Bill Nelson

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I have come to the floor today to speak about the Florida National Guard and the damage to their critical facilities as a result of Hurricanes Charley and Frances. Although no armory or readiness center was lost to total destruction, there are many significant problems to over thirty facilities that need immediate attention. I am concerned that funds are made immediately available to fix buildings to ensure that they are not exposed to further damage and that the Florida National Guard can return to its high readiness in their home stations. I have received the assurances of LTG Steve Blum, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, that the $5 million necessary to make repairs to Florida's armories is already available in contingency accounts and will be released for obligation as soon as practical. Accordingly, I will not seek additional funds in the military construction bill for this purpose. The Florida National Guard has performed its State and Federal missions superbly over the last 2 years. At home and overseas the Florida National Guard has time and again been there for the people of the United States and Florida. We owe them our total support in the fastest possible repair of their facilities so that they can remain ready for all that we will continue to ask them to do in the days ahead.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. I thank the distinguished chairman and ranking member for their interest and I look forward to working with them on the range of issues that confront Florida in its recovery from these hurricanes.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I was unavoidably detained during rollcall vote No. 178 on Senate amendment No. 3632 to H.R. 4567, the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. If present I would have voted ``aye,'' in favor of the motion to waive the Budget Act. It would not have changed the outcome of the vote. byrd amendment no. 3649

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Then this Senator simply makes a recommendation that we should never be in an emergency posture like we were last week, where FEMA is not carrying the adequate reserves. On Thursday, they ran out of money and were, in fact, not spending the money that was desperately needed in the previous 5 days for hurricane relief. This Senator is merely making the recommendation that, as we look to FEMA appropriations in the future, there should be a cushion of reserves in FEMA because this country can face all kinds of disasters, as we know, and this year FEMA's budget was too lean to be able to respond.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, the amount just referred to as an urgent supplemental requested by the President of $3 billion is the money that is requested by the President for Florida's two hurricanes that just hit us. It does not include any amount for agricultural losses. The $3.1 billion includes Department of Defense losses, NASA losses, Small Business Administration losses. FEMA itself is $2 billion of that, with all of these ongoing expenses of the back-to-back hurricanes. What is missing from the President's request is the agricultural losses, which are substantial, from these two hurricanes. For example, the citrus crop alone is over $\1/2\ billion in losses. The nursery industry, which is a huge industry in Florida, has losses of $\1/2\ billion. Now, the question is, How do we address this? I was expecting that the President was going to include the agricultural losses in his request. He has not. So how do we address this, since the needs are obviously there? Presently, there are discussions going on between my office and the sponsors of this amendment. There is a little bit in this amendment for Florida agricultural losses from the two hurricanes, but it is somewhere in the range of $150 million to $300 million. That is a drop in the bucket compared to what the elected Florida agriculture commissioner has totaled up the losses at, which is $2 billion. It is my hope that we are going to be able on this amendment--if we proceed with this amendment, I will certainly support it because, as all of these Senators from the Midwest, both Republican and Democrat, say, disaster doesn't know anything about partisan politics. Disaster knows something about hitting people where it hurts them, and that is one of the reasons you have the Federal Government to protect people and to respond in times of disaster. So I am going to help these Senators with their amendment. What I am hoping is that through our discussions we can expand this so it can be acceptable and address the needs of Florida agriculture after these back-to-back hurricanes. If those discussions are not fruitful, then it is my intention that I will offer an amendment to this bill for the disaster to Florida agriculture. That will be somewhere in the range of about a billion dollars in losses, which will not even get anywhere close to the estimated $2 billion, but it will be a step in the right direction. Now, this is, as you know, ``no fooling'' time. We have just been hit by two hurricanes. There is a third on the way. And until 2 days ago, that third one was headed for Florida. As a matter of fact, until a day ago, that third one was headed for Florida, and that centerline now on the projected path is shifting to the West, and that centerline is headed straight for the State of the Senator from Mississippi. We know there is an error because in hurricane path projection, it can either go to the right or to the left. In the projected path, it can go all the way over into the panhandle of Florida, or it can go all the way to the left, as far as New Orleans. It is about a day out. It is churning in the Gulf of Mexico, moving in a northward direction. What I am saying is if it continues on its present path to Mississippi or to Alabama or to Louisiana, there are going to be other Senators who are going to be in here trying to help their people. This Senator is going to help them when that happens because that is the right thing to do. Now it is the right thing to do to help the people of Florida. I yield the floor, Mr. President.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I send amendment 3652 to the desk.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Then this Senator certainly would not have to encourage the quickening of the interests in all of this hurricane disaster assistance relief as this Senator speaks with the Senator from Mississippi, because right now Hurricane Ivan, a category 5 hurricane, is bearing down on the Mississippi coast. It could well be that we are looking at an additional hurricane emergency disaster relief supplemental that would directly affect the State represented by the distinguished Senator who is the chairman of the committee.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Then I would say to the distinguished Senator from Mississippi, I was given to believe that, in fact, was a decision that was made, that this hurricane relief was going to be attached to this Homeland Security bill. I got that impression from the majority leader, Senator Frist. If that decision has not been made then, fine.

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

Mr. NELSON of Florida. I see.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Did this Senator misunderstand the distinguished Senator from Mississippi in that the President's request for this hurricane relief that has happened on those two hurricanes was going to be or not going to be attached as an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill?

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, we have had two major hurricanes in Florida that have done a great deal of damage to our agricultural industry in Florida. Our agricultural industry is a $62 billion industry. We have just passed a disaster relief bill for drought for several Midwestern States which was a $3 billion disaster relief bill. Naturally, where we have an existing disaster that has occurred over the course of the last 6 weeks, we have a lot of farmers hurting, and the well has run dry in the Department of Agriculture funds. Naturally, the Federal Government will respond, which we do in times of disaster, and this Senator and Senator Graham want to make sure we have the funds. We have bipartisan unanimity in our House delegation, along with Senator Graham and me, on what we are requesting in this particular amendment I have sent to the desk. This is requesting $700 million of disaster relief for agricultural disaster. The figure may be more. The distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee and I will enter into a colloquy in which I can be assured this matter is going to be addressed in this bill when it goes to conference and that the funds are going to be needed. I engage in a colloquy with the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. We are told the administration has existing funds to address the massive damage done to Florida agriculture by Hurricanes Charley and Frances, and, indeed, Secretary Veneman has authorized $300 million in section 32 funds which are certainly welcome and appreciated. However, I can state that back in Florida we are also told that already the U.S. Department of Agriculture is running out of relief funds. I ask the distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee if he will work with me to ensure additional emergency appropriations for USDA disaster relief can be provided to address this crisis in Florida? I yield to the Senator.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Indeed, I understand what the Senator is referring to. There are section 32 discretionary funds that would be, for example, available for Florida citrus growers. But it comes nowhere close to the estimated amount of losses in these two hurricanes for the citrus crop and equipment which is going to exceed $\1/2\ billion, just in itself. That is not even to speak of all the other kinds of crops-- vegetables, sod, timber, milk that was dumped as a result of the dairies, all kinds of vegetables, tropical fruit, clams, oysters, poultry. Nurseries, Florida's top cash crop, has suffered $\1/2\ billion in losses. My question is, there is buzzing out here an amendment that is being put together by midwestern Senators, Republican and Democratic, to take care of their agricultural problems. Yet they do not address the full need of Florida which has suffered back-to-back hurricane losses that have affected its agriculture. What would be the advice of the Senator from Mississippi to the Florida Senators, when others are coming forth, and yet Florida's agricultural needs, after two disastrous hurricanes, are not being met?

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I thank the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and I appreciate his cooperation. I ask the chairman, with his commitment in the Senate, am I in a position to guarantee the agricultural industry of my State that we will provide additional USDA disaster relief or other disaster funds to meet this need in supplemental appropriations in the conference report on this bill, the Homeland Security appropriations bill?

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, around this place, a man's word is his bond, and that is good enough for me. I thank the Senator. Our people are hurting. The President has requested, in addition, a $3.1 billion relief package for FEMA and other agencies of Government other than the agriculture relief. He did not request that. That is the reason for bringing this to a head at this late hour. Amendment No. 3652 Withdrawn Therefore, I withdraw my amendment.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, if the distinguished Senator will yield for a further question.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Perhaps the distinguished Senator from Mississippi--by the way, the third hurricane has a track that keeps getting closer and closer to the Mississippi gulf coast. But as the distinguished Senator, the chairman of the committee, and I have been talking about the emergency supplemental appropriations for hurricane damage, I have been provided with a copy of what will be the President's request for the new supplemental. I note that it does include a lot of the agencies of Government about which this Senator has spoken that have desperate needs as a result of two hurricanes hitting back to back in Florida. I noticed there is nothing in here for the agricultural losses, including crop losses as well as equipment losses, of which the Florida commissioner of agriculture has written to the White House, to OMB, and said those losses are $2 billion. What would the advice of the chairman of the committee to this Florida Senator be of how we want to address that, since the President is not requesting in his new supplemental any money for agricultural losses?

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, is FEMA appropriated under the Appropriations subcommittee the Senator chairs?

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, before the majority leader leaves, I spoke with the chairman of the Appropriations Committee as he was leaving the floor and inquired as to what he is anticipating. He told me that he is anticipating there will be a House bill that would be sent sometime today on emergency assistance for FEMA and, I assume, other agencies as well. If that is the case, then that is new information, and we can proceed on that basis. That, in large part, is the commentary I am wanting to make, having just come back from Florida, visiting a number of the devastated areas. We will await the latest information on handling that information tonight.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. It does not look as though we are going to be spared the third one because the latest track, as of 11 this morning, now has it moving back east, hitting the Florida coast somewhere around Destin and Fort Walton, whereas this morning's track had it going into some place like Pensacola. The only good news is it is not coming back to that part of Florida where the two other hurricanes crisscrossed and hit the same area of central Florida. Of course, the last storm was so massive that it virtually covered up the entire State, not only with the deluge of rain but with whipping winds, so that its winds, albeit not a category 4 like Charley was, nevertheless did a great deal of damage. As the majority leader exits, I am going to tick off a number of those particular estimates. It is rather extraordinary. I thank the majority leader for working with me on behalf of the people of Florida. Mr. President, I have returned from Florida and I will tell my colleagues about some of the devastation I have seen over the course of this past weekend. Our folks are hurting and a number of their needs are unmet. As of this morning, some 8 to 9 days after the last hurricane, Frances--and, remember, we have been hit twice in a row, first with Charley and then with Frances--there are still about 350,000 people in Florida without power. Now, if one is a young person, such as a lot of our pages, they can make do. But if one is a senior citizen and has special needs, particularly with lifesaving equipment, and does not have any electricity in the house, it is very difficult to be able to exist. Thus, we have to take special-needs folks and put them in shelters and then, if a shelter does not have electricity, provide by generators the electricity in order to run the particular machines that are lifesaving machines. Of course, this is beginning to wear thin on a lot of our folks in Florida and yet they have such an optimistic, can-do spirit. They are going about the process of rehabilitating themselves and repairing all of the damage and cleaning up from all of the destruction, but they are looking forward to what the Federal Government does, one of its charter reasons for existing, and that is protecting its people in times of disaster. My colleagues heard my exchange with the majority leader on the necessity for us to pass this special legislation because last week FEMA ran out of money. We had to pass a special $2 billion appropriation, but all of us knew that was not even going to take care of the expenses for FEMA for the first hurricane, which was Charley. So now we have to have an additional package of at least $2.5 billion that includes not only FEMA but also a host of other agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture; the Small Business Administration, which offers low-interest loans to businesses and individuals; the Department of Agriculture because we have extraordinary crop losses in Florida as a result of these two hurricanes, the Department of Transportation for the damage that has been done particularly to airports in Florida; for the military, the damage that was done to Patrick Air Force Base, and NASA at the Kennedy Space Center, as well as the American Red Cross, and economic development funding. There are news accounts going around right now about the President sending a disaster package requesting $2.5 billion, and that it may include FEMA, the Small Business Administration, and NASA. But what about all the other agencies? Conspicuously absent is the Department of Agriculture. That is why I sent a letter to the President on Friday and pointed out the Florida Department of Agriculture has estimated that Florida agriculture itself suffered to the tune of $2 billion in losses due to those two hurricanes. For example, most people do not realize we have a huge nursery industry in Florida. We have one of the biggest fern industries in the world. Nurseries have suffered a half a billion dollars in damages. Citrus growers, a half a billion dollars in damages; sod producers, $300 million from the standing water. You will have to excuse my raspy throat because, in and out of all of the elements, the gremlins grabbed hold of my throat. But I am going to croak it through so that people understand we really have some losses. Cattlemen, $100 million; dairy producers, about $12 million; timber, $150 million. The need is great. It is in an industry, agriculture, that is huge in Florida. It is a $62 billion-a-year industry in Florida. I mentioned the Federal Aviation Administration under the Department of Transportation. It estimates $64 million in losses, and that includes about $50 million in losses to the Orlando International Airport. There is $12 million in losses, almost total, to the little Charlotte County Municipal Airport where it was ground zero and where the Charlotte County Emergency Operations Center had the roof ripped off when Charley hit with 145-mile-an-hour winds. Last week, I participated in a hearing with the NASA Administrator. The highest winds, interestingly, were recorded in a gust at the Kennedy Space Center, 120 miles an hour. This is from Frances, the second storm. They are estimating $100 million in damage. That took 900 panels off the big vehicle assembly building. Those panels are huge, 10 feet high and about 4 feet wide. They are out, and there are 900 open windows now into the vehicle assembly building where we assemble the stack of the space shuttle vertically. So that is another $100 million. If you look back to Hurricane Andrew, its supplemental--which ended up costing over $6 billion for the Federal Government, and that was 12 years ago; that was the monster hurricane--that even included $75 million for the Economic Development Administration, which had a lot of projects, including dislocation caused by the hurricane and replacement of such things as sewer and water treatment facilities and the construction of a drainage system to deal with the flooding. I mentioned Patrick Air Force Base, the military. It suffered. Also the National Guard, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard--they all report funding needs into the millions because of those storms. I wanted to lay the predicate for this request when it comes over. When the White House sends their request, if it is $2.5 billion, it is not going to start to cover all the things that are needed. If that is what comes to us with the House originating this legislation tonight, then this Senator is not going to have any choice but to accept this so we can go ahead and get something over to the White House to be signed into law because of the many needs we have. Yet there is going to be more to come in the future, and we will have to identify those. I want to make sure, in these requests that are made by the White House and then in whatever the House passes tonight, that we do not forget these additional needs such as Florida agriculture where the damage has been so significant. That is my story. I am going to continue to tell this story like a broken record. As I go home and I come back and I go home and I come back, I will continue to help out these folks who are suffering, these folks who are so courageous in the midst of the utter devastation around them. If two storms were not enough, we have another one coming. I was thinking over the course of the last 24 hours that we might be spared this, that it might inch on out there in its track to the west. It is now, as we speak, starting to round the western end of Cuba, between the west end of Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. But now the track, instead of sending it further west out of Florida, has it coming back. I see my colleague from Florida, my distinguished senior Senator, is here. Just to share with him the latest 11 o'clock advisory from this morning, instead of coming in at Pensacola, it has now moved back east in the area of Destin, WaterColor, San Destin, that area. It doesn't look like we are going to get spared the third hurricane. My family has been in Florida 175 years. I know there have been times in that span of time where we have had back-to-back hurricanes, but not hurricanes of the magnitude of a category 4 and then a category 2, a category 2 that had gusts up to 120 miles an hour, which is category 3. But never have I heard where we have had three major hurricanes in a row all hitting the same State. Mind you, as Hurricane Ivan is rounding the tip of western Cuba tonight, it is a category 5, and as it comes around Cuba, what does it hit? It hits the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Unless there is some shearing action at the top of the hurricane, it is even going to intensify more from the 160-mile-an-hour winds it has right now. No State should have to suffer three big ones in a row, yet this is what we are facing. I ask, I implore, I plead with my colleagues, don't hesitate a moment to help our people in Florida.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, before I get into this hurricane discussion, my eye caught an Associated Press newswire out early this morning. A Miami-Dade County police officer was shot several times after a driver she stopped fired nearly two dozen bullets at her with an AK-47 assault rifle. The assault rifle ban has been in effect for over a decade. According to the Department of Justice, it expired this past weekend and now AK- 47s are allowed to be purchased under U.S. law. My family has been in Florida 175 years. I grew up in the country. I grew up on a ranch. I have hunted all my life. I have a son who is an avid hunter. We enjoy the outdoors, but we do not hunt with AK-47s. AK- 47s and assault rifles are for killing, not for hunting. Why is it that law enforcement, at every level of government-- Federal, State and local--is against terminating this law that prohibited the sale of assault rifles? Why is law enforcement opposed to the termination of this law? For exactly this reason: A Miami-Dade County police officer was shot two dozen times by an AK-47. I rest my case, and I think it is a sad day that we could not reenact an extension of the law on the abolition of assault weapons, primarily for the sake of law enforcement. I am a defender of the constitutional right to bear arms. I am a defender of the right to have guns of all kinds except when getting to the common sense that it is not worth it in our society to be able to purchase AK-47s. I yield the floor.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, if I might answer some of those questions. This Senator personally gave the chairman of the committee a copy of the amendment about 45 minutes ago. It is my understanding there are provisions in this Department of Homeland Security bill for appropriations for private entities such as the American Red Cross. That is the part of the bill we are amending, to provide $70 million of relief money, specifically for disaster relief, recovery expenditures, and emergency services in response to Tropical Storm Bonnie, Hurricane Charley, and Hurricane Frances.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for yielding. With the assurances of the chairman and the committee that the supplemental that has been promised by the majority leader will be coming, with the assurances that the Red Cross would be included within such supplemental, then that solves this Senator's concerns. The supplemental will have many other items, and by Monday, we will find out whether that supplemental is going to have to include the effects of this third hurricane that is headed our direction or whether we are still looking at the two hurricanes that have already hit us. The supplemental we passed two nights ago was merely an emergency supplemental to get cash into FEMA. FEMA's well had run dry. They were flat broke. They had no more money to pay for the ongoing relief efforts. The $2 billion is not enough, and everybody acknowledges that, for the first hurricane, much less all of the additional expenses for the first hurricane plus the second hurricane. I wanted to protect the American Red Cross, which is so vital to the interests of the recovery ongoing right now, since their well had run dry as well. So with the assurances of the Senator from Mississippi that this new supplemental, whenever it comes--and it originates in the House and it is usually in a posture of ``take it or leave it'' at the last moment for the Senate--that we are not in the situation where we are going to be lacking for funds, this Senator is willing to set aside his amendment, holding it pending on those assurances from the Senator. I thank the Senator for his kind comments.