To amend the Public Health Service Act to revise the amount of minimum allotments under the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness program.

Mr. President, today we are resuming consideration of the Commerce-Science-Justice appropriations bill. Last night, we reached agreement to limit amendments to that bill. That agreement will allow us to finish this appropriations bill early next week. We are here today to give Senators the opportunity to offer amendments from that list. They will also have that opportunity on Monday. We will not vote on amendments during today's session, but we are prepared to debate additional amendments and schedule those votes for next week.

Last night, we scheduled our first vote on Monday, and that will occur at 6:30 Monday evening. It will be on the motion to proceed to the resolution of disapproval regarding the regulations relating to mercury.

As everyone is aware, the Judiciary Committee will begin its hearings on the nomination of Judge Roberts. I will be working with the Democratic leader to schedule floor votes around those hearings to provide the least amount of disruption of those proceedings. That means most of the voting will occur at the lunch hour or around midday and then later in the evening.

Throughout this time, we will continue to focus our efforts on legislation related to the effects of Katrina. Yesterday, as my colleagues know, we acted very quickly on emergency court legislation so that those Federal courts could continue operations appropriately. As I have stated again and again, we will remain committed to respond and act expeditiously on any matter that can be cleared and that will assist in our recovery efforts in those affected States.

Hurricane Relief Efforts

Mr. President, I am pleased to report that last night, the Senate moved very quickly and passed a supplemental emergency aid package, a $51.8 billion bill that was signed and then about 2 hours later was signed by the President of the United States. It is a bill that aims directly at the critical rescue and relief efforts of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Last night's action reflects the solemn commitment of the Congress and the President to the people devastated by the extreme disaster which has struck the Gulf Coast. I thank my colleagues for their hard work and determination to get this bill passed expeditiously. The clock was ticking.

As of yesterday, the $10.5 billion we allocated during last Thursday's urgent session was nearly tabbed out. We knew at the time we passed this initial funding that more aid would be needed. What we did not know was the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe and how it would outstrip those relief dollars so quickly.

By pulling together and responding in an efficient and quick manner, focusing on that essential task, at 7:30 last night we did pass that $51.8 billion bill. As a result of that, thousands of volunteers and responders will continue to do what they are doing so well right now along the Gulf Coast, and that is saving lives and providing aid. As I speak, over 65,000 Active-Duty and National Guard personnel are in the Gulf region conducting search, rescue, and voluntary evacuation operations. They are helping to restore washed-out roads, build bridges, and clear millions of gallons of toxic floodwater. They are providing critical health care, medical care, food, water, shelter, and security. Our thanks go out to them. Our gratitude goes out to each and every one of them. Many of those rescue workers, in fact, are putting their lives on the line as they deal day in and day out with an environment of destruction, of toxic chemicals, of toxic waters. We thank them for their dedication.

When I was in New Orleans last Saturday and Sunday, just outside the terminal of the New Orleans airport, I had the opportunity to meet face to face with so many wonderful guard units. The 118th Airlift Wing, the Tennessee Guard based out of Nashville, was there in force. The 118th had been ferrying supplies and people in and out of that region over the course of the week, around the clock for days. Right now, the 118th AeroMed units are transporting the sick and the injured evacuees to locations all around the country. Again, I thank them in particular because they are from my home region of middle Tennessee, but I thank all of those Guard units and Active military that are contributing with untiring dedication and commitment.

FEMA continues to aggressively provide support and sustenance for the hundreds of thousands of families whose lives have simply been shattered by this disaster. In 1 week, over a quarter of a million people have been evacuated and placed in over 200 shelters across 17 States. Each one of those shelters has affiliated with it many shelters, but it gives some feeling of the magnitude that there are some formal shelters in 17 States.

Countless citizens all across the country are pitching in and giving money and donating their services and giving hope to those displaced individuals and families. Huge efforts are underway to locate those missing persons, people who have been separated from their friends and from their families. From the very beginning, we have seen a great outpouring of the American spirit, compassion, and care from private citizens, church groups, college groups, doctors, nurses, grandparents, moms, and dads--all being on the front lines helping neighbors in distress.

Several of my colleagues have heard me tell the story of last Saturday and Sunday at the New Orleans airport where triage was underway, thousands of people were being brought in the door of that terminal. One out of four had some special need, some health care need, some medical emergency. To see the operation of four college students from the University of Texas helping carry people up to the triage unit side by side with our Guard units maintaining security the best they possibly could, coupled with the DMAT units, disaster medical assistance units, that have come from Florida, Pennsylvania, and really from all over the country--it was an amazing outpouring of people working together under the most trying circumstances, circumstances that minute by minute got worse and worse and worse. But everybody was pulling together, helping people in distress.

A vivid image I think of throughout the day is two people on stretchers side by side on the floor in that very dark terminal in the midst of all that chaos in so many ways with so many people coming in, and those two people not knowing each other but taking care of each other's needs, helping each get a little bit of water, a little bit of food, or stopping somebody, the assistance one patient would give another patient, somebody they had never seen before. Again, there was this outpouring of compassion, love, and volunteer spirit.

Today in the private sector, individuals and businesses have spontaneously donated well over $300 million to this effort. It is growing by hundreds of thousands of dollars every day--again, a representation of the outpouring of generosity, concern from individuals, corporations, and businesses. It is this outpouring of compassion and support that is a testament to our national character, the character of being an American.

Here in the Senate, we have worked around the clock, as people have seen, with the emergency session last Thursday, and it continues today. We convened the emergency session Thursday and passed an emergency supplemental of $10.5 billion, and then the $51.8 billion last night. The committee chairmen have all been charged and are working very hard crafting legislation to meet the urgent and long-term needs of the hurricane survivors.

This week, Speaker Hastert and I announced the formation of a bicameral--that is, House and Senate--bipartisan committee to conduct a top-to-bottom investigation, analysis, review of the emergency preparation and response to Hurricane Katrina. The committee will be made up of senior Members. It will report back to this body no later than February 15. They are going to review the emergency plans that were in place at the local level, at the State level, and at the Federal level, and how they interacted with each other, what went wrong and what went right. They will assess how local, State, and Federal governments actually responded, and when things went wrong, we will find it and we will correct it as we prepare for the future. Our committees will have legislative authority and will work with that joint committee based on those findings to legislate accordingly.

The Energy Committee this week held hearings on the surge in gas prices and what can be done to bring them down. We passed legislation to get the Federal court system in the affected areas up and running.

There are a lot of moving parts. We will continue to focus on legislation that answers the immediate response and relief, moving other business aside. Thousands of people need our help, and the three States need to recover and rebuild.

Yes, all of this is a massive undertaking. It is an undertaking that is going to force us to think out of the box, to think innovatively, to think creatively, to think in ways that we just simply have not thought before. In many ways it is inexcusable to have a response which is not seamless, which is not efficient, which is not focused on seamless communication. We are going to fix what is broken and we are going to do it aggressively, thinking creatively, innovatively, and out of the box.

As the Senate moves forward, helping the victims of the hurricane is our No. 1 priority. We are working through essentially three phases. And when I say phases, I think chronologically, but it is simultaneous phases. First is that immediate response to the victims who are in need, to the displaced persons, to continue that search and rescue. Whatever it takes, this body will make that an ongoing priority.

The second element is the longer term rebuilding and reconstruction and revitalization of that entire Gulf State region. That is a major focus. It is a focus that has already begun, but it is also a much longer focus. It will take weeks and months and years. And that focus is something that needs to be a part of our agenda, is a part of our

agenda, and each of our committees is looking at that.

The third element is an analysis of what went wrong and what went right. We will be doing that through our committee structure as well as the joint committee that has been established by the Speaker and me.

We need to cut the redtape and bureaucracy that is getting in the way. We hear it again and again and again. I have asked each of the committee chairmen to expedite proposals, suggestions to leadership, so we can consider those in this Chamber.

In closing, the Senate and the American people are committed to helping the Gulf Coast rise again in a bigger way, a better way, and a more prosperous way than ever. It will require us to think innovatively and creatively. In this hour of need, in this hour of tragedy and unrest, we can also find great opportunity and great reason for hope. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors from the Gulf today, tomorrow, and in the months ahead.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I want to speak for a few minutes on one of the amendments the Senate just adopted by unanimous consent. That amendment contained the Combat Meth Act that Senator Feinstein, my good friend and distinguished colleague from California, and I have cosponsored along with 40 other Senators. It is the most comprehensive methamphetamine legislation ever introduced, much less passed by this body, and I want to begin my brief remarks by thanking the Senator from Alabama and his staff for working with us, and the Senator from Kentucky for his good work. I know my friend from California feels the same way. We are very grateful for their efforts in including this amendment in this bill. It was very important to do.

It is amazing, since we introduced this bill, the response that we have had within this body and from the law enforcement and the social services community around the country. Senators and America are aware of the fact that methamphetamine is the single most deadly drug threat we have confronted certainly in my time in public life in the 20 years that I have been in legislative bodies. As bad as the other drugs are, it is worse than the other drugs. It is almost immediately addictive.

Let us send a message out right now: You cannot use methamphetamine casually. If you take it, you are going to get addicted to it. It changes the physical structure of the brain. It causes people to be more aggressive. It can turn some people into maniacs. Law enforcement will tell you other drugs are not as dangerous because they are passive. Methamphetamine causes people to become more aggressive. It changes the physical structure of the brain. It causes people to become more aggressive. It is almost instantly addictive and there is no known medical model for getting people off it. There is no methadone for methamphetamine.

I talked to a substance abuse counsellor from Marriville, MO, about this one time. He had been in his line, in his profession, for 16 years, and he said: When I counsel somebody in trying to get somebody off methamphetamine, I just use the 12-step program and I rely heavily on the first step. There is a higher power who can help you because that is what it takes to get off methamphetamine. And there are some people who do. It is heroic and miraculous. But we have no known effective treatment. It is the perfect storm of drugs because in addition to all that, methamphetamine, unlike other drugs, is not just sold and consumed in our neighborhoods, which would be bad enough, it is made in our neighborhoods. And the process by which it is made, which is it is concocted in labs, presents by itself a huge set of problems and causes a huge number of social pathologies which our local authorities have been fighting heroically for years and years.

Methamphetamine labs are toxic. The process by which the drug is made and then used is toxic. There are all kinds of toxic chemicals that are being used. So when these meth cooks operate a lab in a home or a van, they create a toxic waste dump. It costs $10,000 to clean it up. Our law enforcement officers have to be trained, not only as law enforcement officers but as environmental experts, because as they take down these meth labs they have to break them down, and it costs a lot of money, not even counting the training costs. Then the chemicals have to be disposed of in an environmentally safe way. That costs a lot of money. Because these labs are out there operating, it presents a whole host of additional dangers to our children, even beyond the fact that their parents or caregivers may be using a seriously deadly drug, because these kids are growing up in homes that are toxic.

I have had social service workers in Missouri tell me that when they pull children out of these environments, they have to decontaminate them, sometimes two or three times, because the residue of these toxins is all over their bodies. It is tragic and terrible. I have had law enforcement officers tell me they will go in and the air is so bad they have to wear breathing filters or moon suits, and there are little children running around within a few feet.

They have seen cradles next to methamphetamine labs. All of this is a problem with methamphetamine that does not exist with other drugs, as dangerous and as terrible as other drugs may be.

Methamphetamine is epidemic. The fact that it is relatively easy to make the drug and the information about it is all over the Internet means that there are, in my State alone, law enforcement tells me, hundreds, perhaps thousands of labs operating in isolated areas, and often in not so isolated areas. The home next door may be making methamphetamine. They make it in cars and vans. I have fire protection district chiefs in urban and suburban areas tell me half the vehicle fires they are fighting are meth related, because this is a dangerous process in which this drug is made, even resulting in fires or explosions--and these are chemical fires they have to fight.

I said in urban or suburban areas, because it is not just a rural problem anymore. It started there, but it spread to our urban and suburban areas. The consciousness of this moved many Members of this body to support this bill when Senator Feinstein and I sponsored it, and to support it passionately. I was moved and pleased by the number of Senators who came, at our initial press conference, and spoke movingly because, of course, we get around in our States. We talk to people. We see the devastation and we have heard law enforcement, and the Senate has acted by adding the Combat Meth Act to this legislation.

I am very pleased about it. We have a chance now to send this over to the House. If the Senate approves the bill, which I am confident it will, I hope early next week, then we can get this bill passed and sent to the President's desk.

I promised to be brief. I was not, although I am sure listeners understand that brevity in the Senate means something different than it may mean in other places. But the bill contains a number of important provisions. Probably the centerpiece of it is a provision that would take cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine and put them behind pharmacy counters around the country. This has been done in a number of States. Missouri is a leader in this. Oklahoma is a leader. Iowa is a leader. I thank Senator Coburn for his efforts in helping us, and Senator Grassley for his efforts, helping us. They know what methamphetamine is, coming from the States from which they come. This would put these precursor drugs behind pharmacy counters. It means consumers will still have access but meth cooks will not. Because they have to assemble 20 or 30 or 40 packages of cold medicines in order to make methamphetamine, they will not be able to do it anymore. They will not be able to steal it or buy it because it is going to be behind pharmacy counters.

Then, in addition, there are a number of targeted grant programs designed to assist our law enforcement and social service workers stopping this drug and dealing with the terrible fallout from it.

I am grateful to all those involved. We need to move now to the next step. We need to keep working in other ways, above and beyond this bill, in which we can stop this deadly drug.

I am grateful to all those who helped make this day possible, and I know I speak for Senator Feinstein saying we are very pleased the Senate has adopted this and added it to this measure and that now we are in a position to send it to the House.

I yield the floor.

Will the Senator yield for a minute?

Mr. President, the Senator has yielded the floor so I can add, for a moment, that I very much appreciate his kind words. I did not in my remarks talk at great length about Senator Feinstein's efforts. I will have the opportunity to do it. I have done that in the past and I will have the opportunity to do that again.

The remarks of the Senator are very fine, but let me say Senator Feinstein has been on this issue since at least the 1990s. She saw it coming. We have not completed anything yet. We still have to get this over to the House and pass it. There are other things we have to do. The remarks of the Senator are very kind, but Senator Feinstein is the outstanding leader. It has been a great pleasure to work with her to this point and I look forward to continuing to work with her and other Senators from both sides of the aisle, getting this done completely, including the Senator from Kentucky. I know what a problem this is in Kentucky. He and I talked about this. I am grateful for his assistance.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I ask the Senate to pause for a moment today in loving memory and honor of Sergeant Darrin Keith Potter.

Sergeant Potter of Louisville, KY, served with the 223rd Military Police Company in the Kentucky Army National Guard. On September 29, 2003, he gave his life in defense of our country in the vicinity of Baghdad, Iraq.

On that day in September, nearly 2 years ago, Sergeant Potter and two of his fellow soldiers were responding to reports of lethal bombing attacks by terrorists near a prison facility. His MP team tried to drive around a tight corner in a Humvee, but overturned into a canal.

Although his teammates escaped the vehicle safely, sadly, Sergeant Potter did not, and drowned. He had faithfully served his nation as a citizen-soldier for 5 years. He was 24 years old.

For his valorous service, Sergeant Potter was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. He was awarded the Kentucky Distinguished Service Medal, which is the second highest honor that the Commonwealth

of Kentucky can bestow. He had also received both the Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal and the Army Achievement Medal numerous times in his years of service.

Sergeant Potter's aspiration to defend others dates back to his formative years, when he dreamed of one day becoming a police officer. While a student at Butler High School, in Louisville, he joined the Jefferson County Police Explorers, a program for boys and girls interested in a law enforcement career.

There he experienced all of the inner workings of law enforcement, and learned what the phrase ``protect and serve'' truly meant. He served as Captain of his Explorer Post and was named Male Explorer of the Year in 1998.

Darrin decided to enlist in the Kentucky National Guard and join the military police before he graduated high school in order to help him achieve his life-long goal of joining the Jefferson County Police Department. He wanted to gain invaluable experience with law enforcement and serve his community and his country.

Shortly before his 21st birthday, Sergeant Potter was deployed to Bosnia for a peacekeeping mission. He served with honor for 7 months. Captain Adrian Wheeler, Darrin's company commander in Iraq who also served with him in Bosnia, says that Darrin ``could be trusted with an important decision. He was physically tough, he was mentally tough.''

In late 2001, near the end of his deployment in Bosnia, Sergeant Potter realized his dream and was accepted to the Jefferson County Police Academy. The session was to start 2 weeks before he was due back from Bosnia. Undeterred, Darrin arranged with his commanders and the academy to leave Bosnia one week early and start at the academy one week late. Nothing would deflect him from his goal, and on February 1, 2002, he was sworn in as a Jefferson County police officer. His mother, Lynn Romans, called it ``the happiest day of his life.''

The rest of Sergeant Potter's unit returned from Bosnia on September 10, 2001. The next day was to be their welcome-home party. Instead, September 11 will be remembered as the day when America's mission in the world, and the mission of our armed forces, forever changed.

Sergeant Potter was deployed in Iraq in February 2003. Darrin and his unit were charged with guarding prisoners and escorting the many convoys which traveled in and out of Baghdad. It was a mission which suited Darrin's experience with law enforcement well. He served nobly and with great valor, and made everyone in our Commonwealth proud.

Since childhood, it was clear Darrin Potter had a strong, energetic spirit. Born in Flemingsburg, he grew up as a bright young boy who enjoyed sports, playing in Little League and in countless games of wiffleball, baseball and softball after school. As a child he lived in Pleasureville, Frankfort, Maysville, and finally Louisville, making friends wherever he went.

At age 5, it was not unusual for boys ten years older than Darrin to show up at his door, asking if he could come out and play. Perhaps it is because Darrin's dad, David, had lots of softball equipment. But all those who knew him would say that his endearing, fun-loving personality played no small part in his popularity.

Darrin grew up rooting for the University of Louisville Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. He loved Corvettes, and as a young man bought a red Corvette, which he treasured and protected. His father was his best friend, and the two often played softball together on the weekends. He was a good student, but he sometimes got into trouble for talking too much. You see, Darrin genuinely liked people.

One of the very first things Darrin did upon arriving in Iraq was to build a volleyball court. In the middle of the desert, Darrin took out his tape measure and set up a perfect court for the soldiers to have volleyball tournaments.

Captain Wheeler, Darrin's company commander in Iraq, has said of Darrin, ``he was just a regular guy, but a pretty extraordinary regular guy.''

I would suspect that Sergeant Potter would have humbly considered himself a pretty ordinary guy. But the very fact that he and so many other ordinary Americans make such heroic choices--to guard others from danger by confronting it head on--is what makes them extraordinary, and makes America a truly extraordinary country.

We thank Darrin's parents, David Potter and Lynn Romans, and his sister, Anita Potter, for sharing Darrin's life story with us, and for being here today.

We are profoundly indebted to Sergeant Potter for his service and his sacrifice. Our sadness is tempered with the knowledge that his mission was to protect the freedoms we enjoy here in America, and to spread those freedoms throughout the world.

I ask my colleagues to keep the family of Sergeant Darrin Potter in their thoughts and prayers as we continue to pursue a path forward for our country. I know they will be in mine.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, before the Senator from Missouri leaves the floor, I want to extend on behalf of every Member of the Senate our thanks to him for his leadership in fighting the scourge of methamphetamine. The Senator from Missouri has become the leader in the Senate in combating this scourge. On behalf of all Members of the Senate, I thank him for his extraordinarily effective work in this most important area.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I rise this morning to honor a fellow Ohioan, a young man from Springfield. Twenty-year-old LCPL Kevin S. Smith was killed on March 21, 2005, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-filled car against Smith's Humvee. Lance Corporal Smith was conducting stabilization operations in Al Anbar Province, protecting Iraqi civilians he had been among for less than a month.

Kevin Smith had a profound sense of duty. Before he had even graduated from high school, he knew he wanted to be a marine. At a very young age he had the resolve to defend his country abroad, and as Kevin grew he developed the thoroughness, the competence, and the compassion that helped him serve with distinction.

Kevin Smith was born on September 24, 1984, in Springfield to proud parents Ronald and Kathy Smith. Growing up, Kevin enjoyed baseball and playing his guitar. He attended Kenton Ridge High School where he was a member of the Spanish National Honor Society. Marsha Stoner, head of the society, taught Kevin for 3 years. She recalls immediately noticing him in her class, and at the ceremony in Kevin's honor described her former student as ``genuine, kind, and gentle.''

Principal Chuck Foss remembers Smith as the kind of person who ``just did things the way they were supposed to be done.'' He continues: ``I would take a whole school of kids like him.''

Indeed, our whole country could use more men such as Kevin Smith.

School was not the only place Kevin showed his reliability and personal strength. As those who own older cars know well, sometimes your own automobile becomes your greatest challenge. Kevin owned a decaying 1993 Toyota Celica that he lovingly named ``Doughnut.''

With spare parts and elbow grease, Kevin kept the Celica in working condition long after this ``doughnut'' should have sputtered its last sputter.

Kevin had the drive it took to keep that aging car running. He saw a job that needed doing, and made sure it got done right. Also, while working on the car, Kevin developed the ingenuity he would later apply in the Marines. Lance Corporal Smith could disassemble a medium machine gun--twice--in a minute and forty-eight seconds.

Kevin met his fiancee, Kristi Leider, at Kenton Ridge. They planned to marry. Kevin looked forward to becoming a husband and becoming a policeman so he could protect his family and his community. But first, there was something he had to do. He had to protect his Nation as a Marine.

After graduating from Kenton Ridge in 2003, Kevin departed to serve. In Iraq, he was a member of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, known to marines as the three-two. Kevin Smith was a natural leader, always the last to bed after checking on every member of his team. Sergeant Clive S. Chinatomby, Kevin's squad leader, had the following to say about Lance Corporal Smith:

He was a team leader and was the first one to jump up and

volunteer for anything. Anytime I'd go to him with something,

it would get done.

Kevin Smith would get it done--and he would get it done right.

Lance Corporal Smith was more than just able and dedicated. He was compassionate. Smith would joke with his team, telling them clever one- liners as they patrolled. He not only did his best to protect the Marines around him from the physical perils of war, he shielded them from the stress and tension of being under constant threat. At a memorial service following Kevin's death, Sergeant Chinatomby attested to Kevin's infectious good humor:

He kept me on my toes. Everything in life had a smart

comment. He always had a come back for you, and he taught me

not to take life that [seriously], because there is always a

lighter side to things. He made situations a lot less

stressful.

Tragically, on March 21, 2005, Kevin's squad lost a friend, his parents lost a son, and the United States lost a brave and dedicated Marine.

Kevin's Company First Sergeant, J.W. Rovnak wrote this message to the Smith family as a tribute to the kindness and service Kevin gave the men of the three-two:

It is difficult to express the loss the men and I share

here in Iraq. We bite back tears and mourn quietly in dark

corners as we focus on the task at hand. We live for the day

that we can grieve with you and try to give back to you all

that Kevin has blessed us with. He lives in us, and our lives

are forever touched and changed because of him. I am honored

to have known him. Semper Fi.

Nathan Heironimus, Kevin's childhood friend, remember his kindness, good humor, and dedication. He wrote Kevin the following message in tribute:

Kevin--We had some good times these past fifteen years or

so--playing backyard sports and videogames as kids, [playing]

music, and cruising around in [old doughnut]. It seems like

we did it all. You'll always be remembered by me as an easy-

going comedian who just knew how to take it easy and enjoy

life to the fullest. Easy to talk to and determined, I know

you were a great leader for your team like you always were.

We're all proud of what you've done for our country!! I know

you're up there smiling down on us all now.

Kevin was as good a soldier as this country could ask for. He got the job done, he was trusted and loved by his fellow Marines, and he was dedicated to the protection of democracy--be it abroad or at home.

Lance Corporal Smith offered us his blood, sweat, and tears. He left an indelible mark on this world. He will never be forgotten. His family and friends honor the sacrifice he made, the Marines of the three-two honor the sacrifice he made, and today, I honor that sacrifice.

My wife, Fran, and I continue to keep Kevin's fiancee, his parents, and his sister in our thoughts and in our prayers.

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

Mr. President, I wish to speak for a few minutes on the proposal for an independent commission to look into what has happened in the Gulf States. This issue has been spoken about, worked on so hard and so carefully by Senator Reid, Leader Pelosi, my colleague, Senator Clinton, and many others.

I speak from the experience of the devastation that occurred in New York after the terrorist attack almost 4 years ago. It will be 4 years this Sunday, and many of us will be at Ground Zero commemorating that.

I think of that every day to this moment, the people I knew who were lost--a guy I played basketball with in high school, a businessman who helped me on the way up, a firefighter from the community in which I was raised. I wear this flag. I put it on September 12, and I wear it every day and, God willing, will every day for the rest of my life in memory of those who were lost.

One of the main desires of the families of those who were killed in 9/11 was to get to the bottom of it. I believe it was a selfless desire, a desire to figure out what went wrong so it would not happen again.

Now we face a tragedy of similar consequence although of different origin, and that is the hurricane in the Gulf and the lack of an excellent response to it. Obviously, our first concern has to be rescuing those who are still in need of help, making immediate provision for the hundreds of thousands of individuals who were displaced and trying to deal with the immediate aftermath. Then we will have a longer term job of restoring the city of New Orleans.

I have talked with Senator Landrieu and Congressman Jefferson about what we learned in New York about bringing people back to an area that had become temporarily abandoned. That is what happened to downtown on 9/11. But another thing we are going to have to do is figure out what went wrong with the same positive motivation that motivated us after 9/ 11, and that is so we might reduce the chances of loss of life, loss of property in the aftermath of it happening again.

We learned one thing. We learned very simply that the best way to get to the bottom of this is have an impartial, nonpartisan commission not composed of politicians. The best way to get to the bottom of this, frankly, is to repeat the experience of the 9/11 Commission and have a group of people--many experts in different fields, some citizens with motivation to find out what went wrong--and give them the authority they need, the resources they need, the time they need, and let them get to the bottom of it.

Frankly, there has been a lot of discussion of how we should do this in the House and Senate. From what I understand, the majority leader is now considering simply having joint hearings with the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, joined with the House. I have no objection to that, but I will say this: When elected officials, when politicians are on a commission, generally it does not work

out. Republicans will have a natural view to defend the administration. Democrats will have a natural view to attack the administration. Both are legitimate roles. But to assure the public that the truth will actually be found, a nonpartisan commission, not composed of elected officials, is the best way to go.

The calls for doing things in the House and Senate with our particular needs--appropriations, oversight of various Government agencies--is not a bad one, but only if it is not a substitute for an independent commission.

I hope my colleagues will rise to the call in the next few weeks and months. We do not have to constitute this commission immediately, but we should do it soon enough because, again, the only way to assure the public that we are getting to the bottom of this is to have a commission that is nonpartisan and not populated by politicians, each of whom has a legitimate ax to grind--a legitimate ax to grind, but it is an ax to grind nonetheless.

I wish to make one other point before I yield the floor. The initial calls for an independent commission after 9/11 were resisted. They were resisted by the administration, and they were resisted by many in the House and Senate. But it was the fortitude of the families of the victims, the survivors--Kristen Breitweiser and her colleagues from New Jersey, so many of the families I know from New York--who forced the Commission to occur.

My guess, my prediction is this: If we do not form that commission ourselves, on our own volition quickly, at some point the citizens of the Gulf States will demand that we do so in any case as we move past the tragedy and hopefully begin to rebuild for those who have been caught in this gulf catastrophe. Those who lost loved ones, at least some of them will do what was done in New York. They will band together and try to do everything they can to help a community they love. And they will urge us and importune us, just as the families in New York did, to form such a commission. That is my guess. It is just how things are. And it is the right thing to do. So let us do it now. Again, it does not have to be done next week. It probably should not be done next week. Our main goal should be to focus on helping those who need help. But within the next month or two, without question, if we really want to get to the bottom of what went wrong to prevent it from happening again, we should form an independent commission, not composed of elected officials with an ax to grind but nonpartisan citizens of various expertise to figure out what went wrong and to give us guidance as to how to avoid it in the future.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.