Charles Melancon

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Chairman, what I have here today is a map of the gulf coast. It is not all-inclusive. Jo Bonner knows that. But from Galveston Bay to Mobile Bay has been a total disaster, and I am from a district that concerns me about New Orleans, but we keep talking only about Katrina, and we keep talking only about New Orleans. I am not saying we shouldn't. I am here today to say that with these natural disasters that we have had and the help that you in the Congress have given us, it is tremendously appreciated; however, immediately following those storms, coming to Congress and asking for help and, in recent weeks, bringing amendments and asking for additional moneys to build levees, and we have not even gotten to the coastal restoration issue. We were told that maybe we needed to have the authorization first. We were told to put it in the regular appropriations bill. We are here, and it didn't get into the regular appropriations bill. So I guess these projects in Cameron, LaFourche, Terrebonne, St. Charles and other parishes, inclusive of Plaquemines Parish, it was felt they should be excluded because there wasn't enough people to justify the cost. A place on the Gulf of Mexico that services the offshore oil industry and brings in 80 percent of the offshore oil through pipelines through that parish and provides another important aspect to its presence there, it is the levee or the breakwater or whatever you might want to call it, barrier island, that protects Mississippi under many circumstances from the storm surge. So I am here today after asking for, I think the number was $430 million, and having several of my friends say that is a lot of money, and then a week later, Mr. Powell came and asked for in excess of $4 billion and then readjusted it down when they took Plaquemines Parish out, because there are lots of projects throughout south Louisiana that are necessary if we are going to protect the residents of that State. There are many projects in the southwest part of Louisiana where Rita has gone, the storm that is forgotten, the storm you hear no one talking about in Port Arthur, and in Texas, it was devastating also. I want to say that I do appreciate this body and everything that it has done for New Orleans, but please remember that the rest of the gulf coast has been tremendously affected, and these people that keep the oil and gas industry in operation and produce the seafood for this country as well as run the ports and export the goods and commodities from this Nation need additional help. I thank the gentleman for allowing me the time.

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Chairman, I am here to speak on an issue of paramount importance to my constituents in south Louisiana and I think the entire Nation. Outer Continental Shelf production and coastal impact assistance are very important. Louisiana is uniquely positioned in the OCS debate. Our State is one of the few that allows production off its coast. We are also major consumers of this production, through chemicals, fertilizers and various other gas-intensive manufacturing. Some quick facts for you. Among the 50 States, Louisiana ranks first in crude oil production; second in natural gas production; second in total energy production from all sources; second in petroleum refining capacity; second in primary petrochemical production; third in industrial energy consumption; third in natural gas consumption; fifth in petroleum consumption; eighth in total energy consumption. We are a State that is a working State with a working coast. Our State is a vital part of the domestic energy production and consumption, which keeps our entire economy humming. As others refrain from similar production, natural gas supplies tighten and the prices rise, jeopardizing tens of thousands of well-paying jobs that are being shipped overseas, many of these from my own State and district. The energy support Louisiana and other coastal States provide for our Nation is not without cost. We are happy to provide what others would rather not. However, this supply also impacts our coastal communities and wetlands conservation, and we bear the costs of onshore infrastructure required to support this production activity. Every debate on OCS production should also include an equity discussion. Coastal producing States should receive a fair share of revenues off their coasts, just as inland States receive from onshore production. I appreciate the leadership Mr. Peterson has taken on this issue, and I respectfully oppose Mr. Putnam's intent to strike this language from the bill. If you look off the coast in the next several years, if not sooner, between Cuba and Key West, you will see the Chinese and the Cubans starting their venture to drill right off the coast of Florida. They may not be visible but they will be there. Gas and oil production offshore, the technology that is there today, is astounding. I would invite every one of you that have never been on an offshore rig or seen the technology for drilling, I invite you to come to Louisiana to take the trip offshore, to understand what energy production is all about. It is not what it is perceived to be, as it was some 50 years ago.

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Madam Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to offer an amendment out of order.

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Chairman, the amendment that I bring forward today will provide for $465 million for levees in South Louisiana. Currently, there is $1.363 billion, $1 million added to the $1,363,000,000 in the bill for flood control and hurricane protection. Part of the problems during the storms is the over-topping of levees, inadequate levees. We have a situation in south Louisiana that was understood by the White House, and the President made his announcement to send more money down to the Congress. That total amount did not end up getting into the bill. My amendment would increase the amount of funding to $465 billion, and this amendment would provide $35 million for additional hurricane protection for coastal restoration in an area in south central Louisiana that went under during Rita that was not included in the original monies. We have areas that are in St. Charles Parish, Plaquemines Parish, Jefferson Parish, St. Bernard Parish, Terrebonne Parish, and Lafourche Parish. These areas need to be taken care of, particularly since these areas are the first areas that will take the brunt of a storm in the Gulf of Mexico and southern Louisiana. This is a working coast. This is the Louisiana coast. Oil and gas from Louisiana accounts for 30 percent of the energy consumed in this country. Thirty percent of the fish that come from the oceans that this country consumes come from Louisiana's coastal areas and the Gulf of Mexico. Forty-two percent of the commodities exported from this country come through New Orleans and the river bounded by Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parish. Mr. Chairman, I bring this amendment today because the people of south Louisiana need these important levees to protect them. In particular, the Morganza to the Gulf project, the people in this area where the Morganza to the Gulf project will be built have taxed themselves and started the projects. They are waiting on a WRDA. If we can get a WRDA bill out of the Senate and conferenced and passed, then these folks have started, and this bill would allow them to have that money to move this project forward to protect their areas of south Louisiana. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Chairman, I understand what you are saying. We have been 5 to 6 years without a WRDA bill. The Morganza to the Gulf project has been in that stalled WRDA bill. There are now 80 Members of the Senate that have signed on to letters saying in this session their intention is to pass a WRDA bill. If authorization is included with the passage of a WRDA bill, in essence, this funding will be ready to go. These people have authorization on portions, as you have explained, and now they can move forward and continue the process of building these levees that they have so much wanted to build for the last 5 to 10 years.

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Chairman, I understand. This is something that I must put to a vote. We are in an emergency situation. We have been. This Congress' actions, where we are at the seventh month, makes it even more critical and more of the need.

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Chairman, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. MELANCON. Madam Chairman, I rise today with an amendment that deals with an area that was completely left out during the disaster assistance to date, and that is agriculture and fisheries. The gentleman from Texas talked about Texas and the damage to its agriculture, to its forestries, to its fisheries, to its housing stock. He mentioned 70,000 homes devastated or damaged in Texas. Katrina left 268,000 homes devastated or damaged in Louisiana. I am not trying to make a comparison, I am just trying to make the point that the devastation in Louisiana was beyond description, beyond what anyone could comprehend without physically being on the ground and seeing what has happened in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama. But we have got another problem in Louisiana. We have over $2 billion worth of forestry, fisheries and agriculture that have been destroyed and damaged. The infrastructure is gone. These numbers are based on estimates of damage from the LSU Ag Center, and I have a list of those crops and such, if any of the Members would wish to review it. While many in Congress and the administration continue to put out figures where assistance has been provided, we have had roughly $87 billion that has been appropriated. Of that $87 billion, I dare to venture that 50 percent, or maybe even less, has hit the area, at least in Louisiana. And that $87 billion that continues to be touted as spent on damage for the hurricanes, Rita and Katrina, somewhere between Washington and Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and, for that matter, Florida, with Wilma, the money has not reached the people that everyone believes it was intended to reach. There are a lot of contractors making a lot of money, and there is a lot of people that have had contracts with companies that had not even started that are getting contracts. So no direct assistance has been provided to agriculture, forestry, fisheries in Louisiana and, to my knowledge, other than oysters getting some funding, they have been shortchanged. The bankers at Christmas were asking the farmers in Louisiana what might the Congress do and the administration do to help them. For, you see, these farmers were meeting with their bankers, who were telling them that they can't loan them the money unless they know that they are going to have some help from their government. So with that, we will be folding up rural Louisiana, the agriculture community, the fisheries community, and the forestry community, those items that drive the economies in south Louisiana. I had asked for a waiver yesterday. And, Mr. Chairman, as you are aware, I didn't receive it. But I felt compelled to come to the floor, as I did earlier. I believe that this Congress does not comprehend the extensive enormity of the disaster, as I keep hearing from Members. I would like to again invite every Member of this Congress that has not put a foot in Louisiana or Mississippi to come to see, to understand, to talk to the people that have been devastated. They are in Texas, too. They are in Alabama and Florida. But the devastation that we have experienced is crippling to our State. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight. With the recent events that have occurred over the past seven, eight months, since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma have hit the gulf coast of the United States, in the recent week, a group of us got together, and we have set up the Gulf Coast Disaster Recovery Caucus to basically try to make sure that this Congress and America and this administration do not forget the disaster and the catastrophe that has occurred and inundated people all along the gulf coast. It is not just a New Orleans thing. It is Louisiana, across the entire breadth of the State. It is Mississippi, across the entire coastal area. It is Alabama, it is Texas and it is Florida, on the west coast this time. I look at the news articles and such. I have had some concerns with some of the statements that have been made in the past about being below sea level, the honesty and the integrity of elected officials in Louisiana. It really bothers me because I do not see the moneys, the $85 or $87 billion that have been attested to be sent to the gulf coast in the hands of the people that need it, in the hands of the victims. There has been billions of dollars that have gone around that are somewhere between Washington, D.C., and the gulf coast of the United States, and I can tell you, it has not gotten to the people that are in need. If you look at some of the instances of what is going on, parish governments that want to retain their own contractors cannot get what the cost of the Corps of Engineers and FEMA are paying to their contractors, and it is believed on best information that that price may be double to triple what is being paid by the local contractor, by the local government who is doing the job faster, better, and apparently, we believe, if we can ever get the numbers, more efficiently. $4.2 billion has just been approved to gravel a 172-acre parking lot for mobile homes in Hope, Arkansas. Now, that goes on top of the $25,000 a month paid to the city of Hope, Arkansas, and I am glad for the city of Hope, Arkansas, because if it is like rural American towns, it needs every dime of income it can use to sustain itself. But we have got over 11,000 trailers that are stationed there, 450 miles to the closest disaster parish or county, and there is 11,000 trailers up there that FEMA tells us they cannot put in a flood zone. Well, the hurricane does not hit in the mountains. The hurricane does not hit in the desert. The hurricane hits along the coastal areas of this United States, and that is what these hurricanes have done. They put up this morgue, a temporary morgue, FEMA did, in Coralville, Louisiana, $17 million, and now it is abandoned. $5.2 million, this was really nice, was spent getting a contract to a contractor that did not exist, and if it would not have been for the Justice Department seeing that these folks were cashing checks for $10,000 at a time, that they bought a brand new mobile home and three brand new automobiles, then we would still probably be out about $5.2 million. Then when they started to doing the work, it had to be turned over to the fire department and another contractor to get the job done. Congressman Pickering told me today, and I think I recall it is either 90 or 95 percent of all the moneys are being contracted for debris removal and cleanup in Mississippi is going to contractors from outside the State. I can tell you, I get calls daily in my offices from people that are local that have been trying to get jobs, and then those that seem to be able to get some work, which is the bottom tier, are waiting months for their money. I have one contractor that has been waiting for $50 million because the FEMA people or the State advanced the parish in which they are working some moneys right after the storm, about $30 million. This contractor is not getting his money, and in good faith, he has been working since day one, and has not gotten his money to pay his people and to run his company because the State and FEMA say that the parish that he is working in has not accounted for every dime. And yet they have assured, the State and the contractor can document that he has not received a nickel from the parish, yet he is held up. There is another contractor across the river in Plaquemines Parish; they are to the tune of $6 million waiting. I have a guy in my hometown that is a very small company, he is waiting on about $150,000. And let me tell you, for a little, small independent guy like that, that is crushing him. That is killing him. After the Florida hurricanes, three of them a year and a half ago, under section 32, the Department of Agriculture invoked section 32 of Ag Stabilization Act of 1935 and allowed the Secretary at his discretion to start reimbursing and helping those farmers that were in the category covered by section 32 to give them disaster assistance and get them back working. On October 28, the Department of Agriculture finally invoked section 32. That is 2 months afterward. And to this day, the $250 million that they allowed, out of 780 in the account that has been appropriated for this year, zero has hit the ground in any one of the States that was impacted by any of these hurricanes. No disbursement whatsoever. The caucus was set up in hopes of doing several things. One is making sure that the people that lived and worked and want to return to their homes will have that opportunity; to make sure that we provide and that this government provides for the safety of these people, protecting their communities, so they can rebuild their families, their homes and their businesses and trying to provide housing and rebuilding and repairing those houses so people can return home. We need to get the economy back up. We need to create jobs and rejuvenate the entire coastal region, from Galveston Bay to Mobile Bay and all around down in the Tampa area where Wilma hit. Health care is nonexistent for those that need it in the Orleans area. If you have a broken arm and you need surgery, you better get to another city. If you have cancer, you better get to another city. If you have anything that requires long-term health care, you better get to another city, because health care is in jeopardy in south Louisiana. The doctors are like any other businessmen, they have to make a living. They cannot make a living if the customers or the clients or the patients, however you want to refer to them, are not back. And the hospitals can't keep themselves running when people are coming to them with injuries with no hospitalization coverage and they are required to take these people into the hospital to take care of them. And then, of course, when they are hurt, to give them a bed, which becomes a free bed. And you have hospitals that have used every dollar of their reserves and are getting ready to fold up and go under. Education: families won't bring their kids back unless there are schools to attend. We have tried and we are trying. In Chalmette, they have the school system back up very quickly. Of an 8,000 student population, there was 800 the first day. They are hopeful the folks will come back. But one school has pre-K through high school, and they are working with what little they have. We need to make sure that we respond to the Americans that have been injured, that we do everything in our power. If we can rebuild infrastructure in Iraq, schools, mosques, public buildings, private facilities, spend $100 million on a marsh area to bring it back to life, then surely we can spend some of our money and these taxpayers' money to help them get back on their feet. The people in my district, the people of the gulf coast are not looking for a handout. They are just looking for a helping hand, and this government owes those folks that. Madam Speaker, I yield time to Mr. Jefferson first.

Mr. MELANCON. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. MELANCON. Thank you, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee. I truly appreciated you and the 23 other people that have joined the caucus that we formed up this past week before going home. With that I would like to yield time to Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Mr. MELANCON. Thank you, Congresswoman Lee. I want to try, and of course we are getting towards the end of the hour, and Congressman Jefferson and I were hoping to have a few minutes. I want to thank leadership for their assistance in trying to provide us with time so that we can make the issues known to the Members of Congress that are going to be voting on these issues. This is not just a Louisiana thing. This is not just a New Orleans thing. This is an issue for the entire gulf coast. These are Americans, good tax paying citizens who have been left, not because they didn't buy the insurance that they were told to buy by their local government, by their insurance agent, by FEMA itself, the mortgage lenders. They bought those things. They did, they paid their taxes. They cared for their homes and now they are totally gone, with insurance companies saying no coverage, that is flood, and many of those houses being outside of flood zone. Mr. Jefferson can attest to a lot of those issues being from New Orleans and my having Chalmette and South Plaquemines Parish. I would like to yield a little time to Mr. Jefferson.

Mr. MELANCON. Thank you, Mr. Jefferson.

Mr. MELANCON. Yes, for a minute please.

Mr. MELANCON. Let me see if Congressman Jefferson and I can wrap it up. If you use the cost-ratio method that the Corps of Engineers used for projects, and what many Federal and State agencies use to determine whether there is value in investments into areas, the resources and the area that was destroyed, and this is just Louisiana, I am not talking about Mississippi and Texas and Alabama now. Thirty percent of the United States's energy comes from Louisiana offshore oil fields, straight through the state of Louisiana. 30 percent of the United States seafood comes through Louisiana. 42 percent of every commodity that is exported from this country goes through the Port of New Orleans. And that does not count the other three or four ports that are located on that river. This city, this region, this southern port of our country is an important part that needs to be revived, needs to be helped back along. We can put money into projects, as I said, rebuilding other countries when they are having problems. We have got to be able to do this for ourselves. There are a lot of folks that wrap themselves in the American flag and their politics, they are patriots, I am a patriot. There are a lot of people that espouse religion in their politics. And I say to those folks, what would Jesus do? I do not think that he would leave these people wanting. This is not black, this is not white, this is not rich, this is not poor, this is not Republican, nor is it Democrat, it is about Americans that have been hurt and need the help of the citizenry, their fellow citizens to get back on their feet. There are people returning to their communities and starting to do the planning in spite of the fact that they cannot get answers to the questions of how high, and when, and is anybody going to do anything at all? There is resiliency in the people of the gulf coast. They are going to come back one way or another. It is going to be a tough bill. It is going to take time. It would take time whether the Government helped or not. But it sure would make it a whole lot better in my mind for other countries in the world to say Americans help each other. I yield to Mr. Jefferson.

Mr. MELANCON. Madam Speaker, in closing, the days immediately following the storm in Katrina, before Rita even came and devastated southwest Louisiana and eastern Texas, the only way I can get to Chalmette and St. Bernard Parish was by boat on the river. And when I got there, I met the sheriff. And they were organizing people they were lifting off the roofs at the port facility referred to as the Chalmette Slip. And all of these people, they had lined up about 200 people putting life jackets on them, putting them on a barge to bring them across the rivers to what is known as Algiers Point in hopes that there would be buses there could take them to a good place, because nobody really knew whether the buses would come and where they would ultimately end up. But we gave them two MREs and we put them on the barge and we sent them out to Algiers Point, one we said for supper tonight with a bottle of water, one for breakfast in the morning with a bottle of water and let's just hope that the buses will get there. And as the sheriff and I said goodbye to these folks, the first guy that was in line looked at the sheriff and looked, and he said, Sheriff, you know me, told him his name. He says you know my brother, Joe. You know where we live. Joe drowned. Do not forget him. The next person in line was a lady who just burst into tears and hugged the sheriff and she was excited. She thought she was going somewhere. I do not where that lady is today. She may be in a hotel somewhere waiting to see when she can get back home. The third person, this guy was standing there with a plastic grocery bag in his hand. And the sheriff said, I see you have got your lunch already. And he told the sheriff, this is not my lunch, this is all I have left now. My house went under 20 feet of water, at least that is about how high my roof is. There are people that have suffered tremendously. We talked about the voting rights. I think there is enough safeguards. I believe that if America can spend millions of dollars to help Iraqis vote in this country for transitional government and elect officials in their country, then surely we can safeguard and make sure that Americans, regardless of where they are from, can vote in the elections in the communities of their choice where they reside, where they want to reside, where they want to return to. In closing, I can only say that what we have done, while it is a good beginning, and every bit that is parceled out to the southern coastal States, we are thankful for. But this is far beyond the capacity of people or individuals to comprehend without physically seeing what is down there. I do not care if it is Biloxi, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana, Venice, Louisiana, Bayou LaBatrie, Alabama, it does not matter, if you go and you see you will understand. It is inexplicable to try and describe it. I encourage, as I did with the leadership, when the CODEL came down to Louisiana, every Member of this Congress to go down there. If you make the trip, if you see the areas that were hit, and if you do not feel differently about trying to help these Americans, then there is nothing more that I can do. I want to thank the leadership for allowing us the time. My job I feel is to keep this issue in front of the American public, because the gulf coast area is not back up on its feet and still needs quite a bit of help. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Madam Speaker, I cannot vote for this reconciliation plan for one very simple reason: Now is not the time to be cutting taxes for the wealthy in our country when the people of the ravaged gulf coast region receive silence and burdensome loans. I join my fellow Blue Dogs in opposition to this plan. Do the math: $54 billion in spending cuts minus $70 billion in tax cuts equals a $16 billion increase in the deficit. We give tax cuts to the rich and continue to run up the deficit, but continue to send loans to the people who need their government the most in the gulf coast region. Our government must do just as President Bush said in Jackson Square, whatever it takes to rebuild. I agree with the President on rebuilding. But let me be clear. Cutting taxes for the wealthy while loaning money to the devastated communities along the gulf coast is the wrong course of action. Let us start sending real help to the people in need and stop sending millionaires refund checks.

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Speaker, I am new to the House, so maybe I should not be so shocked, so disappointed at what I have seen and heard this week. Maybe failing to address critical needs in a crisis is normal here. Maybe if I had been here a few terms, I would understand that is just part of the job to smile when you get nothing and then you say it is a good compromise. Maybe with a little seniority, I would understand what it means to be a Member of the House of Representatives, to shake a lot of hands, make speeches on the floor, and deeply hope that your district ends up okay. But I am new to this House. I do not understand. I do not understand why we cannot do what is so obviously the right thing. I do not understand how good people can have their hands so completely tied by leadership that refuses to let their Members voice their conscience. I have friends here and on the other side of the aisle. I do not understand why after asking me personally what they can do to help with this terrible tragedy, they are unable to explain to me why we have to compromise. I am new here, Mr. Speaker. I heard the President make promises in Jackson Square, and I believed them. I believed the White House when they told me Wednesday that they would help local governments survive so that we can lay the ground work to rebuild. I believed the Louisiana Senators when they said they were committed to the same simple request. Maybe it is because I am new, but what I am having trouble with today, Mr. Speaker, is the idea that this House would seek to put the people under south Louisiana under more debt and more pain. The loans that should be grants are about to become huge millstones around the necks of the people of south Louisiana when we act today. When we leave this afternoon, we will have sent its local government along the gulf coast to hundreds of millions of dollars of debt. Why? That is what I ask. Why? Senator Vitter tells us that it is the only way for this to pass the House. The only way he says that the leadership in this body will lift a finger to help the people in need in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama is if we impose a crushing debt on them. All the signs point in the same direction, Mr. Speaker. The problem is here. Senator Vitter worked in this House for 6 years and knows this leadership. He has placed the blame squarely at their feet, and I think they owe the entire gulf coast a explanation. Who is this compromise supposed to help, and why is it being done on the backs of those who need the help the most? Why have 90 percent of previous loans been forgiven, and why will loans for future disasters be forgiven but not these? I will have to support this, Mr. Speaker. Then I am going to go back home, look my local leaders in the eye and tell them to take the money and run. Their Federal Government let them down again, just like we failed in the early days after this storm. They will be asked in 3 years to pay back the money, and that should have been a gift. My advice to them, again, will be take the money and run. Spend it on your sheriffs' deputies, your firefighters, your public hospitals. Spend it and do not pay it back. Mr. Speaker, I was sent here to do a job, to work for people that I represent, every day without exception, as hard as I know how. After Katrina and Rita, that focus has only sharpened. I now represent more homeless, broken and suffering people than almost anybody in this body. They have been drowned by the water, whipped by the wind, and now, Mr. Speaker, failed by the House.

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Speaker, Hurricane Katrina has caused not only colossal damage to the economy of Louisiana and the entire gulf coast but she has also taken away hundreds of innocent lives and left thousands homeless. As the Representative of the Third Congressional District of Louisiana, half of which was leveled by this disaster, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who have responded to this American calamity. I would especially like to thank the people of the Republic of Kazakhstan and their president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, for the condolences and readiness to render financial assistance to Katrina's victims. No one can have too many friends, and that applies to both countries and individuals. The history of the United States and Kazakhstan's cooperation is a vivid example of a partnership between true friends and allies with shared values. Kazakhstan inherited the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal from the Soviet Union but choose not to keep that lethal legacy, which could have automatically placed Kazakhstan among the world's nuclear superpowers. Instead, the people of Kazakhstan, led by their president, chose the path of peaceful development and, together with the United States, dismantled these weapons of mass destruction. That was a worthy move of a strategic partner. After the tragic events of September 11, Kazakhstan unhesitatingly and unconditionally supported the United States and declared its full assistance in the war on terrorism. That was a demonstration of sincerity and steadfastness of the people of Kazakhstan. As the only country from Central Asia to send its military contingent to Iraq, Kazakhstan, despite some wavering among other coalition members, has repeatedly stated that it remains committed to its obligations and it will keep its military engineers in this unstable country as long as it takes. That was a courageous act of a genuine ally. As we face this colossal tragedy, the Government of Kazakhstan has announced its readiness to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and this is a noble gesture of a true friend. Mr. Speaker, the Republic of Kazakhstan is one of our most reliable and strongest allies and a true partner. After only 13 years of its existence as an independent state, Kazakhstan has achieved tremendous success and economic development in the building of a true democracy. President Nazarbayev in his address to Parliament earlier this month outlined a very impressive profile of his country's future development. He listed concrete goals and objectives on further improvement for the social and economic well-being for all Kazakh citizens, as well as moves to deepen political and democratic reforms. He proposed expanding the role of Parliament, introducing local elections, enhancing the role of political parties, introducing jury trials, expanding the role of nongovernmental organizations, and strengthening and developing a free news media. I support the determination of Kazakhstan's leader to develop small and medium enterprises and agree with him that the success of political and economic programs depends on the creation of a class of private property owners who will make up a newly formed middle class. As the President has stated, the main goal is to stay the course and sustain the pace of transformation. I believe the United States' response should be our readiness to assist this process. I urge my colleagues and the administration to devote more attention to our strategic partnership with Kazakhstan. In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I would like to agree with President Nazarbayev that we are deeply optimistic about the future of Kazakhstan and the future of the United States and Kazakhstan partnership.

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Speaker, after a week and a half of difficult days, today is one of the toughest for me. This morning I had to leave the devastation and overwhelming need of the people that were affected by Katrina to come to the House to do my duty as a Member of Congress, to see that they are taken care of in the near term and in the long term. I hope we can bring some real help to Louisiana and the gulf region. First, we can make a difference in the form of today's supplemental appropriations to provide immediate relief for all that have suffered directly in this tragedy. Second, we can commit today that the problems that plagued the Katrina response will never happen again in future disasters. Beginning today, we can start a tough and honest assessment of our emergency response capability and how we deal with disasters like Katrina. With new legislation I have introduced, I am calling for creation of the Katrina Commission, an independent and bipartisan commission that will cut through the partisan finger-pointing and give us some real answers. We all need answers, Mr. Speaker. Louisianans, and my district in particular, need answers to what went wrong; and the rest of America needs answers to how we are going to better be prepared in the future in the case disaster hits them. We need to know why, when New Orleans was a nightmare, we sat and watched instead of helping the places we could help. I can tell my colleagues, because I have been there, that some of the hardest hit places were ignored and abandoned and even now are not getting the attention they need. There is a sense in my district, in places like St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes, that the Federal Government, our government, Mr. Speaker, has completely failed them. It is this point I have a lot of trouble telling them that they are wrong. As their Congressman, it is painfully ironic that the help I have been able to give them has not been from the Federal Government at all. I have had to work around the system, identifying needs and coordinating resources myself, much of it from private and unofficial sources. The system was broken long before Katrina hit, and just because we can turn on the television today and no longer see thousands of people in immediate peril does not mean we have somehow fixed it. As we move forward, we must remember that there are success stories in all of this, and there is much to be proud of. First responders, charitable groups, thousands of volunteers have given more than we could have ever asked. Local officials like State Senator Walter Boasso of St. Bernard Parish and the Plaquemines Parish sheriff and parish president worked together as a team on the ground to deliver for their people and protect their property. Why on their own? Because for days there was no help coming from the Federal Government. In the last week, Louisiana has had help and had support from all over the country. We have been grateful for law enforcement from New York, food and clothing donations from Phoenix, and so much more from everywhere else in this country. We also owe a debt of gratitude to the States and cities that have opened their doors to hundreds of thousands of Louisiana citizens who have had to flee their homes. Your generosity is a testament to the strength of our American spirit, and your support has allowed us to continue on when we were not sure we could. I thank America, and I particularly thank this body for the support that I have received from its Members through calls and shipments.

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Speaker, our local economies are greatly enhanced by the products, services and jobs that are created from the commitment and dedication of our local manufacturers. The manufacturer that I am recognizing today takes great pride in its contributions to the local community, as well as to the Nation, and demonstrates excellence through ongoing improvement in manufacturing and business management. Aggreko's National Repair Team, located in New Iberia, Louisiana, provides major repairs and reconditioning of power generators and air compressors for Aggreko locations throughout North America. This local manufacturer has made significant advances in driving productivity and quality throughout their organization. In acknowledgement of these accomplishments, Aggreko will be honored by the Manufacturing Extension Partnership of Louisiana, MEPoL, with the second annual Platinum Award for Continued Excellence, PACE Award. MEPoL, a non-profit business resource based at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, serves to provide business and technical assistance to emerging and established manufacturing firms throughout the State of Louisiana. Since 1997, MEPoL, based on a philosophy of education, encouragement, and empowerment, has worked with manufacturers such as Aggreko to increase their productivity and profitability. Working with MEPoL, Aggreko's National Repair Team has built a foundation for excellence through the principles of ``Lean Manufacturing.'' By embracing this systematic approach for identifying waste and eliminating non-value added activities through continuous improvement, Aggreko has demonstrated leadership and set the stage for future growth and development. Their dedication to excellence is the reason that they are the recipients of MEPoL's second annual PACE award. I congratulate Aggreko's National Repair Team, a local manufacturing leader whose significant organizational advancements and commitment to success has led to this outstanding achievement.

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Speaker, I have got a lot of emotions running through me tonight. I represent a sugar area. But more important than that, I come from a sugar family. My three sisters and I owe our education and our families and our success to an industry that has been around in Louisiana for 225 years. It is an efficient industry. It is a good industry. It is the same hard-working people that get up in the West and get up in the East and get up in the North every morning. They are no different. They have just been attacked by the big multinational corporations, and you keep falling for it. NAFTA was horrible. We were lucky, we had a side letter. We are still negotiating sugar 10 years later. I do not see any benefits for workers, for sugar people. We have given away textiles. We have given away steel. We have given away fruits and vegetables. Now let us just go ahead and give away everything and be dependent on every other country for our food and our defense.

Mr. MELANCON

Mr. MELANCON. Mr. Speaker, America's editorial boards, both liberal and conservative, were not fooled by the Congressional Republican Social Security proposal unveiled this past month. The Republican plan would create private accounts out of the money now going into the Social Security trust fund. The Baltimore Sun called the plan ``the worst plan yet.'' While the Minneapolis Star-Tribune said, ``It is so weird and ill-conceived that it wouldn't merit comment, except that prominent GOP lawmakers have rallied around it.'' USA Today examined the plan and concluded, ``for every one part substance, the plan contains nine parts gimmick.'' While the New York Times wrote that the plan abandons ``efforts to restore solvency in order to resuscitate those doomed, unwanted, unwise private accounts.'' Finally, the Roanoke Times and World News opined, ``Republicans touting the plan say it will stop the `raid' on the Social Security trust fund. But if they wish to identify those perpetrating that `raid' for the last 4 years, they need only look in a very large mirror.'' Mr. Speaker, Republicans are no longer fooling anyone. It is time that they take privatization off the table.