A concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the needs of children and youth affected or displaced by disasters are unique and should be given special consideration in planning, responding, and recovering from such disasters in the United States.

Mr. President, the hurricanes of last summer brought new demands on all of our nation's rescue resources. The needs of children, particularly young children and their families, are unique and not a part of local and national recovery plans. Mental health, physical needs, day care, education, and family separation continue to be needs that for communities to address.

The National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives and the non-profit Save the Children, continue to lead the focused on the special needs of children. While assessing damages and recording destroyed facilities, the Rural Early Childhood center and Save the Children, with assistance from others, also developed a plan for future disasters.

Today I am introducing a Senate concurrent resolution that expresses the sense of the Senate that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should consider the unique needs of children and consider the recent experiences, suggestions and solutions of organizations and research centers. We ought to support the incorporation of child-specific needs and concerns into the National Response Plan. The Senator from Louisiana, Ms. Landrieu, is cosponsoring this resolution. We invite all Senators to join us.

S. Con. Res. 94

Whereas major disasters resulting in Presidential disaster

declarations in the United States have increased from an

average of 38 per year in the 1980s, to 46 per year in the

1990s, to 52 per year during the first half of this decade;

Whereas the occurrence of major disasters in the United

States is expected to continue to increase in the foreseeable

future;

Whereas the number of people in the United States affected

by disasters each year is a staggering 2,000,000 to 3,000,000

as measured by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (even

outside of truly catastrophic events as occurred on the Gulf

Coast in 2005);

Whereas 5,192 children were reported missing or displaced

to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as a

result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and it took 6 \1/2\

months to reunite the last child separated from her family;

Whereas the most serious of such cases were those 45

children arriving at shelters separated from parents or

guardians with no adult supervision and it took more than 1

month to resolve all of those cases;

Whereas 1,100 schools were closed immediately following

Hurricane Katrina and 372,000 schoolchildren were initially

unable to attend school in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast due

to the hurricane;

Whereas in Mississippi 7 percent and in Louisiana 21

percent of elementary schools and secondary schools remained

closed 6 months after Hurricane Katrina;

Whereas more than 400,000 children under the age of 5 live

in or have evacuated from counties or parishes that have been

declared disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management

Agency;

Whereas the numbers of licensed child care facilities in

areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita declined by 4

percent (54 facilities) in Mississippi and by 25 percent (356

facilities) in Louisiana after the storms;

Whereas children are known to benefit from rapid mental

health programming following disasters to mitigate longer

term impacts;

Whereas the existing system of disaster management in the

United States is the purview of Federal, State, and local

government emergency management organizations and the

disaster management programs and activities of these

organizations are not mandated nor are able to fully respond

to the unique needs of children;

Whereas Federal, State, and local government emergency

management professionals lack the technical knowledge,

support, and contacts to address the unique needs of children

that need to be incorporated into such professionals'

disaster management programs and activities; and

Whereas existing legislative constraints on Federal

disaster response and recovery aid programs restrict disaster

officials from responding to the specific needs of children

in a disaster and there is no government liaison or program

concerning children's issues in disasters: Now, therefore, be

it

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives

concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--

(1) the needs of children and youth affected by major

disasters are unique and should be given special

consideration in planning, responding, and recovering to

major disasters; and

(2) the Federal Emergency Management Agency should consult

with appropriate child-focused non-governmental organizations

and public university national research centers with

experience in addressing the needs of children in major

disasters to address the needs of children and youth in

disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation,

including by--

(A) incorporating suggestions from such organizations on

children's issues into the National Response Plan;

(B) seeking the recommendations of such organizations on

how to address the needs of children in emergency shelters,

trailer parks, and transitional housing sites;

(C) jointly developing child-, family-, early childhood

service-, and school-focused disaster preparedness materials

to support understanding of the impact of disasters on

children and strategies to mitigate them; and

(D) jointly developing risk assessment tools for

communities to use in determining children's specific

disaster risks.

Mr. Speaker, I support passage of S. Con. Res. 2, which would re-establish the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies to continue preparations for the presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2005 and authorizes the use of the Capitol Rotunda for the proceedings.

This non-partisan joint committee was originally created last year by concurrent resolution S. Con. Res. 94, to begin its work, but since resolutions do not carry over from one Congress to the next, it expired automatically on January 3, 2005, along with the 108th Congress. That is why this routine action is necessary today.

Congress passes this concurrent resolution every four years. The Speaker, Majority Leader and Minority Leader were originally appointed to represent the House on the joint committee and will be re-appointed to continue in those roles.

As for the use of the Rotunda authorized by Section 2 of S. Con. Res 2, we traditionally pass this measure at the beginning of any Congress following a presidential election in order to accommodate security planning and rehearsal for the inaugural, since the Rotunda is routinely used for ceremonial purposes during the inauguration and could host the event itself, depending on the weather at that time. A similar concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 93) was also passed last year during the 108th Congress to allow early planning for the inaugural to begin, but, like any resolution, it expired on January 3. That is why this action renewing the authority is necessary today. Therefore, I would like to urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution so that we can move forward with Inaugural ceremonies.

I send a concurrent resolution to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

I move to reconsider the vote.

I move to lay that motion on the table.