Barbara Mikulski

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, will the distinguished Democratic leader yield for a question?

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Yes.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I will put on a different hat. I was talking about appropriations. Now I will talk about a drama that is unfolding in the Senate which is the confirmation hearings on Judge John Roberts to go to the Supreme Court and to be the Chief Justice. I rise today to talk about this nomination because this is a decision of enormous consequence. One of the most significant and far-reaching votes a Senator can make relates to the Supreme Court. Why? Because it is irrevocable. When you vote for a Supreme Court Justice, that Justice has a lifetime appointment. Unless there is an impeachment, which is rare, it is forever. The hearings are incredibly important, they provide the Senate and the American public with the opportunity to know more about where the nominee stands on core constitutional principles. I urge Judge Roberts to answer the questions that the Committee asks of him. But equally important is completing the picture. The Senate should have access to the full record of the nominee who is going into the hearings. We need to know more about Judge Roberts. We have all met him. We find him personable. We find him smart. We find him capable. But we wonder, what is his judicial philosophy. What will he be like, not only as a member of Court but now as the Chief Justice. Look back to the record, not only the resume but to the record. This is why I am joining with a group of other Senators to urge the White House to release documents on 16 cases argued by the Solicitor General when Judge Roberts was the Principal Deputy Solicitor General. You might ask: Why do you need to know this? This is when then Mr. Roberts played a very important role in shaping strategy, recommending policy, and it is one of the best insights we have into his judicial philosophy, his views, his legal reasoning. We want to know: Where does he stand on an issue such as the implicit right of privacy, on issues related to civil rights, on religious expression, on title IX, on affirmative action, and voting rights. And we want to know because the record before us now raises serious questions about his commitment to women's and civil rights. Prior to any vote, the American people need to know where he stands on these issues. We, the Senators, need to know, too, so we can make an informed, rational decision. The administration has refused to release these documents, even though they did so before. They did it when Mr. Bork was nominated, and they did it when William Rehnquist was nominated. This is particularly compelling since now the Roberts nomination has gone from a replacement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to replacing the Chief Justice. These documents matter because they represent the views from later in his career when he held his highest political appointment and was responsible for making policy recommendations. These documents will illuminate his beliefs and his approach to the law, and they will help this Senator and others to know where he stands on the important issues. It is the constitutional duty of the Senate to conduct a thorough examination of the nominee, and we can only do it if we hear from the nominee himself through the confirmation processes, and have a complete record before us. We have his resume, he has received his rating from the American Bar Association, but we now need the documents on these 16 cases in order for us to do our homework and to do our due diligence. This is probably one of the most important votes I will ever take, along with my 99 colleagues. We need to know: What type of Justice will John Roberts be? Before the Senate left for its August break, I joined with six of my Democratic women colleagues to launch a website allowing Americans to have a voice in the confirmation process. The American people have a right to be part of the process and let the Senate know what they want Judge Roberts to answer. And we want them at the table. We want them to feel included and have the chance to participate. The Democratic women launched a Web site to allow them that opportunity. We remember how we were shut out during the judicial proceedings on Clarence Thomas. There were no women on the Judiciary Committee. Now there are. But we know what it is like not to have a seat at the table. We know what it is like not to be able to raise our questions. So we established this Web site so the public could ask about issues that impact them every day. Guess what. Over the past month alone, 25,000 Americans responded to this Web site--with over 40,000 questions. They wanted to know where Judge Roberts stands on Roe v. Wade, privacy rights in light of national security challenges, the right to privacy, such as under the PATRIOT Act, what about so-called religious expression in schools, protecting our environment, protecting our civil rights, protecting our voting rights. And I am standing with them, because the record before us shows that Judge Roberts has argued against established constitutional protections against sex discrimination. He has argued that disparate treatment of men and women is reasonable when you don't have the resources to provide for both. He supported a very narrow interpretation of title IX. All arguments which the Supreme Court has squarely rejected. Clearly, there are reasons people are troubled. Questions that Americans sent us were on the deepest and most heartfelt concerns of their families. A woman in Ohio wanted to ask Judge Roberts where he stands on women's equality. She said not just on choice and reproductive rights, but on wage equality, childcare options, glass ceilings. Where is he in the enforcement of equal opportunity and nondiscrimination. A man from my home State of Maryland wanted to know did Judge Roberts support title IX. His niece played sports in high school and wanted to be sure that college sports teams would have resources and access to scholarships, as the guy teams do. A mother from Indiana wrote us. A single mom. In the 1950s, she was earning 60 cents for every dollar a man earned. She wanted to know where the judge stands on pay equity. These were the kinds of things they wanted to know. Quite frankly, I would like to know too. How Judge Roberts chooses to respond is his business. But whether we support the nominee based on those responses is our business and how the administration responds to our requests for documents is also our business. That is why the White House must release those documents to the Senate. We want to have access to the documents relating to those 16 very important cases that were argued by the Solicitor General before the Supreme Court. These documents will help us evaluate the nominee and will enable us to make the kind of decision the American people want us to make. As Judge Roberts begins his testimony and is asked about his past decisions, judicial philosophy and legal background, Americans will be watching. I urge the nominee to be forthcoming. He should not conceal his views on issues that the majority of Americans care about like reproductive choice, civil rights, congressional power, the environment and separation of church and state. I also urge the White House to be forthcoming. They should not conceal documents that may illuminate those views. Judge Roberts' past career causes concern about his commitment to core constitutional principles and we need to have, and the American people deserve, a complete picture.

Ms. MIKULSKI. First, in terms of senatorial courtesy, I have no reason to object. But as I understand it, the order of the day is that at 5:30, we must go into consideration of the mercury rule for 1 hour. I ask the Presiding Officer, what is the order?

Ms. MIKULSKI. May I ask the Presiding Officer, at 5:30 the Senate will go into morning business?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Who controls that morning business?

Ms. MIKULSKI. I misunderstood. I thought there was a mandate at 5:30 to go to the mercury rule. I have no objection to the Senator's request.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Yes.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I have now concluded my remarks and yield to the Senator from California, Senator Boxer, such time as she may consume.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I yield the floor to the senior Senator from the State of Washington, Mrs. Murray, for such time as she may consume.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time from 5 o'clock to 5:30 today be a period of morning business and that that time be under my control or, in my absence, the control of the Senator from California, Mrs. Boxer.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, the pending business is the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations. As the Presiding Officer knows, I am the ranking member. So our colleagues know, there are about 20 outstanding amendments. We are busy clearing those--Senator Shelby is on his way to the Senate--that Senator Shelby and I could agree to, so when we do rollcall votes, we hope to have those reduced to a minimum, or at least a reasonable number. We will also be awaiting direction from the leadership, Senator Frist and Senator Reid, as to how we will proceed tomorrow on rollcall votes. We believe we have some that will be ready tomorrow to move this very important bill expeditiously. For those who might not know, this new subcommittee handles all the Commerce funding, it handles the funding for agencies such as NOAA, which was so great in telling Americans about the hurricane. It also has a variety of provisions that would be very helpful to Katrina victims, including small business disaster loans that are available not only to business but particularly small business, as well as residential homeowners, up to $200,000, EDA money, to help local communities rebuild, particularly infrastructure. While we are mesmerized by the tragedy in New Orleans, we cannot forget Mississippi and Alabama and their needs for roads and other infrastructure projects, including water supply. The chairman of the subcommittee, Senator Shelby, of course, of Alabama, and I want to move the bill. We understand our leadership, Senator Frist, is not going to have rollcall votes during the important Roberts hearings, so we will work with him to see how to do it. One of the ways we will work with him is in how to reduce the number of amendments. We are now waiting for our distinguished Senator from Oklahoma, Senator Coburn, to join us. We know he has something to say on the bill. This is a new subcommittee that has been constituted. I used to be the ranking member of a subcommittee that has been dissolved, VA/HUD and Independent Agencies. Under the ``independent agencies,'' was the important agency of FEMA. Now I understand the leadership of FEMA, Mr. Brown, has resigned. We look to the President to give us a topnotch person. We know the vice admiral of the Coast Guard is now in the Gulf. We look at leadership, such as the wonderful person running Red Cross, RADM Marty Evans, whom I knew when she was at the Naval Academy, one of the first women in this country to make admiral rank. Then she went on to a distinguished career running nonprofits and is now with the Red Cross, very much in the spirit and competency of our colleague from North Carolina, Senator Elizabeth Dole. We look forward to that leadership. We need to focus now on two things: Recovery and reform. In moving our bill, we want to work on a bipartisan basis on recovery. There are three Rs to emergency management: Readiness and preparedness; and then response, which needs to be swift and effective; third is recovery. Recovery is tough. In my home State of Maryland, we have had tornadoes, we have been hit by Hurricane Isabel, when it looked like Baghdad on the Chesapeake Bay. In no way is this akin to what has happened to our friends in the Gulf. But, still, when it is your house and your neighborhood, whether it is 3 blocks or 3,000 acres, we want to work with recovery and do it on a bipartisan basis. It will take a lot, No. 1, of rebuilding infrastructure so business and people can come back. Things such as water supplies have been damaged or contaminated. Roads and bridges need repair in order for commerce to pass through. What comes back? Business, such as the supermarket, or do they wait for the people to come back? We have to be able to help rebuild those communities. We cannot do it without the help of the private sector. I hope those running Homeland Security, as well as the President's good office, would bring to bear the best of what we know from our home building and construction agency on what we can do to marshal the forces for rebuilding homes and those neighborhoods, particularly the small business--everyone knows what I am talking about, the dry cleaner, the pharmacist, as well as the supermarkets, et cetera, that are lifeblood. We also will have to rebuild schools for our children, as well as coming back with their mom and dad into the safety of a new home. We also worry that while we are rebuilding the Gulf, and rebuild the Gulf we must, we do not want to create shortages in other parts of other country. Lumber is already in short supply, along with other building materials, even the talent, the electricians, plumbers, contractors. That is why we need a national effort. We hope those who are leading Homeland Security will now look at the recovery phase while we go through the grim task of recovering bodies. We have to recover ourselves. What we do not need to recover, though, because we have never lost it, is the spirit of working together and the spirit that we will be able to do this. It is September 12. I remember where we were 4 years ago on September 11. Yesterday morning, when I got up to go to church, I had this eerie feeling that the weather was exactly the way it was on September 11. When I went to church, I wore the jacket that I had on that day. I saved that jacket so I would never ever forget what I wore and what I experienced that day. For all of the fear and all of the grief, I remember on the Capitol steps we sang ``God Bless America.'' I stood shoulder to shoulder with Senator Lott that day, then as the Republican leader, and stand with him today in terms of recovery of his own community. We have to get back to that spirit where we thought we could work together in this institution, in the House, and with the people. On September 12, we want to honor, again, pay our respects to those who were killed on September 11, to our wonderful first responders who risked life and limb to save people. Now we are at it once again. For our first responders and our responders in the Gulf now, going through that mercury-contaminated water, they each have their own risk. They are counting on us to be able to work together, bring in the national resources and marshal the private sector resources, as well as the nonprofit resources, so that by the time we get to Thanksgiving we will have been well on our way. So we look to be able to do that. We in Commerce, Justice, and Science look forward to doing our part, carrying our heavy lifting. There is no lifting too heavy to help people in our own country that have been so devastated. For everyone working on this out there in the field, the tremendous number of volunteers, the generosity of spirit of the people and, I might add, the private sector that is marshaling, we say thank you. We have a big job to do. One of the big jobs we have to do is here, working on a bipartisan basis, to be collegial, to be civil, and to get the job done. Let's ask of ourselves exactly what we ask the people working down in the Gulf. Let's not have a slow, sluggish response from the Congress. Let's be effective in targeting our resources. I have a long-range idea I would like to share on the idea of reform. When I was the chairman of VA/HUD, before the 1994 Republican Gingrich revolution, I found that FEMA was a dated agency. It was focused on the Cold War. It was worrying about where to send the Coast Guard if we had a nuclear attack. It was riddled with staff at Federal and State levels, with cronies and hacks and people with no experience in emergency management. When Hurricane Andrew hit Florida with such enormous devastation, we found Andrew people were doubly victimized. They were victimized by the hurricane, and then they were victimized by the inept approach of FEMA. I went to work on reform. I worked with President Bush's dad--I call him President Bush 1--and Andy Card, who is now the President's Chief of Staff, to reform FEMA. We did. Let me tell you we totally reformed FEMA. When President Clinton came in, he took that early work that we had begun with President Bush 1. What did we do? First, we said goodbye to the Cold War. The Cold War was over, except for the Federal bureaucracy. We said goodbye to the Cold War. We said that FEMA now had to be a professional agency; that it needed to be headed by someone who had either emergency management experience, and actually responded to emergencies, or comparable experience in the military or in private sector with crisis management. President Clinton gave us James Lee Witt. Second, we encouraged Governors to do the same thing at the State level. The more they did, the more we could help. Third, we said that FEMA had to become an all-hazards agency, it had to be ready for a hurricane or tornado. But in becoming ``all hazards,'' it had to go to the risk-based strategy. We analyzed what Americans were most likely to have, particularly in terms of natural disasters. It was tornadoes and hurricanes, followed of course by earthquakes, though less frequent, severe, and devastating. We then encouraged the States to have real plans for evacuation; that they had to be ready, they had to have things pre-positioned where things were most likely to happen. If you were worried about hurricanes and ``northeasters,'' you did not pre-position in Maryland from Allegany County, where we are subjected more to floods. So, readiness and then recovery. Readiness, response, and recovery. It worked very well. After September 11, and our desire to be effective and supportive in fighting the global war against terrorism, FEMA was moved to Homeland Security. I supported that. I felt again that was the home of the first responders. That was the home where the local fire departments could apply for protective gear that firefighters needed. I now have second thoughts because when FEMA moved to Homeland Security, it lost its focus, it lost its way, and it definitely lost its leadership. I believe the President will focus now on giving us the right leadership. We have to get a new focus, and this is why I would like to see the Federal Emergency Management Agency again become an independent agency that is an all-hazards agency, goes to the risks facing the American people. There are natural disasters and there are terrorists. We cannot forget there are those who have a predatory intent against the United States of America and its communities. So we have to be ready to respond if they get through the fabulous intelligence network that we have to protect us. We want to be ready for that. Quite frankly, there are those who say: Well, Senator Mikulski, are you saying we are going to worry more about tornadoes than terrorists? Absolutely not. We have to be ready. But if you look at our cities and our larger communities, which are often the greatest targets of these international predators, these international thugs, these international terrorists, we have to be ready. Just think, New Orleans could have been hit by a dirty bomb. New Orleans could have been hit by a chemical or biological attack. New Orleans could have been hit by bin Laden or Zarqawi or whomever, by blowing up the levees. So the consequences to the city--whether it is New Orleans or Baltimore or a city in California or any city--would be the same. We would have to be ready to respond, and to respond swiftly. Then, of course, we would have the recovery. So if we have to evacuate the Capital region, it is the same whether we are hit by some natural disaster or predatory attack. If we have to evacuate San Francisco or LA in California, it is the same. So the reform comes after the recovery. Right now, we have to be swift and sure in responding to the people who need us the most. Mr. President, I note the Senator from Oklahoma has come to the floor. I ask the Senator if he is prepared to speak? Mr. President, I will yield the floor. Again, I reiterate my pledge for bipartisan support on our recovery efforts. And I look forward to working on a reform package with equal bipartisan support. I yield the floor.

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

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I come to the floor as the ranking member of this very brandnew subcommittee called Commerce, Justice, and Science. As the Presiding Officer knows, and our colleagues remember, the Appropriations Committee reorganized itself, and I had been the ranking member of a subcommittee called VA-HUD and Independent Agencies. It exists no more. But now we have Commerce, Justice, and Science, which we think is an outstanding subcommittee, funding the important agencies related to making us a safer, stronger, smarter, more innovative country. Originally, I anticipated our bill would come up today with such enthusiasm and such joy in working with my colleague, Senator Shelby, whom I served with in the House, that we would work together on a bipartisan basis to fashion the bill, but on its way to the floor a great national tragedy occurred with Hurricane Katrina. I want to say here today on the floor to the distinguished Senator from Mississippi, who has just spoken, Mr. Cochran, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, first of all, know that you can count on me for full support to move all appropriate legislation to help the people of our gulf coast. I know the distinguished Senator is from a wonderful State with a great heritage and is a great contributor to our economy. And we know his State has been hit hard. We watched him tour the hit zones. This is a time we all do work together. I know all of our colleagues are so proud of the rescue workers who are going to continue to rescue people throughout the gulf coast region. Our hearts and prayers and thoughts go out to the families who have lost everything in this terrible tragedy. At the same time, we acknowledge the tremendous role of scores of National Guard soldiers, our Coast Guard rescuers, those Navy guys who rescued 110 people--and they might have gotten a reprimand from their commander, but they would certainly get a hug and kiss from this Senator for what they did--and the doctors and nurses and the paramedics and all the first responders and law enforcement. Everybody who is out there working a 36-hour day, we thank you and we salute you. As of Monday, there have been so many who have been rescued, shelters that have been opened, and hot meals being served. Also, under the doctrine of mutual assistance, other States have opened their doors-- Texas, Arkansas. My own State of Maryland has sent tremendous help and support. So we all need to pull together now. I am glad the press has stopped calling those people who have lost everything refugees. ``Refugee'' is an honorable title, but this is not ``Hotel Rwanda.'' This is the United States of America. All those people are our citizens. They have been evacuated, but they have a home to go back to. And they have another home called the United States of America, where every State, every city would have an open door toward them. They have not lost their home. They have not lost their homeland. And they cannot lose their way. In my own home State, we have sent people down to rescue people-- first responders. Governor Ehrlich sent our National Guard. We are so proud of the hospital ship, the USS Comfort, that is steaming down heading toward the coast of New Orleans. But whether it has been first responders, local law enforcement, charitable aid from the nonprofits and faith-based organizations, they all wanted to offer a contribution. But we cannot do this on philanthropic activity alone. We cannot do this with just good will. And to be sure, eventually fatigue will set in. But the U.S. Federal Government must be tireless. It must be responsive. It is critical we approve the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill quickly. The distinguished Senator from Mississippi has outlined this bill. This bill provides a downpayment for the victims of Katrina to rebuild their lives and communities. We know a supplemental is coming, and we will work expeditiously on a bipartisan basis to also help. We will not play politics with the lives of our citizens and with all of those who are conducting the rescue and cleanup. There are some important things in this bill that can be of specific and immediate help. One is the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program. It is not just for business, it is for families. SBA provides low-interest loans of up to $200,000 to repair damaged property to primary residences, and up to $40,000 for personal property. SBA provides low-interest loans to businesses and nonprofits of up to $1.5 million to repair damage to their real estate, machinery, equipment, and inventory. So SBA will not only help businesses become businesses again, but it will help families be able to get their home going again. And for all those nonprofits that will be there when the TV cameras leave, this will also help them get on their feet. Another area where we will be very helpful is in the area of the Economic Development Administration. This is in the Commerce Department. It provides grants to State and local governments for infrastructure repair and modernization. And, boy, do they do that. Roads need to be built, and not only the great Federal highways, but those blue highways that make our rural areas so great and provide a livelihood to those communities. Economic development assistance money can help recover from sudden and severe dislocation. This bill includes $315 million for EDA, and we presume that in the supplemental this could be a very specific line item that would not get lost in big bureaucracy. We want to provide assistance in the Department of Justice to our State and local police. They provide the safety and security of first choice so we want to make sure that they are supported. They themselves have lost police stations. They have lost their equipment. They have lost their homes. We need to be able to help them. While we also are repairing the damage, we need to look ahead and be sure we can always give the best predictions possible so people can get out of harm's way. This bill funds the National Weather Service. It is a branch of NOAA, and it has already done a great job of predicting hurricanes, storms, flooding, and tornadoes. But we want to bring even more innovation to them and more resources so they can predict not only hurricanes but any other natural disaster coming to a community so that we can prevent loss of life and secure property. Those are some of the things that can be focused immediately on Katrina and future prevention. As we know, there are some hurricanes gathering with names like Ophelia off the coast now. That is what we can do. At the same time, Senator Shelby and I, taking our new charge very seriously, said we wanted to work together to build a safer, stronger, smarter America. So we concentrated on the Department of Justice to make this a safer country. What we then did was look at the agencies within our portfolio, the FBI, Drug Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service, as well as alcohol and firearms. We know that the Department of Justice protects us from terrorists and protects our neighborhoods and communities. They protect us against those who have a predatory intent against our country, the terrorists, but it also protects our children against sexual predators. We want to salute President Bush and Attorney General Gonzales for developing a specific watch list for the registration of sexual predators. It has given a wake-up call to all States. Predatory behavior doesn't go in our country. The Department of Justice accounts for almost 50 percent of our entire bill. The FBI is the lead agency. It will receive $5.3 billion, a $100 million increase, so that they can continue to fight organized terrorism and organized crime as well. We have given the FBI a record amount to do that. We look forward to working with them to correct some of their problems in technology, and we know they are improving their management. At the same time, we thank them for focusing, No. 1, on protecting our children through the Missing and Exploited Children's Program, which, by the way, the Missing and Exploited Children's Program is now going to be used to help locate over 100 to 1,000 children, where their parents don't know where they are. We are going to find those children, and we are going to bring them back to their parents one way or another. Working together with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, we want to make sure they have the resources to protect us against arson, street crime, and gangs that are now menacing our communities. We thank them for the outstanding job that the ATF arson laboratory did in Maryland. It identified the DC serial arsonist that burned down homes in Charles County. It also provided the ballistic laboratory that helped to solve the DC sniper case. Our law enforcement is on the job, and they are protecting us every day. We have tried to protect them in the Federal budget so that they can do their job. At the same time, while we are doing law enforcement, we look at commerce and science. This is where we talk about building a stronger economy and a smarter America. We do all we can to fund the programs in the Commerce Department. One of our most important places, though, is where we protect our intellectual property. As we are working to protect our citizens, we have to protect what our citizens invent. We are the country of discovery, of innovation, of invention. If you invented it, we think you ought to be able to keep it. We, therefore, provided $1.7 billion for the Patent and Trademark Office. It is a record amount that should help them reduce their backlog of patent applications and help us make sure we secure those new ideas that are going to create the new jobs right here in the United States. We are also supporting our great Federal laboratories that help come up with the new ideas and set the standards for products so they can go to the marketplace. That is the National Institute of Standards and Technology located in Maryland. It sets standards that are critical to successful commerce and, because of what they do, transfers technology to the American business community. The bill fully funds the Advanced Tech Program and the Manufacturing Extension Program which are important to fostering competitiveness. In science, we have NOAA, which I have spoken about, which does fantastic work on weather prediction, saving lives, and saving communities through their predictions. But at the same time, they do fantastic research on our oceans, on our bays and so on. We know that we are going to face, because of Katrina, a real impact on oysters and clams and shrimp on the gulf coast. What are the ideas to be able to help out and restore the bays that produce those delicious morsels but that are so important to the economy and to little people who have names like watermen and fishermen and seafood? This is what we are challenging NOAA to do, continue their great research. But we need immediate and practical solutions to protect the seafood industry on the gulf coast. Then there is NASA. Originally, we thought the only risky operation was going to be the Hubble telescope. Now we have human need pressing us, and we are going to meet that need. For NASA, we have provided $16.4 billion, a $200 million increase over last year. This does include the money for the Hubble servicing mission. We are going to provide full funding for the space shuttle, for the space station, and work with Dr. Griffin on the new Crew Exploration Vehicle. Because of Katrina, we know two major NASA facilities were heavily damaged. One was the Michoud assembly facility in New Orleans. The other was the Stennis facility in Mississippi. This is everything from shipyards to spaceships, from Navy ships to spaceships. We know those facilities suffered tremendous damage, and 50 percent of the employees lost their homes. We expect the administration and the agencies to tell us what happened to those employees and how we can help them. On the bright side, we are so happy about the successful mission of Discovery last month. Weren't we proud of Colonel Collins and that daring-do, can-do crew that got out there and did the kind of repair work that had never been done in space, showed our courage and our tenacity and our technological capability. We want to support them. We know they want to return to space. The shuttle tanks were to be prepared in New Orleans. We are going to have to make adjustments. But then again, everybody is making adjustments, and we are all going to work together. The National Science Foundation is also in here. Just think what the Committee on Science is--NIST, NOAA, NASA, the Science Foundation. These are the new ideas. It is going to help with funding for important research in new ideas in basic science like physics and also breakthrough things again for new jobs like biotech and nanotech. One of the important things we did was preserve the funding for historically Black colleges and universities. This is also coming at a very important time. Louisiana, I believe the entire gulf, was the home of 28 colleges and universities that were affected by Katrina. Historically Black colleges all over America, such as Morgan State in my hometown, are accepting the young men and women from the historically Black colleges of the gulf coast. They are accepting them and not asking questions about tuition and other things. This is a way of also being of help. So we are all pitching in together. One of the flashing yellow lights in the bill is the census. Because of staying within our 302(b) allocation, we funded the Census Bureau with $17 million below last year's level and $150 million below the President's request. The census is important. They don't just do something every 10 years where they knock on your door and give you a complicated form. It continually evaluates who we are and where we live and gives us important information so that communities and businesses can develop everything from transportation and education plans to business targeting the new demography in our country. We are proud of the civil servants that work in Maryland, and we look forward to looking at how we can restore funding. When we looked at our priorities, we thought Census could do without an increase and even a very modest $17 million cut. We hope to restore that in conference. But when we looked at all that we needed to do in Justice and all that we needed to do, particularly in agencies such as the FBI, we felt that these were our priorities. Now that Katrina has hit us, we will be reevaluating as we go along. That is our bill. We are proud of our bill because we have tried to focus on where America is today and where America needs to go tomorrow. We tried to look at the day-to-day needs of our constituents and know that they needed to be protected in their local communities. That is why we looked at local law enforcement. We know that we face predatory assault from everything from organized crime to organized terrorists. We focused on our Justice Department, but also on our science and on our commerce for new ideas, for new products and invention, but also to fund those agencies that help them protect their intellectual property against often international predators and also come up with those new ideas. Along the way, Katrina has happened. We are going to make sure this bill serves the needs now, the immediate needs of our neighbors in the gulf and those States that have been so kind and so generous and welcoming. We view this bill as a work in progress, but work it will be, and progress we will make. We are going to work together. These are not refugees. They are evacuees, as our Senators are. We need to remember all of the people who have been affected. We are one nation, under God, and we are indivisible. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, this side of the aisle concurred when the majority leader offered the unanimous consent allowing the Federal court to do their business outside of their jurisdiction. It is the people's business. How fitting we have the wheels of justice providing that flexibility. I am sure there will be other legislation; we hope it all goes as smoothly.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. For the Commerce, State, Justice appropriations, we are now waiting for the chairman to give his statement. We will correct some technical amendments. We are urging colleagues to come and offer amendments. We know of six on our side of the aisle. We are doing our best. We would like to be able to finish this bill today, but if we start offering amendments at sundown--sundown is a great cocktail party, but that is not a great way to do appropriations. So we really want to do this bill because it funds the FBI, it funds the Justice Department, it funds important help to the FEMA victims. We would like to move it along. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I wish to comment on the amendment that has been offered by the senior Senator from Maryland, the ranking member on Housing on the housing voucher program. I want very much to support his amendment because I think it is absolutely crucial that we do this. There are people who are living under three basic circumstances. No. 1, some are shelters, which is emergency housing. God bless all of the communities, the Red Cross, the people of Texas, and everywhere that have provided shelter housing. But shelter housing is for an emergency situation, and people do need to move to stable housing. Then there are those people who did evacuate. They might be of modest means, they might be of middle-class means, but they have been living in hotels and motels along the way. They have been living off of their credit cards. They are now out of money, they are out of gas, and they wonder what to do next. They need to be able to move into housing. Also, in order to be able to get a job, you need an address. In order to get a benefit, you need an address. Then there is the third group of people who have been embraced by churches, who are living maybe with strangers or even living with relatives. But for many people, their relatives are also on a tight budget, living on a shoestring or a small pocketbook. We have had generosity of spirit, generosity of heart, and even generosity of wallet. But that is limited until people can move into other types of housing. In this case, as someone who once was an appropriator for HUD, we need so-called housing vouchers, known as Section 8, for either the poor or the elderly. Because of what has happened, everyone is poor and stretched to the limit, with no income. They need help. I believe this program offers both the reimbursement--the voucher--and also enough constraints so that it is not a lavish giveaway program. The point I also want to make is that housing is really limited, even temporary housing. My colleague, Senator Sarbanes, has spoken about FEMA and its trailers. We know about FEMA and its trailers because we were hit by Hurricane Isabel. We were absolutely grateful for them. But when I heard the FEMA trailers were coming to the Eastern Shore or Bailey's Quarters or to Miller Island, I thought they were trailers-- almost a version of a manufactured home. When I went to see them and meet with the people in them, they were campers. So when we hear that the trailers are coming, these are not trailers the way we see in a trailer park. These are kind of campers you see for an overnight and they are very limited and they are also very expensive to heat or to air condition. But, thank God when they come. Yesterday I spoke to one of the leading private-sector people who has a substantial number, whose corporation has a substantial number of employees in both Louisiana and Mississippi. They tried to rent trailers and RVs to take out to their employees. They were going to get hold of them and lease them--or almost rent free--to their employees so the employees would have a place to work. They would know where those employees were, and begin to put them back to work. Guess what. They couldn't find any. Practically every trailer and every RV in America is on its way down to the gulf. They have already been purchased or leased. We think that is great. This is a private sector corporation with deep pockets which is trying to jump in to help. We have a sense of the magnitude of the crisis. These vouchers will add an ``R'' to what we need when we talk about emergency management response. I helped to form FEMA. I will not talk about that today. We have a reformed FEMA that went over to the Department called Homeland Security. I believe when it did that, it lost its focus. But we had three ``R's'' we practiced: readiness, response and recovery. I am going to add a fourth ``R''--reimbursement. We have to reimburse these communities that are taking in people. Look at Texas and other communities. I know your community, Mr. President, has been very generous. Again, we salute you. But we can end up in compassion fatigue and we need to have a government safety net. I think this voucher will do a lot. I think it will also do a lot for mental health. If you have your own kitchen, your own stove, your own address, and your children can go to school, not at a shelter--though God bless the shelters--I think it will do a lot to begin to restore people's sense of stability. I think this is a very good idea. It is temporary. It is time limited, both in terms of the flexibility of the rent, and so on. I think it will go a long way to using the private marketplace and the private sector and also be able to reimburse other nonprofits that are already also finding housing. I salute my colleagues and the leadership for doing this, and I look forward to supporting it. I yield the floor.

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

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

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I congratulate the Senator from Iowa for offering this amendment. I know he has been a passionate supporter of Legal Services and quite frankly so have I over the years, having used it when I was a social worker in Baltimore and a child abuse worker, I might add, when many of these children had very little protection, the kind of protection we have now. Legal Services will perform services at multiple levels. One is the traditional services in all 50 States. No. 2, though, they will be very important now to people with Katrina, particularly those who are unfamiliar with paperwork and bureaucracy and applying and all of those things and will need someone to help them navigate. One might ask, why would they need a lawyer? Legal Services offers more than lawyers, and they will be there. I think the Senator's amendment is excellent. I think what we need to be able to do is find both the will and the wallet to fully support Legal Services. When I think back on what Legal Services has meant, it often helped people get their lives together. I know in my own case as a social worker, it helped a welfare mother get a divorce from an abusive husband. It helped her be able to clear up all of her credit issues so that she could begin a new life. She got a GED so she could move off of welfare and establish herself. The credit card mess was due to the abusive husband. So Legal Services, really, in many instances helps families get their lives together. So we look forward to supporting this amendment and working with him on other advocacy issues. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. I note Senator Lott has come to the floor of the Senate. I didn't know if the Senator wished to speak, as someone who has lost his home in his State. I am happy to return to my time. Would the Senator like to talk now?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Certainly. We welcome you back. And to the people of Mississippi, know that we extend our concern and want to put our good intentions into operation. I come to the floor of the Senate to speak about what has happened to our country and ideas on how we can move forward and make sure this never happens again. I note that the Presiding Officer himself has been a mayor and a Governor, so he knows what these kind of challenges are. Last week on the Senate break, when I saw what was happening in Louisiana, in Mississippi, and in Alabama, I couldn't believe it. I could not believe the devastation that occurred in these communities where entire neighborhoods were wiped out, that a wonderful city we have all loved and admired and enjoyed, New Orleans, was now under 10 feet of water, that the people of Mississippi all along their coast lost their homes, where with the flyovers all you saw was wreckage, people on a beach and an American flag and a sheet saying: Please help us. And then also this going on in Alabama. We in Maryland know what it is like for a hurricane to hit. Just a few years ago, we survived Hurricane Isabel where we had communities that looked like Baghdad on the bay. So we were very concerned. One thing we had was confidence that hope and help would be on the way. Well, my gosh, this did not happen. I could not believe the slowness and the sluggishness of the response to these communities; that it was the private sector that was on response a lot faster than our own Government. Mr. President, this is just unacceptable. This failure of Government to be able to respond more quickly and more effectively shows that the people in these States have been doubly victimized. They were victimized by the natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina, and now by the response of their own Government. It did not have to be this way. It did not have to be this way. In 2000, a tiptop FEMA was turned to the Bush administration. President Bush appointed Joe Allbaugh to be head of FEMA. We kept the legacy of reform that had begun under President Bush 1 and had started with Andrew Card and myself working on a reform of FEMA. This reform left FEMA in tiptop condition to respond to a crisis of a natural disaster in an American community. I want to recall this to my colleagues. Back in the 1990s, I chaired an appropriations subcommittee called VA-HUD and Independent Agencies. One of the independent agencies was FEMA. We saw its lackluster performance in Hugo. But when Andrew hit Florida it was a disaster. It was a disaster of proportions from the hurricane and then again the ineptness of FEMA. Well, we went to work, hands on. President Bush 1 sent Andy Card to Florida and he began to work and we on appropriations began to work, and we worked across the aisle on a bipartisan basis to help not only Florida but to take a longer look at the need to reform FEMA. And again, working on a bipartisan basis, reform FEMA we did. We took it from an agency that was focused on the Cold War, was riddled with cronyism both at the National and State Governments. There was a tradition that because FEMA was only organized in the case of a nuclear attack that you did not have to put in professionals because it would not matter; we would all be dead anyway. So there was cronyism, it was unfocused, it was of the Cold war, but again, working on a bipartisan basis, we in appropriations worked with the White House to change it. President Clinton came in, and we kept the reform momentum going. And what did we do? We said, No. 1, that FEMA, first of all, should say goodbye to the Cold War and hello to being a risk-based agency, to take a look at what most American communities would be threatened by. In those days, it was a hurricane, it was a tornado, it was an earthquake. And then for it to go to an all-hazards agency, whether it was a train that got stuck in a Baltimore tunnel with toxic fumes that we worried about or whether it was an earthquake in California or a tornado in one of our Midwest States. The other thing we focused on was that FEMA had to be run by professionals. It had to be run by someone who had dealt with management situations. And that was either a civilian involved in emergency management or possibly someone from retired military, and we asked each Governor to also reform themselves at the State level. We literally upgraded FEMA from the State and local level to the national level. We have had James Lee Witt. We had Joe Allbaugh, things were improving. The other thing we did was we made sure that we practiced the three Rs for FEMA. What were the three Rs? Readiness, response, and recovery. It took time, it took money, and it took cooperation. But again, working on a bipartisan basis, we had it accomplished. We worked, as I said, with President Bush 1, then with President Clinton, and then, even though I chaired FEMA appropriations and was the prime mover in 1994, Senator Kit Bond became the chairman of that wonderful subcommittee, and for a decade, he too, working hand in hand, kept the momentum of reform going concentrating on a professionalized FEMA that could work on readiness, recovery, and response. The States were ready, we were ready, and I think everyone agreed during that time it worked well. Well, now something terrible has happened since 2000, since 9/11, and I will tell you what happened. First of all, somehow or another, FEMA has lost its way. Since it has moved into Homeland Security, it has become unfocused, it has become unclear, it has lost its direction of being an all-hazards independent agency. Therefore, today, I am proposing a couple of things. I am proposing that, No. 1, we restore FEMA to being an independent agency responsible to the President the way it was before 9/11; No. 2, that we also make sure that, as an independent agency, it is an all-hazards agency run by a professional. I think it is time that Michael Brown leave FEMA. I think he either should leave voluntarily or involuntarily, but we need a professional in charge of FEMA; No. 3, there should be a commission to look at what happened. But we can't wait. There is much to be done. There is much rebuilding that needs to be done. We need to make sure that we are helping our own communities. First of all, we want to congratulate the people at the local level for their tremendous resiliency, the people of Mississippi, Alabama, and, of course, Louisiana. No. 2, we need to congratulate the nonprofit sector--the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, also universities that are taking in students. We need to thank people from around the world who not only have sent condolences but have sent resources, and we appreciate their help. But we need to make sure that we have a FEMA that the American people can count on. We need to restore it to an independent level, make it an all-hazards agency, make it one that focuses on readiness, response, and recovery. What we can do now with new leadership is focus on the recovery part. We want to say to the people of these States we know that when the TV cameras leave, your Government cannot leave you, we cannot forsake you, we cannot abandon you. To the Governors of the States that have welcomed these people, from Texas to Georgia to Arkansas, each struggling, we say that we need to be there to help you. For all those other States that have sent help, including my own State of Maryland, we need to back those States and back those communities. I say to all those people who have no home and living in temporary shelters, we need to help you find a way. For all of you who are living in motel rooms because you could evacuate, running out of time, running out of money, we need to identify who you are, see where you are, to make sure you are connected with your family and begin to see if we can't connect you with a home and with a job. We need to be able to do that. But in order to do that, No. 1, we need new leadership at FEMA. No. 2, we need to reform FEMA. And No. 3, we need to look ahead. There are those who say: Well, Senator Mikulski, FEMA went under Homeland Security because of a global war against terrorism. We know that, and I was one who voted to put it there. Well, I will tell you, would you trust FEMA now if a dirty bomb hit a city? Would you trust FEMA now to be able to respond to a chemical or biological weapon? The answer is no, no, no. Much needs to be done. First of all, we need to support those communities that are helping other communities. We need to also salute that which is working. Three cheers for the Coast Guard that was one of the first on the job doing rescue; support the private sector, America's corporations that are both paying their employees and sending in incredible donations. We need to support the nonprofits that are also helping. But most of all we need to support each other. I want to, once again, as I did at the time of Hurricane Andrew, reach across the aisle to an American President to say let's stop using the term ``refugee.'' Let's start using the term ``Americans.'' Let's start using the term ``citizens.'' Let's start acknowledging that we are all one people under God, indivisible. Let's work to reform FEMA. Let's get in the right leadership. And then let's work with the right resources, and let's do it in a spirit of cooperation. We had that spirit after 9/11. That is what somebody did to us. Now, we had a hurricane do something terrible to us. We should not do unto ourselves by not responding to the needs of our own people. Somebody once said it takes a village to raise a child. Right now it takes a country to raise these villages and all of those towns. My heart goes out to them. As I said, we in Maryland know what it is like to be on the coast and be hurt. I say to my colleague who has lost his beloved home that has been in his family for years, looking at him as a Senator, he has some power, and we are going to help him, but we think about all the little people, all the little people, and we think about how we can help them. If we work together as a country and make sure we work with America's corporations, we will get the resources in the United States of America. And then for the long haul, let's make FEMA an independent agency--an all-hazards, professionally run independent, responsible only to the call of the Commander in Chief. Mr. President, I once again say, God bless America and the people of its communities. I look forward to working, on a bipartisan basis, to resolve this issue. I thank the Chair.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I know we have been alternating between the Democrats and Republicans. I note that there is no Republican on the Senate floor, and I will therefore now proceed in the interest of economy of time.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise in support of final passage of the transportation reauthorization bill. The road to final passage has been long and brutal, but I am pleased that we have finally reached this point. This is a good bill for Maryland and a good bill for our Nation. The State of Maryland is the fifth most densely populated State in the Nation. Our highways and byways serve almost 54 billion vehicle miles of travel annually. Maryland has the second largest urban interstate traffic density and the sixth largest percentage of roads in urban areas in the United States. As part of the Northeast corridor, Maryland experiences an extremely high volume of through traffic, especially on roadways such as 1-95. Maryland is also one of the few States in the Nation with two major metropolitan areas, Washington, DC, and Baltimore, and two major beltways with some of the highest traffic volumes in the country, within 30 miles of each other. In the Washington metropolitan area, we have the third longest average commute time in the Nation. This bill will provide much needed relief to the stresses that our commuters experience every day by making critical investments to highway safety and expansion, improvements to our Metro system, and expansion of our transit systems. Maryland will receive more funding for highways and mass transit under this bill than it does now. For highways, Maryland can expect to receive $140 million more per year in Federal highway formula money, more than $2.9 billion over the life of the bill. This funding will help make our roads safer, improve traffic conditions, and help promote economic development throughout the State. For our transit systems this bill provides more than $900 million. This means critical funding to improve the capacity of the Washington Metro and expand and build capacity for transit systems throughout Maryland. In closing, I would like to thank my colleague, Senator Sarbanes, for all of his hard work on this bill, particularly for his steadfast dedication to the transit needs of Maryland and our Nation. Thanks to his efforts, this bill provides essential support to State and local governments to ensure greater access to safe and reliable transit services.