courtrooms, and also in the court of public opinion. Harry Lee's success says something important about our country--the son of immigrants who goes on to not only serve his parish, his city, his region, but went on to befriend Presidents, Republicans and Democrats, being the go-to person when people of great political distinction would come to our State. They always wanted to see and talk with Harry Lee. Like all of us in public life, his tenure was not without controversy, but he was fiercely loyal to his deputies. There are thousands of deputies, current and former, who are mourning his passing today. Looking back on a life like this, you can only think that his father and mother, Bing Yip Lee, who have long passed away, must have looked down and smiled on their son's accomplishments. The loss of this singular figure in Louisiana politics is not only a loss to Jefferson Parish and to the State of Louisiana, but it is a loss to this great country that we all try our best to serve. I want to extend my heartfelt condolences to the Lee family, to the deputies, to the law enforcement officials of Jefferson Parish in our State who are mourning this loss today. I hope we will all take some solace from the fact that they are being joined by so many mourners who recognize and appreciate a life well lived. In closing, a not-so-secret hobby of Harry's was singing. I cannot say he would have ever made records, but he tried and he sang with great zest. At many jazz fests, he would be tempted to the stage by his friend Willie Nelson. They would often sing together. His favorite song was ``Welcome to My World.'' I would like to say to Harry today: Thank you for welcoming us to your world, Sheriff Lee. You served us well, and you will be missed.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Yes.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from California and all of my colleagues on this particular committee who have worked so hard. The ranking member, Senator Inhofe from Oklahoma, has also worked hard. But I have to say to this chairwoman who took the chairmanship of this committee and said 7 years is enough time to wait, it is too long for the people of Louisiana, for California, or Florida, or Maryland-- my good colleague from Maryland, Senator Cardin, who serves on this committee has been so forceful--she said: I am coming to Louisiana. I want to see it for myself, particularly after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated our coast. As the chairwoman knows, we lost 267 square miles of land in south Louisiana because of the storm and the devastation of the tides, the surges, and the flooding. That is more than the whole District of Columbia, more than two and a half times the size of the 100 square miles that represent the District of Columbia. This is a huge expanse of land that was lost. This Senator said enough. We have been waiting too long. It has been 7 long years. Today with this conference report vote that is going to take place in about 2 hours, that wait will come to an end. The last step Congress can take to send this bill off will have been taken. The conference report, hopefully, will be approved by a vast majority of Senators on both sides of the aisle. It would not have happened without Senator Boxer's leadership. I am, indeed, so grateful on behalf of the people I represent in Louisiana. This is a small map, but it shows my colleagues the vastness of the land we are trying to protect and preserve, this great wetlands, which is the green area shown on this chart. The Mississippi River comes down, of course, through the mouth of the Mississippi River. This is the Sabine River that divides Louisiana from Texas and the Pearl River that serves as a boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana. From east Texas, all of Louisiana, and for west Mississippi, this is an extremely important bill for our coastal regions. It is going to provide historic and first-time funding for a comprehensive wetlands restoration, a combination of levees, wetlands restoration, and freshwater diversion projects that are going to not only protect the 3.5 million people who live south of the I-10--when people say to me, Senator, why do you live there? I don't know exactly how to answer that question other than to say we have been there for 300 years. I don't know exactly why the first person--and that was before the Native Americans. That was after the Native Americans settled the land. I am speaking about when Bienville put up a stake along the Mississippi River. I would say there are any number of reasons, one of which is it was absolutely imperative to settle on the mouth of the river for westward expansion for the Nation. We couldn't have had a nation without the Mississippi River and the Louisiana Purchase, of which 19 States now are made up from the Louisiana Purchase. We remember our history. I cannot go into all the reasons, but they most certainly are there with 300 years of history. There are 3 million people who live here. We cannot relocate them. It would be cost prohibitive. We can only protect them. We have put in smart planning and smart zoning. That is what we are doing and have been doing. The parishes put up money, and the State, and the Federal Government, and that is what we are doing. I only have a few minutes remaining. I will speak later. There is another way to look at the levee system that is crucial to protect the people who live in south Louisiana. Unlike many States, we do not have beaches. I have been to the beautiful beaches in California, and I want them preserved. I have been to some of the most beautiful beaches in Virginia and North Carolina and throughout the country. We are the only State that does not have beaches. We only have two: Holly Beach which is 7 miles long--it was virtually destroyed in the storm--and Grand Isle, which is 7 miles long. This coastline is thousands of miles long with only two little beaches. But we do have wetlands. We do not have people living on these wetlands. Sometimes there is a little camp here or a little community there. But they are stuck on the high ridges. They have been living on ridges that can be protected, and with the right kind of levees and the right kind of comprehensive system such as is in the Netherlands and other places in the world, this can be done. It takes commitment, it takes dedication, and it needs a steady stream of funding. Mr. President, how many minutes do I have remaining?

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, this is a fairly dramatic chart I want to show people. It is a little scary for me and, I am sure, the people I represent. It is also very scary for Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. This is the track of all hurricanes from 1955 to 2005. This is what the southeastern part of this country has to brace itself for every year--year after year after year. According to all reports, these storms are getting stronger and stronger and more numerous. We have been very blessed that we have not had a critical storm this summer. But the season is still open until November. This yellow track is the track of Katrina. This blue track is the track of Rita which actually hit 2 years ago today. I was down in Cameron Parish on the corner of Louisiana, and east Texas is still hurting very badly, as well as our areas, from this storm. It has not recovered yet. My point is, this bill not only has projects for inland waterways and navigation, but it provides vital projects for all of the southeastern United States and for the eastern seaboard to protect the people, the great industries, and manufacturing that are represented through all sorts of navigable waterways and ports that service this whole Nation. Without this bill, this whole area will become significantly more vulnerable and open to storms, erosion, and surges. This is a very dramatic chart that shows what we are up against. I am going to come back later and show some other charts, but in conclusion, this is a historic bill for Louisiana. It is extremely important for the Nation. For the first time we have authorized Morganza to the gulf which protects Houma, LA, a city not a lot of people hear about, but it is a very important city. It is smaller than Baton Rouge, smaller than New Orleans, smaller than Lafayette, but it is crucial to the energy infrastructure of this Nation. We have many small towns in south Louisiana that my colleagues will not hear a lot about, but we store oil and gas there. We run pipelines through these towns. People are down there working their hearts out to give us the energy security we need. The least we can do is protect their schools, their communities, their way of life, and their culture. I thank Senator Boxer for allowing me to speak. I thank my colleague Senator Vitter, who is a member of this committee. He will be speaking in a moment. He has been extremely helpful, energetic, and forceful in his advocacy for many of these projects. We have worked together. I am very pleased that he has put so much time and effort into this bill. I see my colleague from Florida, who also has made a historic breakthrough on some projects, particularly the Everglades. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Ms. LANDRIEU. So I hope the President will reconsider this number, the lowest investment since 1929. I hope he will look at the hurricane maps, and then I hope he will look at the land loss in Louisiana. I would like to just end with this. We have lost more than twice the amount of land in just the last storm--these red dots represent significant land loss--that if an enemy came and took this land away from us, we would declare World War III. But it is not an enemy, it is ourselves. So let us pass the WRDA bill. I thank the chairman and the ranking member for their extraordinary leadership. There are many good reasons to pass this bill, and I hope we can get a good vote in just a few minutes.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, as we conclude this historic vote, I thank colleagues on both sides of the aisle and briefly will put a few names into the Record. I know we are moving to another bill. I wish to thank Senator Boxer, Senator Inhofe, and Senator Reid, for living up to his commitment. For the Record, there were several people on my staff who worked so hard over the last 7 years: Herman ``Bubba'' Gesser, Allen Richey, Paul Rainwater, Kathleen Strottman, Jason Matthews, Jason Schendle, Stephanie Leger, Robert Bailey, Jennifer Lancaster, Tanner Jackson, Mark Tiner, Lauren Jardell, Elaine Kimbrell and Lucia Marker-Moore. That is how long this bill has been going on. I have literally had 12 people in and out of the Projects Department working on this bill. (At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to be printed in the Record.)

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I wish to follow up on the comments of the good Senator from Oklahoma, who I believe made some very appropriate and strong arguments for this bill. There are some reasons to vote against the bill, I guess, but I wouldn't say one of them is because you are a conservative. The Senator from Oklahoma is absolutely correct, this is a conservative approach to infrastructure. This is the right approach. This is about investments. Whether one is representing the State of California, which tends to be sometimes more liberal on issues, or representing a State such as Oklahoma, which tends to be more conservative, this is the right vote. My colleagues can vote against this bill because they don't think it has enough Corps reforms. Senator Feingold's position, although I disagree with it, is a legitimate position. He just believes the Corps should have more reforms. Actually, I agree with a lot of what he says. But we couldn't get a majority of Senators to go along with his proposal. We had to drop it or sacrifice the whole bill. I did not think it was worth sacrificing the whole bill. We have some reforms, and I am committed and others are committed to continuing to work to reform the Corps, to streamline the Corps, to force them to stop wasting so much money and time. I am committed to do that in the future. But right now, we have wetlands to save and levees to build. The Senator from Oklahoma is exactly correct. This is a chart that shows the civil works as a percentage of the gross domestic product since 1929. There is a crisis in America. We are down below half a percentage point relative to gross domestic product. We are spending less today than we did in 1929. I know nobody believes this information, but this is not a chart that came from Mary Landrieu's office; this is a chart from the Corps of Engineers. We can see in the runup to the wars, World War I and World War II, how this bolted up because we had to make some of these investments. But look at the precipitous slide, Mr. President. I say this because the Senator is correct. The National Chamber of Commerce--not a bastion of liberalism--is supporting this bill. The Manufacturers of America-- not a bastion of liberalism--sent out a letter supporting this bill. Why? Because business cannot operate without ports and navigation and flood control. Agriculture cannot operate if every year their fields get flooded. I don't know how to explain this anymore. This is not porkbarrel, runaway spending. This is critical investments, and it has been 7 years since this bill has passed. Senator Boxer didn't run up a big tab. She has worked her heart out with Senator Inhofe to get a bill passed in 7 months that should have passed 7 years ago. As to the argument from the good Senator from South Carolina--and I know somebody has to come to the floor and read talking points from some organization about this bill, but I wish to say something about South Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas. This chart shows the hurricanes that have hit since 1955. I don't know how many more Katrinas, I don't know how many more Ritas, I don't know how many more Hugos we need. But these are the tracks of the storms. We have 300 million people who live in the United States. I am just going to take a wild guess that 50 percent of them live in the Northeast and the South because I know the interior West is very lightly populated, so I would imagine the gravity of the population is where we are looking now. How many more storms have to hit before we pass a water bill? How many more homes have to be flooded? We lost 275,000 in Louisiana and Mississippi last year. Two years ago today, Rita slammed into south Louisiana and east Texas. I focus so much on my State, and, of course, I represent Louisiana, but I picked up the Houston Chronicle this morning, front page, big headline: People in south Texas still waiting for help from the Federal Government for homes destroyed 2 years ago. This bill is not going to solve every problem. It is not going to build every levee. But we better get about raising this chart up a little bit or I don't know what our manufacturers and businesses are going to do. You can buy anything you want on the Internet, but every now and then you have to ship it. You can purchase it with a mouse click, but that product has to get on a ship, it has to get on a truck, it has to get on a barge. It has to go somewhere. If we don't start building levees and protecting our people from these storms--and Lord help us if there is another terrorist attack--I just don't know what we are going to do. So there is some urgency about this situation. I will say in my final minutes that I hope the President will not veto this bill. I hope he will reconsider his position and look at the vote, the overwhelming vote in the House--and I think we are going to have an overwhelming vote in the Senate--and say: I thought about vetoing this bill, but I decided not to because the arguments have been good. Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent for 30 more seconds.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, today I wish to speak about a television station in my hometown of New Orleans. As all our local news media have, WGNO-TV/ABC 26 has been there through thick and through thin, telling Louisiana's story of recovery following Hurricane Katrina. But often missed as you watch the local news broadcasts and read the local papers is that the story of rebuilding and recovery these journalists are telling is as much their own story as it is the community's. After many years broadcasting from New Orleans' World Trade Center, WGNO moved into a new studio facility at the New Orleans Centre, near the Louisiana Superdome, just a few weeks before Katrina hit. Forced out of the space by the approaching storm, they broadcast their coverage from ABC station WBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge, as well as various locations on the road, reporting from the heart of the devastation. When they moved back to New Orleans to begin telling the story of rebuilding, they told it from a facility all too familiar to their viewers--a set of trailers parked behind the Superdome. A makeshift studio and control room were assembled in part with equipment procured on the Internet. Months later, after a decision was made to not reopen the New Orleans Centre, effectively evicting the station, WGNO moved back into the World Trade Center facility they had vacated in July 2005. Tonight, WGNO formally celebrates the opening of a brand-new broadcast center in Metairie, Louisiana. Their first broadcast from their new home was on August 29--the 2-year anniversary of Katrina--and I was proud to be their first in-studio guest. It took 2 years for the hard-working staff of WGNO to move into a permanent new home. For many of my constituents, it will be much longer. But one guiding light will be, as it has been since the storm first struck, the dedicated reporting of our local news organizations-- not just WGNO, but also their colleagues at WWL-TV, WVUE-TV and WDSU- TV, our local radio stations, the Times Picayune and our vibrant weekly community papers, and all the others who have stayed with us every minute of these difficult 2 years. Even as many of their own reporters, engineers and other personnel have faced their own tremendous challenges, having in many cases lost homes and loved ones, they have continued to be a voice for our great city and State. I congratulate WGNO as they celebrate their new home, and thank them and all of our local news media for their continued service.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside. I call up amendment No. 2795 and ask for its immediate consideration.