David Vitter

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Thank you, Mr. President. First, a small bit of housekeeping. Amendment No. 3628, As Modified Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that language revisions be made to my amendment No. 3628, which is already at the desk. And those revisions, which are largely technical in nature, will be sent up to the desk right now.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I, too, rise in strong support of the fisheries and seafood provisions in this supplemental appropriations bill to help a very important industry simply begin to get back on its feet on the gulf coast. This is a vitally important industry, not just for the gulf coast but for all of America. I am very proud of Louisiana and our coastline and our fisheries. We are the largest producer of fisheries in the lower 48 States, second only in the country to the home State, of course, of the Presiding Officer. So it is a true national priority in terms of the service and the food we yield to the country. With two hurricanes, our nationally important fisheries sustained huge damage. Individual fishermen and their families sustained huge damage. Vessels, equipment, offloading and processing facilities, and oyster farms will take years to recover. Because of this damage of truly historic proportions, the administration, through the Department of Commerce, made a disaster declaration, which is appropriate under the law, for fisheries specifically. However, for the first time in history, they did not follow up that disaster declaration with a request for certain emergency funding to meet that disaster. The work of the full committee in the Senate, led by Senator Cochran, fills that gap by producing an important section of this bill devoted for fisheries. I personally thank Senator Cochran for filling that gap because, again, it is a very real gap. We had a disaster declaration, the highest ever in terms of fisheries losses and devastation in the United States, but we had no corresponding funding request from the administration in light of that disaster emergency declaration. This section of the bill, again, is enormously important to meet those needs. I want to turn specifically to the seafood marketing section which has been a particular target of several Members, led by Senator Coburn, and they have brought up some very good points. First, I begin by complimenting Senator Coburn on his work on many fiscal reform matters. I applaud it. I not only applaud it, because talk is cheap, I support it in the vast majority of cases. Earmark reform, for instance, is something we desperately need in Congress, and I strongly supported those efforts a few weeks ago when they were before us, and I continue to strongly support those efforts. I have no problem with the light of day being shone on all of these issues and our having to justify all specific spending items. So I compliment him on his work in general. But it is in that spirit that I stand to proudly defend this seafood marketing issue and to completely rebut some notion that it has nothing to do with the hurricanes and nothing to do with an emergency situation. Really, what the argument comes down to is two words, two words that we heard on television over and over again for weeks after the storm. And the two words are ``toxic soup.'' I have to tell my colleagues that the media coverage after the storm really frustrated me. I grew up in New Orleans, LA. I was there in Louisiana. Obviously, I represent Louisiana now in the Senate. I was living through the devastation and the challenges, and we had a lot of devastation, we had a lot of challenges, we had a lot of screw-ups by all levels of government, certainly including State and local. But the media coverage got a few things wrong, too. One of the things they got very wrong was the constant, unrelenting for weeks repetition of this term ``toxic soup.'' To listen to the national media and the way they portrayed the situation, all of the city of New Orleans was covered with toxins that would leave it virtually uninhabitable for decades to come, and because of the toppling of rigs and other localized events which did occur in the gulf, there was a toxic soup spreading throughout many areas of the gulf and coastal Louisiana. There were serious and real environmental issues. There were many environmental issues, dozens, hundreds of localized events, but they were addressed as quickly and completely as possible by the good national servants of the Coast Guard and many other agencies. Although these events were real and serious, they did not create, they did not amount to this toxic soup we heard about over and over through the national media. Again, the impression that was clearly left over and over was that all of New Orleans and much of the gulf and much of the gulf coast where fisheries were harvested was a toxic soup with life-threatening toxins that would be in the area and seep into the water and seep into the ground and be factors for literally decades to come. When we have that sort of national media coverage 24 hours a day, dwelling on this theme over and over for weeks, one can begin to imagine what it might do to the gulf coast seafood industry. It killed it. What Katrina and Rita hadn't devastated, that media coverage absolutely did. And that is why an informational campaign addressing, among other issues, that ``toxic soup'' claim and the fact that it is just pure fiction, has no basis in science, is very necessary for the immediate health of this industry, and is directly related to the emergency situation stemming from the hurricanes. I want to compliment several agencies such as NOAA that have done important environmental testing and other work since the hurricanes and which certified that after thousands of tests and sampling of water and seafood from the Gulf of Mexico, that the seafood is absolutely safe to eat. The States of Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, EPA, NOAA and others, have again analyzed hundreds of samples of fish and shellfish from the waters. All of this testing across the board also proves that there is no broad- based toxic soup; there is absolutely no danger in terms of that seafood from the gulf. But as many thousands of these tests have been performed, guess what. Hardly a single U.S. consumer has heard about it. Hardly a single U.S. consumer knows about it. So in terms of the viability of the industry, it really doesn't matter, all of these tests being done, because it is not common knowledge, and the word has not gotten out. That is the biggest reason we absolutely need this informational campaign, this promotional campaign, again, that is directly related to the emergency situation produced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I would welcome Senator Coburn to put back up on his easel the definition of emergency, the definition that we are supposed to be following for true emergency measures. That definition applies here because of the phenomenon I am talking about. That definition is absolutely applicable here because we have an emergency situation for the immediate future of our gulf coast fisheries industry, again, that were devastated by the hurricanes, and much of the fisheries section of this bill goes to that, trying to get processing plants and boats and docks and essential equipment back and repaired, back up and running, and that is important. But just as important is the enormous harm that was caused after the storm by very flawed national media coverage and a lot of misinformation summarized by those two words, ``toxic soup.'' That is why this informational campaign, this promotional campaign is an emergency situation and is directly related to the hurricanes and absolutely meets every one of the definitions Senator Coburn rightly says we must be guided by. With that, Mr. President, I will close. But in doing so, I urge all of my colleagues to please support the very important fishery provisions in the bill. They are emergency measures. They are all directly related to the hurricanes, including the promotional campaign. Amendment No. 3626, as Modified Mr. President, I quickly would like to address a small bit of housekeeping, which is to ask unanimous consent to modify language to an amendment I already have at the desk, No. 3626, to take care of a technical matter, and the new language will be delivered to the desk.

Mr. VITTER

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

Mr. VITTER. I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to call up amendment No. 3648 which is at the desk.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, this amendment is language only. It does not add dollars or cost to the bill. It is important language to make sure that all of our activity and all of our spending in the disaster area goes to important needs. This language would base the allocation of hurricane disaster relief and recovery funds to States on need and physical damages rather than by other arbitrary allocation formulas. This is specifically in the situation where Congress, in a particular issue area, allocates a fund for the entire disaster area and leaves it to the administration to disburse those funds between the various localities and States affected. This language would simply say that when you do that, the administration has to think about a fair formula that is based on actual objective criteria that is based on actual objective need or statistics that make sense and then would have to publish that formula with regard to the specific funds we are talking about several days in advance of the money being disbursed. This would make sure that the money is used appropriately in the disaster area and is not allocated in an arbitrary or purely political way. That explains this amendment. Again, it is language. It does not add any additional cost to the bill. Amendment No. 3648

Mr. VITTER. I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, this amendment would do something very specific, very narrow, but also very important in terms of making sure that small business, including local business, gets a full opportunity to participate in the recovery throughout the gulf coast region. This would designate the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita as HUBZones and would waive the Small Business Competitive Demonstration Program Act of 1988 for those specific areas. This idea has been fully vetted in the committee of jurisdiction, the Small Business Committee, on which I serve. It was an important element of a larger small business package that was reported out of the committee to the floor, to the full Senate. However, because of other unrelated matters in that bill package, that overall package has some objection and has not passed through the Senate. So I simply chose to remove out of the full package these narrower HUBZone provisions to include in the supplemental bill. I would also note that the leadership of the Small Business Committee supports this move in terms of this legislation and has no objection to the amendment.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I will be happy to send copies over to the Senator. I will resume consideration in a few minutes when she has a time to peruse them.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I seek recognition to ask unanimous consent to lay aside the pending amendments so that I may call up four rather minor amendments, outline them very briefly, and basically put them in order for consideration on the floor.

Mr. VITTER. With that, Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 3628.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, this amendment has to do with the Community Disaster Loan Program. That is a preexisting program that existed well before these hurricane events that in particular situations loans money to communities in dire straits that have major disasters and therefore revenue problems. Obviously, in this hurricane, there are many communities in that situation--the city of New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish, and others. The community disaster loan program has been utilized to help them through this very difficult time. Already in the supplemental appropriations bill is $300 million for this program, additional dollars to use in the disaster area. My amendment would simply tweak certain language that would say rather than the upper limit of a jurisdiction, which jurisdiction is subject to be able to borrow being 25 percent of its annual operating budget, my language would raise that upper limit to 50 percent, so it would change language. It would not add money to the bill. The appropriations and the money are already in the bill. This is very important for the hardest hit communities, such as St. Bernard Parish, such as the city of New Orleans, because they have virtually no revenue for the foreseeable future. This is absolutely necessary to help them get through these very difficult times for the next several months. Amendment No. 3628

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

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I now call up amendment No. 3626 and ask for its consideration.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, this has to do with the fisheries component of the bill. Thanks to the leadership of the chairman of the committee, a fisheries component was included in this supplemental appropriations bill because the fisheries industry was truly devastated along the gulf coast. Before this general fisheries provision was added, I believe this is the first instance in U.S. history where an administration has made a declaration regarding fisheries losses but has not followed that declaration of loss with a request for funds. The chairman's committee action would, in a general sense, remedy that. My amendment No. 3648 would tweak the language--again, not add or increase any dollars--so that that money could be used in part for the repairing of vessels in situations where those repair costs go beyond insurance proceeds available and other available funds. This is a very large component of the need that exists in the fisheries of the gulf coast. Passing this fisheries aid package without making any of that money available under the proper circumstances for repairing vessels would leave a huge hole in our attempt to get that industry up and running once again. To reiterate, this is language that would not change or increase the spending level of the bill. I have explained my four pending amendments. I look forward to any further discussion on them as well as votes, hopefully tomorrow. I yield the floor.

Mr. VITTER. In the meantime, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. VITTER. Thank you, Mr. President. Again, I rise seeking consideration of four specific amendments. All of them are hurricane related very directly, and none of them add to the cost of the bill. Amendment No. 3627 Mr. President, the first amendment I call up and ask for its consideration is amendment No. 3627, which has been filed at the desk.

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I ask that my amendment No. 3648, which I spoke about, be modified with the changes at the desk, which are technical in nature.

Mr. VITTER. I yield back my time.

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge the volunteers of St. Francis Medical Center and St. Francis North Hospital in Monroe, LA. Beginning April 23 and ending April 29, this great organization will observe National Volunteer Week. Today, I would like to spend a few moments highlighting the importance of their efforts. Sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation and Volunteer Center National Network, National Volunteer Week began in 1974. President Richard Nixon signed an executive Order establishing an annual celebration of volunteering. Every President since then has signed a proclamation promoting and recognizing National Volunteer Week during the third week of April. The theme for this year, ``Inspire by Example,'' reflects the opportunity volunteers have to bring joy and hope to the people they serve, as well as to inspire others to serve. National Volunteer Week allows volunteer centers, nonprofits, hospitals, faith-based organizations, and schools to recognize their own volunteers and support thousands of service projects in the community. This week, America has the pleasure of celebrating more than 64 million volunteers who use their time and talent daily to make a real difference in the lives of the children, adults, and elderly whom they serve. I applaud the volunteers of St. Francis Medical Center and St. Francis North Hospital in Monroe for their continued service to the citizens of their community. Their hard work and dedication is something we all appreciate and celebrate as we recognize National Volunteer Week.

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge the bicentennial of St. Charles Parish. As one of the original 19 parishes created from the Territory of Orleans, St. Charles will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2007. St. Charles Parish was created in 1807 from the ``Cote des Allemands,'' or county of the German Coast, which begins 25 miles above the city of New Orleans and extends along both sides of the Mississippi River for 40 miles toward Baton Rouge. It contained a rich mixture of Germans, French Creoles, French Acadians, and Free Blacks and thrived as an agricultural center whose produce fed the city of New Orleans. In 1720, 21 German families from the Rhine region of Germany settled on the west bank of the Mississippi River. These families had suffered horribly during the Thirty Years' War and fled by the thousands to the New World. These original German settlers were given small plots of land by Mr. Law's Company of the Indies. By 1721, 330 German immigrants, also with the Company of the Indies, arrived in Louisiana. A year later, Germans from John Law's Arkansas Concession arrived in New Orleans demanding passage to Europe. Due to a lack of ships and supplies, Louisiana Governor Bienville persuaded them to remain, and they eventually joined the other German settlers along the banks of the river. In 1765 and 1766, the first Acadians arrived in the area, and they too were given land along the river, and joined the Germans in raising the fruits and produce that was used to feed the city of New Orleans. This produce business along with tobacco, indigo, and lumber made the area a major component in the growth and development of Louisiana. Later the parish turned from an agricultural to an industrial economic base where new opportunities opened in large-scale oil production. The economic base of St. Charles Parish now centers around energy and petrochemical industries, and recent years have seen the parish's economy diversify into the areas of technology and transportation. The region has also been rated in the top 10 percent of best places to live in the United States by the Places Rated Almanac. Today, I would like to applaud the good people of St. Charles Parish on their bicentennial and wish them continued prosperity.

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill, the ``Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006'' that would amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to prohibit the confiscation of firearms during certain national emergencies. The city of New Orleans confiscated more than 1,000 firearms under the misguided policy of a local law enforcement officer. Our Second Amendment rights should not be subject to the whims of individuals. My bill would prohibit any agency using Federal disaster relief funds from seizing firearms or restricting firearm possession, except under circumstances currently applicable under Federal or State law. Our law enforcement officers are under intense pressure to protect and serve, and I value their call to duty with great respect. The ``Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006'' would not prevent law enforcement from confiscating guns from convicted felons or other prohibited persons. Also, it would have no effect on law enforcement outside of disaster relief situations. The horrible tragedy that unfolded upon the State of Louisiana was certainly unprecedented. The devastation that occurred will last for generations, and yet, there is immense hope that our great State of Louisiana will shine better than ever before. In the days and nights that followed there were mistakes at all levels of government, and the confiscation of law-abiding citizens' personal protection was one of them. I ask my fellow Senators to support this legislation in the hope that in the unfortunate likelihood of another disaster our citizens will be able to protect themselves without fear of government intruding upon our second amendment rights.

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill, the ``Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006'' that would amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to prohibit the confiscation of firearms during certain national emergencies. The city of New Orleans confiscated more than 1,000 firearms under the misguided policy of a local law enforcement officer. Our Second Amendment rights should not be subject to the whims of individuals. My bill would prohibit any agency using Federal disaster relief funds from seizing firearms or restricting firearm possession, except under circumstances currently applicable under Federal or State law. Our law enforcement officers are under intense pressure to protect and serve, and I value their call to duty with great respect. The ``Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006'' would not prevent law enforcement from confiscating guns from convicted felons or other prohibited persons. Also, it would have no effect on law enforcement outside of disaster relief situations. The horrible tragedy that unfolded upon the State of Louisiana was certainly unprecedented. The devastation that occurred will last for generations, and yet, there is immense hope that our great State of Louisiana will shine better than ever before. In the days and nights that followed there were mistakes at all levels of government, and the confiscation of law-abiding citizens' personal protection was one of them. I ask my fellow Senators to support this legislation in the hope that in the unfortunate likelihood of another disaster our citizens will be able to protect themselves without fear of government intruding upon our second amendment rights.

Mr. VITTER

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