Mary Landrieu

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, we do have some important work to finish tomorrow. That is why I thought I would spend a few minutes tonight reminding my colleagues of a very significant part of that work. Before I came to work this morning, I spent a little time with our two children, our 8-year-old precious little angel girl, Mary Shannon, and our 12-year-old little boy. We spent some time at breakfast, and then we started doing what a lot of families do around this holiday, and that is listen to some Christmas music and some holiday music and wrap a few gifts that they had actually, amazingly picked out themselves for their Kris Kringles. We talked about how important it was going to be to see family over the holidays. As they struggled to wrap the gifts, with their tape and their scissors, we tried to spend a little family time together before I came to work today. It reminded me of how simple but wonderfully special those moments are with families at this time of year, as moms and dads make their regular cookies and traditional dinners and recipes and wrap packages the same way and decorate the trees the same way and put out the nativity scenes. And all over the country that is happening. There is one place that that is not happening the way it usually does and that is along the gulf coast of this country, and particularly in Louisiana. About 3 months ago, two fierce storms hit our coast. We basically survived through the night, only to wake up the next morning and find the levees had broken, and 200,000-plus homes and 18,000 businesses were destroyed literally in a matter of a few hours. The devastation was so great and so expansive and so unprecedented that it has literally taken the Nation and this Congress and even officials in the region, major business operations in the region, 3 months or more to actually realize the extent of the devastation. I have spent a lot of time on the Senate floor with my colleague, Senator Vitter, showing pictures and graphs to try to explain what actually happened. This one isn't fancy. It is simple, but it is pretty clear. When we come down here to try to explain how much help the people of Louisiana need, the people of Mississippi, and to some extent a little bit in Alabama and Texas because of two killer storms, Katrina and Rita, and the multiple levee breaks that ensued, one figure that helped my staff and our people to understand is this chart that shows Hurricane Andrew as the most expensive storm ever to hit the coast of the United States in 1992. They are still recovering from it in Florida. In that massive storm, 28,000 homes were destroyed--28,000, in Homestead, FL, and in places around. People are still living in trailers after 10-plus, 14 years. But I have to show my colleagues right here, in Katrina, 3 months ago, a storm and levee break came through and around 275,000 homes, 10 times the amount of Hurricane Andrew, 10 times the amount of destruction. I was sitting in my home just a few blocks from here with my children this morning, with three rolls of wrapping paper and a couple of pairs of scissors. And, thank goodness, we could find the Scotch tape which is always a challenge when you are wrapping gifts. I had to close my eyes and think about my mother's house that is not occupied now after 45 years of raising 9 children and 37 grandchildren. It had 7 feet of water in it. And my sisters and our friends and people from all walks of life, rich and poor, Black and White, senior citizens and moms and dads who are looking forward to having their children and grandchildren with them, there are no homes to wrap these gifts or to put the tree or to hang the lights. I just came tonight to tell my colleagues that while this bill looks like just sort of a regular package of lots of words and lines and fine print, what is in one of these bills tomorrow is a package of hope for the 275,000 families who lived in those homes that were completely destroyed--not a roof damaged, not a porch falling over, not a few steps missing but homes completely destroyed. I want to show you what a home completely destroyed looks like; 275,000 homes along the gulf coast look something like this. Some of them look worse. This picture was in the National Geographic a couple of weeks ago. This is what the homes along the gulf coast look like. That is why I am not going home this Christmas while we will be working as many hours and days as it takes until people like this have some hope that they can get back to their home. It is not just Christmas, which would be impossible in this situation, but at least by next Christmas. I am going to say again, for the one-hundredth time, FEMA is not sufficient to get us back to our homes, to build our churches again, to rebuild our schools and to rebuild our communities. It is an insufficient mechanism, and on its best day it could not accomplish this goal. In this package tomorrow in the Defense appropriations bill, because of political concerns of the Congress, we find our $29 billion hope package in there that finally moves money from an agency that can't manage to spend it well into the hands of competent local officials and local entities and private businesses and faith-based organizations and individual Americans who show a lot of grit and a lot of heart to build their State and their community again. We are not going home without the hope package. It is not fair and America can do better. This is what the inside of many homes in New Orleans looks like because the water was so high in many of our neighborhoods, even neighborhoods that had never flooded, neighborhoods that had never had a drop of water before. After several weeks and finally the water went down, this is what families saw all throughout south Louisiana and in New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish, parts of Jefferson Parish, in neighborhoods in some places where the average home is valued at $50,000 to $75,000. But there are also some neighborhoods where the average home is worth $1 million. In all homes, large and small, rich and poor, this is what families are doing this holiday season. They come up here to Senator Vitter's office and to my office. ``Senator, does anybody know we are down here? Does anybody know we have lost our churches, our schools, our community? Does anybody care? What is Congress doing?'' Because of the good work of many Members of this body, particularly I have to say Senator Thad Cochran from Mississippi, who basically refused to accept an anemic and incomplete proposal from the administration that basically sent money to fix a few Federal buildings--I don't see a Federal building anywhere in this picture. I see a family's home. I see everything that they owned destroyed, impossible to reclaim. While you can buy a few sofas--let me assure you that there are many you can choose from--I promise you that the wedding album which was lost is irreplaceable. The pictures of the children are irreplaceable. The special mementos handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter are gone, are priceless and can't be replaced. And no insurance company can provide you sufficient funding for those things that have been lost. This is what 250,000 homes in Louisiana look like. It is bad enough to lose your home. But I also want to try to impress upon the Members of Congress that losing your home is pretty bad because it is where most people have equity. Most of the net worth of Americans is in their homes. We pride ourselves on being homeowners and a nation of homeowners and middle-class families. But let me show you what this hurricane and flood did. It destroyed 18,752 businesses, catastrophically destroyed, gone in Louisiana, compared to 1,912 in Mississippi, 295 in Texas, and 20 in Alabama; 18,700 businesses gone, no more; restaurants, cleaners, manufacturers, law firms, doctors' offices, clinics, just gone. People who are cleaning out their houses are also cleaning out their businesses, and insurance checks are slow to come, and this hope package is stuck right here in Congress. Last week we had some, I guess, good news about the economic front in America. I think you can read statistics many different ways. But for the Record tonight--this came out yesterday--I saw one or two submitted for the Record. The Bureau of Economic Analysis in the U.S. Department of Commerce, which issued the growth rate of State personal income, says the hurricane slowed personal income growth. You can see in a different case, but there is an absolutely dead, stop, halt, reverse taking place in Louisiana. There is a 25 percent reduction in personal income growth in Louisiana. There is no State in the Nation even close. Mississippi was hard hit, and I do not underestimate the destruction along that gulf coast which we love, as I have said as many times as I can, almost as much as we love Louisiana because many people in Louisiana grew up on the gulf coast and spent many happy days on those beaches. Mississippi has grown .8 percent. The national average was something closer to 1.8 percent. Look at the dramatic fall in Louisiana. There is nothing close: 25 percent reduction. What we are trying to say is it was not just a regular hurricane. It was not just the second hurricane. It was a multiple break of Federal levees that this Congress had the responsibility to build, to design, and to maintain, which we utterly failed to do, and we lost 250,000 homes. What do we tell those people? You are on your own? Go gather up your church members and see if you can raise a roof? The churches are not there, either. Go to your school and gather up your community and let's just be self-reliant and raise ourselves up by our bootstraps. The school is gone. There is no cafeteria. There is no multipurpose room. There is no auditorium. Least week, I went home and attended a church service briefly. It was amazing to walk into a church where the roof was still sort of caved in halfway--not dangerous but hanging; you could see the top of the roof, the inside of the roof was damaged--with 1,500 people in this church. You look out the front door of the church, and there are no homes anywhere around that are inhabitable. You wonder, Where did the people come from? People drove, from what Father Vien told me, 2 and 3 hours to come to Mass. People are driving half a day to go back to their church to say Mass and to be in church with their community--that is how meaningful it is--with the hope that maybe someday they can get back to their neighborhood. I am not saying that Members of this Congress individually have not tried. There have been heroic efforts made, I believe, with what Senator Enzi has done in our education package; Senator Kennedy. Senator Cochran and Senator Lott have worked tirelessly. Senator Vitter has been in this Senate and in many meetings and has taken Senators to Louisiana. We cannot go home without help. We cannot go home without help. If this package is not passed tomorrow--and I didn't package it in the bill it is packaged in, which is Defense--we cannot go home without our $29 billion hope package, moving money from FEMA, finally, thank goodness; not adding money to the deficit but moving that money to community development block grants to use in an expanded way; $3 billion to protect our levee system, to give people hope and security that as we begin the plan for rebuilding, they will not be flooded again; help for our universities; help for our medical schools; help for the infrastructure, the major highways that have been destroyed. We cannot go home without that hope package. I hope my colleagues know what is at stake. I know everyone is anxious to get home to their families and to their children. I am looking forward to spending some off time with my family. We cannot leave without passing that package of hope for the people on the gulf coast. I am prepared to work through Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and into Christmas on Sunday if we have to until we can get this package done. If I thought we could wait until January, we could take a break and come back--we cannot. People are holding on by a thread. Banks are threatening to foreclose on people's houses. Having given them forbearance for 3 months, they are now sending people notices that they will have to pay their mortgage in January. But not just the January mortgage; they have to pay four mortgages in the month of January. So the people who have lost 1 of the 18,000 businesses, the people whose homes look like this, they are being asked to pay 4 months of a mortgage on this home. This family is having trouble getting a trailer to live in. Meanwhile, they have to pay mortgages on this home. If not, they will be foreclosed. All the equity they built up, which could be considerable--several hundred thousand in some cases, sometimes more, maybe even over $1 billion of equity--lost, not because there isn't a solution to their dilemma but because this Congress and this administration haven't figured out, haven't worked hard enough to give them a helping hand. These people aren't looking for charity. They give to charity. Most of the people in Louisiana who have lost their homes have never asked for a penny from anybody. All they have been doing is digging in their pocket for the last 50 years as a family. They make a little bit of money and give to people in more need. Now the middle-class families who never asked for a thing need help from us, and we can't figure out how to get their hope package through? I express that I am prepared to stay through Christmas day, if need be, and beyond, to get this package through. I will read into the record a beautifully written paragraph from a new book that is out which is written by Tom Piazza, ``Why New Orleans Matters.'' I am the Senator for the whole State, and I love all 64 parishes. It is quite a special place and one we will fight hard to restore. The southern part of our State has been very hard hit. Thank goodness our capital city of Baton Rouge is standing up very strongly. They have grown from a city of 350,000 to a city of 500,000 over the weekend, 3 months ago. The mayor of that city, ``Kip'' Holden, has now had to take on an additional 150,000 citizens and is managing very well under the circumstances. Lafayette is in the southwest and is part of Cajun Country. They have probably increased 50,000 or 60,000. New Orleans is my hometown, and it is something we will fight hard to restore. It is representative of the spirit of all of Louisiana. I will read into the record in closing why this fight is worth having and why we are not going to give up until we get the help, the money, the tools, and the support. He writes: New Orleans is not just a list of attractions or restaurants or ceremonies, no matter how sublime and subtle. New Orleans is the interaction among all these things and countless more. It gains its character from the spirit that is summoned, like a hologram, in the midst all these elements, and that comes, ultimately, from the people who live there, and from those whose parents and grandparents and ancestors lived there. That spirit, as much as, or more than, the city's physical and economic infrastructure, is what is in jeopardy right now. In the wake of the worst natural disaster in this country's history, one from which New Orleans, and the rest of the country, will be digging out for years, it may be good to remember what has been lost, and to think hard about what is worth fighting to save. I plan to fight with all of my strength and energy and commitment to save this wonderful city, to save south Louisiana, which has given so much, and to fight hard for people who only ever expected their Government to meet them halfway, for this Federal Government to be what it was created to be, which is a help to people in time of need. We are going to be here through Christmas if we have to. I thank all of my colleagues for their patience and forbearance. Many of them have stepped up beyond the call of duty to help a State they do not even represent. But, of course, as Senators, they know the need of people in times like these. I look forward to the debate tomorrow.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment and honor a man who has influenced the lives of so many students for more than 35 years. A band director since 1969, Dr. Isaac Greggs has taken the half time show for Southern University to a different level, electrifying audiences with the band's energetic and precise performances. However, these performances could not have happened without a lot of hard work. Dr. Greggs' practices are legendary for being gruelling, but they paid off in the end. In many ways, Dr. Greggs' practices are a metaphor for his life--when one demonstrates discipline and effort, one can succeed anywhere. This motto certainly proved true for Dr. Greggs' band. Under his direction, the band performed around the world, including for three United States Presidential inaugurations, four Sugar Bowls, and five Super Bowls. The band has also appeared at the Astro Dome, Superdome, Yankee Stadium, and the Oakland Stadium Coliseum. For six weeks, the band played at Radio City Music Hall, and they have also made appearances on television shows such as the Bob Hope Show, Jim Nabors Show, Almost Anything Goes Show, Perry Como Show, Henry, The Fonz, Winkler Show, and the Telly Savalas Show. In addition to the talent Dr. Greggs has brought as a band leader, he is also an accomplished musician and song writer and is the author of Southern University's fight song and alma mater. He is an honorary member of both Louisiana's House of Representatives and State Senate, and has won several major music festival awards for the marching division. Dr. Greggs has conducted honor bands throughout the country, and on behalf of Southern University he was presented with a special trophy by the National Football League for his band's outstanding performance at a Super Bowl. Dr. Greggs' leadership is not limited to the sporting field. As president of the Louisiana College Band Directors Association, founder and president of the Lakeside Music Mart and School of Music, and State Chairman of the L.I.A.L.O. Band Festival, Dr. Greggs has proved his leadership skills and shown his commitment to the arts. Dr. Greggs was presented with the Key of Life Award at the 31st NAACP Image Awards. The Key of Life Award was created in honor of musician Stevie Wonder and is presented to an individual or group who exemplifies Wonder's ``inner vision.'' The award also recognizes extraordinary achievements in the areas of civil rights, human rights, and community. It is clear through all of his career, Dr. Greggs exemplified these attributes. Dr. Greggs' power to move people through music is an amazing gift. If one is lucky in life, one improves the life of one's own children. However, Dr. Greggs has improved the lives of thousands and has left an indelible mark on African-American students and fans.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, the Senate has taken a big step forward in helping Louisiana and the other States affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma by passing H.R. 4440, the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005, also known as the GO Zone Act. I realize that there are a number of very important pieces of legislation pending before the Senate and the House of Representatives as we wind down this session. But I want my colleagues to know that I am grateful, and the people of Louisiana are grateful, for the Senate's passing this bill by unanimous consent. I must thank Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Baucus of the Finance Committee for their work on this legislation and for the tremendous support of their staffs. The GO Zone Act contains a number of tax incentives to rebuild our economic infrastructure. Our State will be able to issue bonds to build housing, roads, bridges, and industrial plants. The bill increases the allocation of low-income housing tax credits in the GO Zone to $18 per person--more than nine times the amount we are currently allocated--to build housing to allow all of our citizens to return home. Businesses will be able to get favorable depreciation and enhanced deductions for investing in plant and equipment in the devastated areas. These tax incentives are aimed at helping our businesses stay in business. We also included an expansion of the Hope scholarship and lifetime learning credit for students who return to the GO Zone to continue their educations. The bill also contains a housing provision that I offered as a floor amendment when the Senate considered this legislation. The amendment, cosponsored by Senator Vitter, will create reward employers who have provided housing for workers and their families in the hurricane disaster area. These dedicated employers have made it possible for their workers to live on company property so that their business operations could get going again. They have rented or purchased trailers and put them on their property, all hooked up to utilities. Our business leaders recognized that they could not get back on their feet if their employees had no place to live near where they worked. FEMA has been incapable and incompetent in getting people into housing, so our businesses have stepped in to fill the void. Under this provision, employees working at firms in the GO Zone may exclude up to $600 per month from income for employer-provided housing assistance. Employers get a tax credit of up to 30 percent of assistance provided to employees. The provision is temporary, lasting only 6 months, but it was the right thing to do for companies that believe in Louisiana and the gulf as a great place to do business. I must also note that the housing amendment had strong support from local and national business organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Greater New Orleans, Inc., and Michael Olivier, the Louisiana State Secretary for Economic Development. I ask unanimous consent that their letters of support be printed in the Record. These tax incentives, however, are still only a beginning. Tax cuts will not build a levee, and without our levees, we will not rebuild New Orleans. I was pleased that the President recently announced his support for $3 billion in additional funding to restore our levees to true Category 3 protection, along with a down payment to get us to Category 5 protection. Now our focus must be on passing Chairman Thad Cochran's hurricane relief package, which adds to the President's $17 billion request for Federal assistance another $17.5 billion in aid to Louisiana and Mississippi, including funding for levee repairs. The chairman's leadership has built up support for the measure in the Senate, but we need to urge the White House and leadership in House of Representatives to follow suit and commit to giving a hand up to the people of the gulf coast. We should not go home for the holidays without taking this step for the thousands still left without homes to go home to. Mr. President, with the passage of the GO Zone Act, the Senate has taken a key step toward helping the people of the gulf rebuild our communities. We must finish the job for this year in the gulf before we adjourn for the year. I ask that my complete statement and the additional letters in support of the Landrieu amendment be printed in the Record.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, it will only take 90 seconds to thank Senator Lott for his leadership and the two managers, Senator Grassley and Senator Baucus, who have literally worked tirelessly on this piece of legislation to help the people along the gulf coast. This is part of a relief package that will help us to help ourselves, get our people back home, our businesses back to work, and the gulf coast on its feet, so we can continue to support the needs of this Nation through energy and commerce and trade. I thank Senator Lott particularly for the extra effort he has put into this bill. I thank the leadership for passing it this morning.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment and honor a man who has greatly served his community and his Nation for more than 38 years. Charles R. Adams retired from his position of National Employee Development Center Director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, NRCS, in Fort Worth, TX, on November 3, 2005. Charles learned the importance of self-development at an early age while growing up on his family farm in Logansport, LA. His parents, the late Mr. T.C. Adams and Elneva Adams, gave him and his 10 siblings firsthand experience in working the land, and he still carries those experiences with him today. After leaving Logansport, Charles graduated from Southern University at Baton Rouge with a bachelor of science in agronomy. He received his master's degree in public administration from Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, in 1983 and has Ph.D. studies in urban and public affairs at the University of Texas in Arlington. His impressive career with USDA spans some 38 years, having held some of the top positions in his Agency, including regional conservationist for the NRCS Southeast Region, based in Atlanta, GA, from 1997 to 2004, director of the National Employee Development Center, based in Fort Worth, TX, from 1993 to 1997, South National Technical Center associate director, also based in Fort Worth, from 1992 to 1993, and water quality coordinator at the center from 1990 to 1992. Before that Charles served as NRCS's State Conservationist for Arizona, based in Phoenix, from 1988 to 1990, after having been the State Conservationist for Nevada, based in Reno, from 1986 to 1988. He was the Deputy State Conservationist in New Mexico, based in Albuquerque, from 1985 to 1986, after having been the Assistant State Conservationist for Operations at that location from 1984 to 1985. Charles worked as an area conservationist in Rio Rancho, NM, from 1983 to 1984, after working as an area conservationist in Flagstaff, AZ, from 1981 to 1982. From 1978 to 1981 he served as a district conservationist in Edinburg, TX, following service from 1976 to 1978 as a district conservationist in Eastland, TX. He was a soil conservationist for the agency in Abilene, TX, from 1973 to 1976. He began his full-time career with the agency as a soil scientist in Athens, TX, in 1969. During his tenure with USDA, Charles founded some of the Agency's most innovative approaches to outreach, including the Student Trainees in Agriculture Related Sciences, STARS, program, an initiative to introduce underserved high school students in the Southeast to agriculture, as well as NRCS's American Indian Program Delivery Initiative, an annual conference linking USDA officials with American Indian leaders to promote tribal participation in USDA programs and services. While working for NRCS, Charles Adams has received a number of awards and recognitions. Within the last few years alone, he received several USDA Honor Awards, including the Secretary's Award for his leadership of the Southeast Region American Indian Initiative Workgroup and the Sustainable Coffee Production Team, and his work in the Agency's Streamlining and Cost-saving Initiative. He received special recognition through a national volunteer award for his longstanding dedication to the NRCS Earth Team Volunteer Program and was the recipient of the Chief's Workforce Diversity Award which praised his encouragement and promotion of professional development among his employees. In addition, his extensive outreach efforts to minorities and women earned him a nomination for the Agency's highest Civil Rights Award in 2003. Charles is married to the former Prenella Williamson of Port Gibson, MS. In his spare time, he enjoys raising horses on his ranch in Shreveport, LA, restoring his collection antique cars and fishing with his young grandsons.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Senator. I will probably speak for about 15 minutes.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I begin as my leader is in the Senate to say the bill they most certainly have presented for our consideration is one that needs attention and needs deliberation. The PATRIOT Act is a very important part of the security of our Nation. We can debate the inside and pieces of it, but I strongly suggest to the leadership that protecting America is more than just the chapters and statutes related to the PATRIOT Act. Protecting America is about protecting patriots in the gulf coast, in Louisiana, in Mississippi--not just citizens who are patriots, taxpayer citizens, hard-working citizens who have come to believe the notion that in America they are safe, or should be safe, and if disaster does strike, the government, with the private sector and with their own effort, will be there to help. What about the patriots on the gulf coast who are veterans themselves, the 400,000 veterans in Louisiana, the 250,000-plus veterans in Mississippi--just for two States that were affected--men and women who have put on the uniform, served their time, true patriots. What are we doing to secure their homes, their schools, their churches? I suggest to the leadership that while the PATRIOT Act itself has many pieces of what helps make America secure, it is one piece but not the only piece. We should most certainly not be comfortable leaving here without securing the homes and businesses and dreams of average Americans, patriots, on the gulf coast. As I speak for just a few minutes this afternoon, it has been over 100 days since two of the deadliest storms hit the coast of America: Katrina and Rita, Katrina on the southeastern part of Louisiana, on the Mississippi section as well, and Rita, just a little over a week later hitting the southwest part of Louisiana and Texas counties as well. As the days and weeks have unfolded and as there have been investigations and hearings and committees that have looked into what happened, I suggest it was not just a natural disaster that led us to this point but a manmade disaster. The Times-Picayune, the major newspaper in New Orleans, and other papers in the region, have written extensively on this subject. I ask unanimous consent that this article, ``Evidence Points to a Man-Made Disaster,'' be printed in the Record.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I also ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record ``Corps' Own Study Backs Critics of Levee Engineering.''

Ms. LANDRIEU. The point is, this was not just a natural disaster, it was a manmade disaster. One of our columnists captured it correctly. You could almost argue, based on the evidence that is in, independent evidence, that it was a Federal Government-sponsored disaster. Let me repeat, these are strong words: A Federal Government-sponsored disaster because it was the Corps of Engineers, the failing of a sophisticated and supposedly a strong levee system that failed, that put a major American city underwater 10 to 15 feet for 2 weeks and flooded a region, with multiple levee breaks in an urban area. It has never happened in the recent hitory of America. It has not happened since the great floods of 1927 when the Mississippi system was designed. It is written and documented beautifully in John Barry's book, ``Rising Tide.'' We have a natural disaster of unprecedented proportion coupled by a manmade disaster of neglect, poor design, faulty design, and no telling what else will be discovered. This is the result. These are homes that resulted. A hurricane did not do this. Katrina did not do this. Rita did not do this. We did this. The Federal Government sponsored this disaster by not securing and supporting the levee system, by not engineering it properly, and this home that is in Chalmette, which is in St. Bernard Parish which lost almost every home in the parish. This is why I say we shouldn't go home because people in St. Bernard, in St. Tammany, in Orleans, in Vermilion, in Cameron, in Calcasieu, in counties along the Mississippi gulf coast from towns such as Biloxi and Waveland, this is what their homes look like. Let me show another picture. The sun is shining, but it is not a happy time for the family that lived in this home. This could have been done from a hurricane, from wind damage. There may or may not have been flooding in this home. I am not sure if this was on the gulf coast, but I can promise, hundreds of thousands of homes along the gulf coast looked like this. What our delegation has said with the rising voices of the Mississippi delegation, as well as the Louisiana delegation, without action, homes are going to stay looking like this for months, if not years. I do not know how to express any more clearly that what we have done to date is wholly insufficient. FEMA, on its best day, being led by the finest executive you could find in the country, is not designed to meet the challenges of this kind of disaster. Let me repeat, on its best day, with the finest executive we could find, it is not designed to meet this disaster. So when people continue to say, and legislators and Congressmen, ``Well, we have sent $62 billion to FEMA. We have done enough,'' I, please, want to plead with my colleagues and the citizens of our Nation, do not confuse sending money to FEMA with giving help to homeowners, businesses, large and small, in Mississippi and Louisiana. Please do not confuse that. They are two separate things. You can send money to FEMA and then maybe cross your fingers to see if any of that money gets to solve this problem. This is a picture I have used a lot because it reminds me of my own grandmother who had a camp a lot like this. There is virtually nothing left of the camp we owned. But this is typical of senior citizens throughout the gulf coast. This would be what most of our grandparents and parents are going to do this holiday. This picture--it really is one of the most heart wrenching, moving pictures, and I have seen thousands of them. What does this woman do? FEMA is not enough to help. That is why I have said we are going to slow this process down. I know people are anxious to get home for the holidays. I know this is not the only issue before America. But it goes to the heart of what homeland security is about--or should be about. If you cannot be secure in your own hometown, if you cannot be secure in your own home, if you cannot be secure when you are kneeling in your own church or when you are in your own business, where can you be secure? I am not suggesting we are powerful enough to stop hurricanes, but I am suggesting we should be smart enough and powerful enough to mitigate against their damage, to prevent manmade disasters by underinvestment in civil works systems that are important for the growth of the country, and men and women enough when the disaster does happen to step up and think outside the box and do something that actually helps people. So I am not anxious to go home because the people I represent do not have any homes to go home to. Now, this next picture is not as dramatic a picture, but it will tell you the story. In the South, we have been talking about Hurricane Andrew since it hit. I think it was in 1992. Yes, here it is, 1992. Hurricane Andrew in the South is like a legend. People talk about Camille, they talk about Betsy, but then everybody says: Andrew. It hit Florida. It did not hit us, but a lot of our people went over to Florida to help. We remembered Andrew. We saw pictures of Andrew for months, and we did everything we could to try to help in Florida. And it was the worst, costliest storm ever to hit. Can I show you what Katrina is? This is not even counting Rita. For Katrina, insured losses are twice--twice--that of Hurricane Andrew. And this is not even showing the costs for Rita. It could be triple the costliest storm in the history of the United States. It is not because the hurricanes were really maybe as bad. And maybe they were equal. But this differential is about a levee break in an urban area, putting 200,000 homes underwater and uninhabitable, and 18,000 businesses. I believe, if I am not wrong about Hurricane Andrew, we lost 28,000 homes. That is a lot of homes. Think about a town with 30,000 people. That is a pretty big-sized town. Think about every home in the town being destroyed. That is a very terrible tragedy. We had 205,000 homes totally destroyed, uninhabitable, from Katrina. These are not homes with blue tarps on the roof until the roofer can come in, with people in the kitchen; these are homes that you cannot stay in for more than 5 minutes or maybe an hour or two to clean up. There is no water. There is no electricity. There is mold. There is mildew. People are gutting their homes, basically sitting on slabs. That is 205,000 homes totally destroyed. Mississippi had 68,000 homes totally destroyed, we had 205,000 homes totally destroyed, for a total of almost 300,000 homes-- poof--gone, destroyed. That is not damaged. That is not thousands of homes that have a tree through the roof or the porch fell off or there was water in the kitchen and the appliances do not work but you can sleep in the bedroom and just kind of wait for the kitchen to get back. These are 300,000 homes gone. Many of them did not have insurance because they were not required to because our laws were not written correctly to require them to. They were sitting in high places, in places that had never flooded before. And they looked up, and because our levee system failed, they have lost their house, they have lost their business, they have lost their financial future. Their children are not going to college. Their kids are not in the school. They are not worshiping in their church. And we are sitting around here passing 100 bills that have nothing to do with helping them. Yes, this chart is what I was looking for. Sometimes I cannot keep numbers in my head and sometimes I can. There were 28,000 homes lost from Andrew. Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne--we still talk about those hurricanes. They were terrible hurricanes and 27,000 homes destroyed. Look at Katrina--275,000 homes destroyed. Now, this graph is why we are struggling to a point where I just cannot quite describe that if we do not get some real help real soon, this region is not going to be able to stand back up. Now, we will eventually--I will get to that point in a minute--but it is going to be very difficult. We lost 18,752 businesses in Louisiana alone. Mississippi lost close to 2,000. Let me repeat: 18,000 in Louisiana, 2,000 in Mississippi. Now, I am not saying this to minimize what happened to the gulf coast. As I have shared with Senators with whom I serve, I grew up on the gulf coast. I love Pass Christian probably as much as they do, but they had 2,000 businesses destroyed. But when levees break in a major city, this is what happens. This is virtually every small business or a large part of the small businesses in the metropolitan area. Now, we stand up here in this Senate all the time and say: Small business is the backbone of our economy. Please, let's help small business. Could somebody tell me how FEMA is actually going to stand up these 18,752 businesses that pay taxes, that were patriots, that played by the rules, paid their employees? These are not big corporations. We only have one Fortune 500 company. But we have a lot of good people who worked hard to build those businesses, and--poof--they are gone. Some of them had insurance, but some of them did not. So we put in a bill 7 weeks ago. Olympia Snowe and John Kerry passed a bill almost unanimously in the Senate. It is sitting somewhere because we just cannot get out of the box enough to help these people. We have to go through the same old regular process that is not working. And last time I checked, under the administration's proposal, we had processed a grand total of six--six--six--GO Loans in Louisiana. I have 18,000 businesses gone, and we processed 6 GO Loans last week. When I suggest we have been about as patient as we can be, that is why we may be staying here through Christmas. The system is not working. Business owners are losing everything they worked for, not in one lifetime, three lifetimes--grandfather, father, son, or grandmother, daughter, granddaughter, 60, 70 years, businesses gone. And this Congress can't figure out how to help these businesses. But we are building infrastructure in Iraq. We are building businesses in Iraq, but we can't help our own American businesses. Political allies of the White House have said that more has been accomplished than any other American disaster including 9/11. The claim cannot be justified. That claim is inaccurate. It is not valid. It cannot be substantiated. It is not justified under any objective criteria. What might be true is that we have sent more money through FEMA to try to help, but it is anemic. It is not functioning well. And the money is not getting to the people who need it. That is why Senator Cochran and Senator Byrd have stepped up with a reallocation and said: OK, we hear you Louisiana. We hear you Mississippi. Let's not add any money, but let's take $30 billion of the FEMA money, since it is sitting in a bank account not being used, and move it over, give it to our Governors with community development block grants, full accountability, full flexibility. We will send you some money, $6,000 per child for your education, because the schools took these children in. They knocked at the door. The schools took our children in, 370,000. They were never asked if they could pay. They have been educating these children for 6 months. The Federal Government has yet to give one of these school systems in Houston or Baton Rouge or Lafayette or Jackson, MS, one penny for taking these kids in. I don't know, do we expect schools that are having trouble anyway to take in children and educate them for free? They have added teachers, classrooms, and the Federal Government sits here giving money out right and left through every door as fast as it can get out, and we can't give money to school systems educating kids whose homes flooded and whose parents have no business anymore. Senator Cochran has put that in his bill, mostly for Louisiana. We don't think that we have to keep saying that if we don't get better levees, not only can we not rebuild our city and region, but it would be morally the worst thing that could be done not to help people feel safe and protected as they make decisions to go back. We have put a substantial amount of money in the budget with Senator Cochran's proposal for category 3 real levee protection and a downpayment on category 5 which is essential to us as we rebuild. With the community development block grant, the Governors, along with our parish presidents and municipal officials, can take that money and fashion it to help match private sector donors, to help supplement insurance payments, to help with some strategic housing initiatives and begin getting tools and capital and money out in these communities in the right ways to help stand them up. We have to argue about this, not adding money to the budget, reallocating FEMA, and yet we are still arguing with the House on the total amount. Maybe they don't want to do 17, so we are down to this or that. This week we cannot leave until we pass a Cochran-Byrd reallocation of the President's supplemental. With all due respect to the administration, the supplemental that was sent to us was a bill of $17 billion, except for some serious levee money which I thank the administration for. I thank the administration for putting that money-- I think it was $1.6 billion--in their original request. We appreciate it. But the rest of the money in that bill was basically to refurbish Federal facilities. I want to show again the picture of the lady. This is what I want to refurbish. I understand we have to refurbish Federal facilities. I know that Federal bureaucracies are important. But this is where we are trying to get the money, to citizens such as this woman who have worked hard their whole life, raised their family, never asked anybody for too much. Now they are sitting in a house with nothing. This is whom we are trying to help. We are trying to get money to the private sector, to private property owners, not to refurbish Federal Government buildings. So Senator Cochran took that bill and said: If you want to help refurbish Federal buildings, fine, but we need to add money to help citizens, patriots, business owners in our States. I sure hope we can do that because it will be a shame if we do not. I want to add a quote from Governor Haley Barbour. There has been a lot of discussion about Mississippi's approach and Louisiana's approach. But pain has a way of bringing people together. Governor Barbour said yesterday: We are at a point where our recovery and renewal efforts are stalled because of inaction in Washington, D.C., and the delay has created uncertainty that is having a very negative effect on our recovery and our rebuilding. If this is coming from Governor Barbour, who is part of the party in power and was head of the Republican Party for many years, who lost a fraction of the homes that we lost, how do you think the people of Louisiana are feeling about the stalled recovery effort and the desperation as they see Congress winding down for the holidays? They ask: Why aren't people in Washington understanding what we are going through? I want to read for the Record an appropriate and moving quote, right on target as far as I am concerned, from Vanity Fair in November. It says: . . . when the damage is this catastrophic, the people so helpless, the government so weak and clumsy, we expect it to take place somewhere else--on the coast of Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, for instance--somewhere distant and more poor. . . . We do not expect to see our government so impotent and indifferent that it is completely paralyzed . . . I know the men and women with whom I work. I don't find them to be incompetent or paralyzed. I believe they are sensitive and smart and intelligent people. What is it that is keeping us in this Congress from understanding FEMA isn't working. The Red Cross is not sufficient. People are suffering. New tools are needed. Let's get about helping people here at home. There has been some unbelievable debate about whether New Orleans should be rebuilt. Our city has been there for 300 years. Thomas Jefferson leveraged the entire Treasury to buy the city of New Orleans because of its strategic advantage, which was true then. It is true now. Andrew Jackson took his troops and defeated the British to protect it in 1815 because it is the greatest port system in America. It is America's only energy coast. You can't have a great nation without protecting your Southern border. You can't have great trade. What thought of anyone would be that we can't rebuild New Orleans in the region of south Louisiana after we have given so much to this economy? We are not a charity case. We need help, we need respect, and we need a partner. We will rebuild New Orleans and south Louisiana and the gulf coast of Mississippi. The people have spoken, and the spirit is strong. We may not have houses to live in or businesses to go to, but the people who have lived in this part of the world are strong people. We are Black and White, Hispanic, different socioeconomic levels, but we have lived there. The question is, Will we have a partner in the Federal Government? This week we will see if we have a partner. Let's get on to the business of getting these bills passed. We will be slowing it down until we do. I yield the floor.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, is this the continuing resolution?

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, earlier this morning we had a colloquy that expressed concerns.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 30 seconds.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I am reserving the right to object, to speak with the leader for a moment about a situation that is developing at home and one of which he is certainly aware. I understand that the motion that has been put forward would allow the Congress to go home for approximately 30 days and to come back in the middle of December to finish our business. I wanted to ask the leader if it is his intention when we come back to press forward for the supplemental bill that the senior Senator from Mississippi, Senator Cochran, and others have been working on for relief for the gulf coast. It is a very important piece of legislation, and many people, individuals and businesses, large and small, have been waiting for some direct, significant funding. I wanted to ask the leader from Tennessee what his intentions are when we get back, at least as he can press the Senate and press our colleagues in the House to move that piece of legislation.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I ask the leader, if I could, please, I understand, I want the leader to know, we have passed 21 pieces of legislation. I take him at his word. It has been very hard to follow as these things have moved so quickly, in some cases, and not so quickly in others. But I want to make a point and ask the leader that. Because we pass legislation does not necessarily mean it has been effective. Sometimes Congress has a way of passing legislation, but that is not any guarantee it is actually working. As the Senator from Tennessee knows, the members of the Louisiana delegation, joined at times by members of the Mississippi delegation, have consistently said that money given to FEMA is not making its way to the hands of people in businesses. As the leader knows, the housing money has been very difficult for people to get. Shelter has been very difficult to get, housing has been very difficult to get. Many of our businesses that have applied for loans that are authorized have not yet received a response from FEMA or the Small Business Administration. For the record, I say it is not the quantity of legislation but the quality of legislation, and that is why this supplemental Senator Cochran has been crafting is so important. We think this may be the first major piece of legislation that actually gets money into the hands of people who can do something with it other than having it sit in bank accounts while people are suffering and trying to get their lives back together. I understand the Senator from Tennessee is aware of these great needs. He himself has been down to our State, and we are appreciative of that. But that is the point. If I could get a comment about the importance of the supplemental, that would be of some comfort to the people of the gulf coast.

Ms. LANDRIEU. The Senator has been very patient. I realize we have to move forward. But if he would grant me a few more questions--one or two. I understand those pieces and those packages, because of course we are following them very carefully. But I want the record to reflect that this morning, as we break, there was $70.9 billion appropriated and $30 billion is still sitting in a bank somewhere in a FEMA account. So we have allocated $40 billion. I would judge from the controversies and reports that much of that money was squandered in many ways that we know, and used in an inefficient manner. But I would call to the attention of the leader that we have not passed an emergency education bill which would cover tuition for children, 370,000 children who are today displaced from the school they were in the week before Katrina and Rita. Those 370,000 children have not yet received word from this Congress if their tuition will be covered. That is not done yet. We have not passed a comprehensive health care piece that allows people with no job, no home, no school, and no church to think that they could show up at a hospital over the holidays and get their health care covered. That has not passed yet. We have not passed any loans to our governments in Louisiana that would allow them to operate and pay for police and fire over the holidays because the loan package we passed was inoperable because they cannot pay the money back in 3 years. So for the record, we have no real health care relief, no significant elementary and secondary care relief, our universities are teetering on bankruptcy and closure, and our medical schools are having difficulty. The dean of LSU Medical School took a job out of our State. It was announced this week. I don't blame him for leaving because he doesn't see any help on the way. It is one of the great medical schools in the country. Finally, FEMA--to pour salt on the wound, to make sure we were all having just the very best Thanksgiving we could possibly have-- announced that they are going to make us homeless for the holiday and has announced that on December 1, everyone who is in a shelter or a hotel in the country--they do not have an accurate number, so they do not know how many, and if they do not know how many, how are they planning to help them? But believe me, there are thousands who are now going to be put on the streets and will be homeless for the holidays. I just tell my colleagues as respectfully as I can that when we are sitting around our tables--and I will be at a different table, and many people from Louisiana will not be at the table which they usually are to have Thanksgiving dinner. I will be at a different table, Senator Lott will be at a different table, and perhaps Senator Cochran will be at a different table. But as we sit around our tables, there will be thousands and hundreds of thousands of families who have no table to pull up to. They are in shelters, they are on the street, and they are crowded into apartments that they can barely afford with no hope and no plan. I will say it for the last time. We are not dealing with a regular hurricane. We are dealing with an unprecedented natural disaster caused by the collapse of a Federal levee system that was not invested in, not maintained, and not funded. It is a disaster for the region and for the Nation. I cannot say this more emphatically or more passionately. I have tried to be a team player. We have tried to be cooperative. We have tried every strategy. We are running out of strategies. I want my colleagues to know that while I will allow this resolution to go forward today, if we do not come back in December and pass a robust supplemental that reflects the values of this body--not what Mary Landrieu wants in it, not what Louisiana thinks it deserves, although we think we are entitled to say what we deserve--that reflects the values of the men and women who serve in this body whom I know so well from having worked with them, if we don't have a supplemental and if we don't get some action on our levee system so people can have confidence to come back, and a few other emergency items that we need, we will not be going home for Christmas. We are going home for Thanksgiving, but we will not be going home for Christmas until the people of the gulf coast understand they have a home they can go to, if not this Christmas, some Christmas soon.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, we had a colloquy this morning with the leader about the need to do more for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I am not going to ask for a record vote, and I am not going to delay the debate, but I do want to be recorded as voting ``no'' if we have a voice vote. It is very important to let people in this country know that our work is not yet finished. While we are breaking for the holidays, there will be many people who have no holiday table to go home to. Members of this body have worked very hard. I respect the work that each has done. We have worked in a bipartisan way to address some issues of health care, education, and housing. But just because we have done our job doesn't mean the same thing is actually happening on the other side of the Capitol. There are still more issues that we need to find solutions for. We need to find a solution for the health care crisis along the gulf coast due to the hurricanes and subsequent levee breeches. We need to find a solution for the massive housing shortage throughout the States that Katrina and Rita whipped through. We need to find a solution for the small businesses that have been devastated and the thousands of people who have been left jobless. And we need to find a solution to building Category 5 levees and providing plenty of storm and flood protection which also means restoring our vital coastal wetlands, as they are our first line of defense. Without this protection, all our other efforts will be for naught. We need solutions, Mr. President. We need real answers, because it is unsettling to know that while we go home to have Thanksgiving with our families, my constituents still have real problems and real needs. And so I thank you, Mr. President, for this time and for allowing me to note for the record, that I am voting no to this continuing resolution because our job is not finished, and these vital concerns are not settled.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise today in honor of National Adoption Day. If the events of the last few months have done nothing else, they have reminded us of the importance of family, friends, and faith in a time of crisis. Not a moment has gone by without an image of a mother searching for her son or a daughter looking for her grandmother. Families bring people together and make it possible for them to make it through these times of uncertainty and hardship. Now, more than ever, our focus is on bringing families together: we must rebuild, create, and transform these families. National Adoption Day is a way for this goal to be realized. It is in its sixth year and helps the dream of a permanent family come true through courts, judges, attorneys, and advocates who help to finalize adoptions. On this day, I would like to paint two pictures for you all: In 227 cities and 45 States, at courthouses, churches, museums, parks, and beautiful public places all over the country, at least 4,000 children will find forever families, and dreams of thousands of adults will be realized. I want you to picture what happens on this fall day, children running, laughing, and playing with their new parent. Think about a girl or boy planning their special outfit and joyously awaiting the family celebration. Imagine the excitement welling up inside of a child as he or she looks into their new parent's eyes and knows they are finally part of a family. They will never dread the sound of a car coming to take them away again or wonder where they will lay their heads or which school they will be moved to. the other picture is dramatically different: In Louisiana alone, there are 4,424 children in foster care and 581,000 children nationwide waiting to be adopted. Only 10 percent of these children will ever be adopted. They have not had the luxury of their own room, a stable school environment, or a constant adult in their lives. Most of these children entered into State custody because their parents were either unable or unwilling to care for them. What today is all about is transforming barriers into foundations. Tonight they will go home to their forever families. In speaking about forever families, I want to bring your attention to two of the many children in Louisiana that need forever families. Many children in the foster care system are teenagers and have more difficulty being adopted. These beautiful children are just waiting to flourish with the right parent's guidance. Reva, for example, is a 15- year-old, reserved young woman who loves playing board games. She also is great at basketball and swimming. Reva does have a diagnosis of major depression and postraumatic stress disorder more than likely exacerbated by her time in foster care. D'Vonte is a 13-year-old vivacious young man who loves to dance and listen to music on his CD player. His favorite activities are working on art projects and going swimming during the summer months. As a true Louisianan, he loves gumbo and is a caring and affectionate child. I could stand here every day for the next month and talk about each child that needs to be adopted out of foster care. The bottom line is that each of these children, from 1 day old to 22 years old, needs permanency. They all need a loving, nurturing family that will help them to grow, bring out their unique personalities, and transform them into beautiful adults. Today, on National Adoption Day, I have faith that this can be done and we must continue to be the catalysis. The miracle of adoption cannot be explained, but the loving parents that are holding their children for the first time today are living examples of how dreams can be realized. As an adoptive mother myself, I cannot really explain the miracle of it, but I can only take a moment to offer my most humble thanks, gratitude, and appreciation to all those across the Nation who have given their Saturday to help find waiting children safe and loving homes. Let us continue to remember, when National Adoption Month and Day ends that there are still thousands of children like D'Vonte and Reva who need that sense of permanency. I challenge Congress to make these children their first priority and to help them to finally realize that dream.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. As modified.

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

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to send amendment No. 2020 to the desk, on behalf of myself and my colleague, Senator Vitter.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Yes, I would.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, this amendment would provide a very special and temporary tax relief to employers in the region of the hurricane that was hit so badly, to try to help them get their employees back to work by providing temporary housing and giving them a tax credit to do so. We are having a very serious housing crisis, as you all have been reading, and you have been trying to help us with that. This would go a long way. I thank you for your consideration tonight.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, we observe Veterans Day on an anniversary of a day when war ended and our Nation was again at peace. November 11, 1918, Armistice Day, has been a day we use to remember our debt to all who have worn the uniform of the United States. Our veterans have borne the costs of America's wars and have sacrificed so that not only our Nation but also our world can be free from terror. Today, every veteran can be certain, the Nation you serve and the people you defend are grateful. Today more than 25 million Americans are either veterans or retired military. This number includes men and women from World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Every Veteran has their own story of how they entered military service. Many enlisted on December 8, 1941, or at the beginning of other conflicts. Some began their military careers at a service academy or with a letter from the U.S. government. Yet when their service is complete, veterans of every era, every background, every branch, have certain shared commitments and experiences that form bonds that will last a lifetime. America's war veterans have fought for the security of this Nation and for the safety and peace of the world. They have humbled tyrants and defended the innocent and oppressed. The men and women of our Armed Forces have engaged the enemy on many fronts and confronted grave dangers to defend the safety of the American people. They serve and fight today, and their great achievements are added to American history. Americans are forever grateful for their honor, their courage, and their sacrifice. Today and every day, the prayers of the American people are with those who wear our country's uniform. They follow a great tradition handed down to them by America's veterans. Our veterans from every era are the finest of citizens. We owe them the life we know today. They command the respect of the people, and they have our lasting gratitude.

Ms. LANDRIEU

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

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I would like to spend a few minutes this morning speaking about a subject that is extremely important to the State I represent, the State of Louisiana, and to the gulf coast and also to call attention to a small but important victory we achieved this week that I hope will signal a turning or a course correction that Congress should take to help prevent the destruction we have seen on the gulf coast in the last several weeks. Mr. President, you are from Kansas, and you know the power of tornadoes and Mother Nature. There is not anything we can do to prevent the fury of nature, but we can minimize the damage. We most certainly can use our intelligence that God has given us and our talent that God has given us and the wisdom that He gives us to make wise investments and smart choices and try to set priorities that help us make good choices for the people we represent so that we can minimize their pain and their suffering and we can maximize their hopes and their dreams for the future. I believe that is why we are here. I know I have talked with you personally, Mr. President, about the reasons you came to the Senate and I came to the Senate, and I think most of our colleagues share that view. I wish to speak for a few minutes this morning to remind the Nation and my colleagues about the devastation and the destruction that occurred only 10 weeks ago in one of the greatest cities in the United States of America, and that is the city of New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. New Orleans is our largest city in Louisiana, with 450,000 people, but it sits right next to Jefferson Parish of 450,000, right next to St. Bernard parish of about 60,000, and right next to Plaquemine, which is about 30,000. So it is a metropolitan area of close to 1.5 million to 2 million people. We have never in the history of the Nation seen destruction such as this. It is unprecedented. It was not, we now know and as I said 2 days after the hurricanes, the hurricanes that got us, Katrina and Rita--a double hit, one to the southeastern part of our State, a category 4 and 5, and one to the southwestern part--but it was our own failings, if you will, that got us stuck. It was the breaching of a levee system that has successfully protected this city for over 300 years. But because of a lack of investment, because we have not set the right priorities in the last several years and over some time, and because we have our focus abroad and not at home, this is the destruction that has occurred, not just in New Orleans but in the region, in the southwestern part of our State as well, and throughout the gulf coast of Mississippi. Let me show another chart that does not have the same kind of picture, but in a more graphic form it shows the number of people who have been affected by this storm and the breaching of the levee systems which occurred throughout south Louisiana primarily. Not many levees were breached to the north, but there were levee systems that were breached. In Louisiana, 3 million people were affected; in Texas, 802,000; in Mississippi, 1.7 million; and in Alabama, 829,000 people. Six million people were hit directly by a storm. Again, Katrina and Rita could not have been avoided, but I promise you, Mr. President, we could have minimized the damage and maximized hope if we had set better priorities and invested our money better right in this Congress with a different choice, a different course than the one set by this administration. What do I mean by that? I will get to that in a minute. I also want to show the significance of this region. There were 6 million people affected in this region, but it is not just any region in the country. Forgive me, I represent this area, so I am quite partial to it. I do know every other area of this country is spectacular and wonderful, and I have visited many places, but I think anybody looking at this chart can understand there is something special about Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama. What is special about it is we are the Nation's only energy coast. Most of the domestic production comes off the shores, basically, of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Yes, we have some important production in the West in shallow plays of oil and gas, but we have virtually shut down drilling in other parts of the country--in my opinion, not on very good data, but nonetheless that is a choice that has been made. The point is that we have continued to supply this Nation at a time when it needs oil and gas and needs energy production. Louisiana has not sat down on the job, Texas has not sat down, Mississippi has not sat down, and Alabama has not sat down. But what has happened is this administration and some parts of this Congress have sat down on the job of helping Louisiana and this energy coast protect itself from the kinds of storms that we have seen. How? By not investing in the wetlands restoration, which serves as a natural barrier to the great city of New Orleans and its surrounding areas and by not investing in the critical infrastructure of levees and navigation channels and appropriate dredging that would help manage water. Water can be a very powerful force for good. You can see here the mighty Mississippi River. Our country, in large measure, became a nation because of the securing of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the Louisiana Purchase by President Jefferson--when he made a very smart strategic investment. He did not waste his money on things that would not return a benefit to our country, but made the Louisiana Purchase for 3 cents an acre, the best real estate deal ever done. But we purchased the mouth of this river, secured it for national security but also secured it for commerce. Mr. President, it is impossible to get grain out of Kansas, your State, or Nebraska, or throughout the great Farm Belt in the Midwest of the United States, without using the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Yes, we can manage to get some of it over here to the east coast and out to our trading partners to the east, but moving it out here, down south to our trading partners in the south and also trade routes to the east and the west would be impossible without the Mississippi River. You would think this Congress would pay attention, particularly this administration that talks about energy independence would pay attention to this energy coast. In addition to an energy coast, you can see here the red dots are our ports. These are parts of the largest port system in the country--two of the largest. All of the south Louisiana ports and Houston. If you combined all of the ports in Louisiana from New Orleans to the Baton Rouge port, to south Louisiana, that port and the other ports, our port system is larger than any port system in the North American Continent and one of the largest port systems in the world. You would think that we would pay attention to infrastructure such as this and invest wisely and take some of the money out of this Treasury and invest in protection of the wetlands and in a strong and robust levee system. But we have not done that. In fact, we have done the opposite. This chart is a startling summary. It is startling to me. It is hard to grasp. This is ``Civil Works Capital Investment as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product,'' since 1929 to the year 2001. When we in America, the America I grew up in, talk about the great investments after the war, you can see what we are talking about. You can see a Nation that was focused on its future. Why? Because it was investing in roads and bridges and levees and dams and infrastructure necessary to lay down the framework for the greatest explosion of entrepreneurship and scientific discovery that before had not been seen in the world; almost unequaled in its breadth and its scope. But what happened? Look here. Starting in the 1980s, there were new priorities set in Washington. They have been very damaging priorities, indeed--slashing critical investments in infrastructure, cutting back on ``nonessentials,'' trying to ``conserve.'' This is not conservation. This is akin to taking a gun and shooting yourself in the head, when you take money out of civil works projects, away from cities, away from suburbs, away from communities, and spend it on either tax cuts for people who do not need them or on other priorities that are not as important or on wars that we cannot win. It is this low line here, right down here to the lowest percentage, under one-half of 1 percent of the GDP, that results in devastation such as this. You do not have to have a Ph.D. in economics to understand this. This is not complicated. I am going to show it to you again. This is 20 years of disinvestment, disengagement, pretending that these problems do not exist, pretending we have surpluses when we do not, and underfunding critical infrastructure. When that happens, this is the result. The 450,000 people who lived in the city of New Orleans at one time and the 450,000 people who lived in Jefferson Parish and the 200,000 people who lived in St. Tammany Parish and the 60,000 people who lived in St. Bernard and the 30,000 people who lived in Plaquemines Parish-- and that is not mentioning the other parishes along the western part of our coast, Cameron, that is completely destroyed, and Calcasieu Parish, that suffered, and Washington Parish, that had not every tree fall but every house collapsed or destroyed in some way or affected in some way by the falling of the trees-- ask these people whom I represent, was it smart to cut off investments? I don't think so. The sad thing is, we have had an answer. I am not coming to complain. I am coming to offer a solution which our delegation has offered, now, decade after decade. We have pleaded, we have held hearings, we have had field trips to Louisiana, we have done fly-overs, we have formed a national alliance, we built a coalition of 4,500, an alliance of industry and environmentalists. We have done it all. But what we cannot seem to do is get the attention of this administration and enough members of the Republican leadership to understand that smart investments make a difference: They save lives, they build hope, they build communities, and they make a nation stronger. What I have asked for and my delegation has asked for--and I know my time is running out, and I will take 2 more minutes--what we have asked for is to redirect a portion of offshore oil and gas revenues that have been generated off of our coast, off of this coast where all these people have been injured. There it is. With the oil and gas being drilled--and has been drilled since 1955--off of this coast, we are generating about $6 billion a year that comes into the general fund. It would be a smart thing and a wise thing right now, a wise action and a smart action, to redirect a portion of those revenues to invest in a levee system, in the restoration of this Gulf Coast area and the wetlands that protect the Nation's great energy port and trade port. That is my message. We can do better. We must do better. We must make smarter investments with the money that is in the National Treasury. We do not have to raise additional taxes to do this. We have to redirect some of the taxes already flowing into the Treasury to invest to protect the people along the gulf coast. If we needed to share those revenues with other coastal communities--since by the year 2020, two- thirds of the continental United States will live within 50 miles of the coast--we most certainly are able to do that. But for Heaven's sake, let's get our priorities straight. We can do better. We can make better decisions. That is what this effort is about. We are going to continue on, not complaining but offering solutions. We are not offering to raise taxes but to redirect some of the taxes that we have to make better choices to build a stronger Nation and stronger communities. I ask my colleagues to join us in this effort because I know we can get this job done. I thank the Senator from Illinois for yielding some time this morning for me to discuss this important issue.