Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Recovery Facilitation Act of 2007

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 3247, introduced by Subcommittee Chairwoman Norton, will improve the provision of disaster assistance for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This bill was created through an open and inclusive process. I want to thank Chairman Oberstar and Chairwoman Norton for working with our Republican Members to include our provisions to this bill. Additionally, I want to thank my good friend and colleague from Louisiana, Ranking Member Baker, for his steadfast support of Louisiana in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Congressman Baker has been a great advocate for our State, and I thank him for helping the committee to draft this bill.

Madam Speaker, earlier this year the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management held a hearing on the recovery in the gulf coast following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The bill includes a number of provisions recommended by Members of Congress from both parties who testified at this hearing. These provisions are designed to alleviate specific problems with the recovery in the gulf coast.

H.R. 3247 authorizes changes to the Stafford Act programs exclusively for the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and applies these changes retroactively. The Congressional Budget Office does not expect these proposed changes to have a significant effect on the pace or amount of Federal expenditures from the disaster relief fund and has estimated that enacting H.R. 3247 would have no significant effect on direct spending. I support this legislation, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

I also want to thank Chairman Oberstar and Chairwoman Norton specifically for working with our gulf coast delegations on this important legislation. The T&I committee has really been very helpful and a strong advocate throughout this process, as my home State of Louisiana and the rest of the gulf coast have tried to recover. I am pleased that the tradition continues today with the work on this bill.

I also want to mention that while much of the Nation's focus remains on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I want to remind my colleagues that there were two storms of similar magnitude that hit the gulf coast in 2005. The second storm, Hurricane Rita, brought high winds in excess of 120 miles an hour and a storm surge equivalent to that of a category 5 storm. Total damage in southwest Louisiana was estimated at approximately $10 billion, making Rita, the forgotten storm, the third most costly natural disaster in U.S. history.

Two years later our recovery remains slow, but progress is being made and the people of southwest Louisiana are resilient and we will rebuild. This bill will help fix some of the roadblocks to recovery that we have encountered along the way. Notably, I want to mention one particularly. The bill addresses one of the bigger problems still lingering in my own district, which is the reimbursement to the sports arena called the Cajundome for use of the facility in sheltering both Katrina and Rita evacuees. The Cajundome acted as a shelter from August 30 through October 28, 2005, and processed an estimated 18,000 evacuees within that 60-day period. The facility was subsequently closed until January 2006 for recovery and repair from the sheltering operations. FEMA initially approved and then sought reimbursement for funds paid to the Cajundome for use of the facility while conducting response activities.

At issue is whether or not a government entity can be reimbursed for fees for sheltering evacuees after a disaster. The Cajundome, however, operates autonomously from city government, does not have a sustaining tax base, and instead relies on the fees it generates from events during its peak season to maintain operations year-round. H.R. 3247 will allow FEMA to pay for the reasonable cost of renting or leasing a public facility that was used for conducting response activities for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Facilities like the Cajundome are integral to our disaster recovery and response. We shouldn't punish them for opening their doors and providing shelter during a national crisis.

Again, I want to thank the committee staff as well, especially Mike Herman and Jennifer Hall, for working with my legislative director, Terri Fish, to develop language that will address this problem. Again, I thank Chairman Oberstar, Chairwoman Norton, and Ranking Members Mica and Graves for including it in the bill. Again, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3247.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my colleague from Louisiana (Mr. Baker).

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Louisiana (Mr. Melancon). Together, he and I have all of coastal Louisiana, and we have dealt with this disaster firsthand. I know side by side along the coast, we were rolling up our sleeves and helping our friends and families back home through all of this. I want to thank him for his work in helping to come up with these revisions to the Stafford Act that were desperately needed.

This is a good piece of legislation. It will not cure all of the problems we still have in coastal Louisiana, but it is a good start. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass this important legislation, H.R. 3247. Again, I thank Chairwoman Norton and Chairman Oberstar for their willingness to work with us to craft this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3247) to improve the provision of disaster assistance for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and for other purposes, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support of H.R. 3247, the Katrina and Rita Recovery Facilitation Act of 2007. This bill has been a top priority of our leadership and has received excellent cooperation and support from the minority and its Members as well. It was reported by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on August 1, 2007. On May 10, 2007, our subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management held a hearing entitled, ``Legislative Fixes for Lingering Problems that Hinder Katrina Recovery,'' where Members from Louisiana and Mississippi testified on issues that were still delaying the recovery from these extraordinarily destructive storms, particularly in the Public Assistance Program.

These were problems that, and I stress, could not have been envisioned by the Stafford Act because of the unprecedented nature of the gulf coast disaster. Therefore, it was felt that there was a need for amendments to the act since FEMA often felt it could not move without specific authority.

This bill addresses issues specifically identified by these Members who represent the gulf coast area in testimony before our committee, testimony that was evaluated by our subcommittee and found to be compatible with the mission of the Stafford Act and the unique nature of the Katrina and Rita disasters.

For example, the bill allows FEMA to apply its so-called ``simplified procedures'' for ``small projects'' from the current threshold of $55,000 to $100,000, and authorizes FEMA to use alternative dispute resolution to resolve appeals in the Public Assistance Program. There have been many appeals. These need to be handled expeditiously if recovery is to occur expeditiously.

Madam Speaker, the bill also increases the Federal contribution for large ``in-lieu'' projects, also known as alternate projects, to 90 percent for both public and private nonprofit facilities. These are examples of remedies that will bring significant results, according to our own investigation and testimony from the region.

Hurricane Katrina made landfall nearly 2 years ago and proved to be the costliest natural disaster in American history. The storms had a massive physical impact on the land, affecting 90,000 square miles, which is an area the size of Great Britain. More than 80 percent of the City of New Orleans flooded, which is an area seven times the size of Manhattan. Untold consequences to the residents of the region were visited upon individuals and families.

Our subcommittee will hold a hearing in New Orleans soon to look further into the status of recovery from these storms. We certainly did not want to go to the region without passage of this act, which is so urgent to recovery. I am pleased that we will be able to report to the citizens of the gulf that our committee and hopefully the House has taken further steps to facilitate the recovery of the entire gulf coast.

I urge the support of all Members.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Melancon) such time as he may consume.

Madam Speaker, once again I want to thank the gentleman and all of the Members from the gulf coast delegation who worked so cooperatively with us, really informing us what needed to be done, looking at the Stafford Act, understanding we are amending the act for Katrina and Rita purposes only, and the least Congress could do was to recognize in all of our rhetoric about this being an unprecedented disaster, that we responded with an unprecedented remedy. We do not expect the remedies available here to be necessary elsewhere. For example, we have just had a big disaster in California. That is of a different kind and will have a different effect on the entire region; very devastating, but very different. We intend to have a hearing with respect to that disaster and comparing that disaster and the responses to that disaster with the responses to the gulf coast because we need to do all we can to learn about that disaster.

Moreover, the Katrina and Rita disasters have exposed other changes in the Stafford Act that we need. These are Rita and Katrina-specific changes, but we are learning from what happened to this extraordinary region of our country without which we cannot do. And every day you see oil prices go up, I hope you understand, we in the United States, how central this region is to the economy of this country. As a result, we will be holding hearings on the way in which the Stafford Act should be even further updated to the benefit not only of the disasters we hope never to see again, but to disasters that may occur in the future in our country.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3247, the ``Katrina and Rita Recovery Facilitation Act of 2007'', as amended. This bipartisan bill addresses lingering issues that continue to hinder the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The changes in this bill are both necessary and long overdue.

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005, and proved to be the costliest natural disaster in American history. The storm had a massive physical impact on the land, affecting 90,000 square miles, which is an area the size of Great Britain. More than 80 percent of the City of New Orleans flooded, an area comparable to seven times the size of Manhattan.

Although more than two years have elapsed since Katrina and Rita, significant problems still exist in the recovery effort. This disaster and its aftermath have revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (``FEMA'') may need additional authorities to deal effectively with catastrophes of such magnitude.

H.R. 3247 provides additional relief for problems associated with recovery efforts from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, by authorizing retroactive changes to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (``Stafford Act'') programs. The Stafford Act authorizes disaster assistance that FEMA provides after a major disaster. While the authority of the Stafford Act is very broad and flexible, it does not anticipate every circumstance that can arise in disasters, especially catastrophic disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Historically, when catastrophic or unusual disasters struck, Congress would work cooperatively with FEMA to identify areas where FEMA required additional specific authority. When Hurricane Katrina struck, FEMA was not a flexible or independent government agency. Rather, FEMA was an organization within the Department of Homeland Security, a larger bureaucracy, and without direct access to the President and Congress. I believe that this structure prevented FEMA from engaging with Congress as they have in the past. This problem was further magnified by the unprecedented scope and magnitude of the disaster. As a result, Congress was forced to act in a unilateral manner.

H.R. 3247 was developed in a bipartisan fashion, and draws on the recommendations of Members representing the Gulf Coast region from both sides of the aisle. The provisions in this bill were developed following a hearing held by the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management on May 10, 2007, entitled ``Legislative Fixes for Lingering Problems that Hinder Katrina Recovery''. At that hearing, Members from Louisiana and Mississippi testified on specific issues that are still hampering the recovery from these devastating catastrophes and proposed solutions. The provisions of this bill reflect the findings and recommendations that were presented at this hearing.

Specifically, H.R. 3247, the ``Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Recovery Facilitation Act of 2007'', increases the Federal share from 75 percent to 90 percent for ``alternate projects'' for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, to allow money designated for a specific facility to be used toward another facility for the same purposes. This provision will help communities, which have had multiple facilities destroyed by these hurricanes, rebuild facilities and reestablish services in a manner that will best suit their needs.

The bill also permits the Administrator of FEMA to make public assistance programs under Hurricanes Katrina and Rita eligible under a public assistance pilot program authorized in section 689j of the Post- Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (P.L. 109-295), which will expedite the provision of assistance to States.

This legislation further encourages alternative dispute resolution procedures for appeals of public assistance decisions by FEMA

for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, to address concerns over the speed of implementation of the public assistance program in the Gulf Coast. The bill allows the use of temporary housing units for volunteers, authorizes reimbursement of expenses incurred for the re-interment of human remains at privately-owned or private non-profit cemeteries, and authorizes the reimbursement of certain facilities that housed evacuees after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The bill also allows in-kind projects initiated in the recovery efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to contribute the non-Federal share in a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (``HMGP'') application, if FEMA can determine that the project meets all eligibility and compliance requirements that apply to HMGP projects. This provision simply waives the requirement for pre-approval of a project.

Madam Speaker, each of the provisions in H.R. 3247 is specifically tailored to solve an existing problem in the Gulf Coast, and will help provide immediate relief to those still suffering in the wake of these disasters.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 3247.

MS. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3247, the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Recovery Facilitation Act of 2007. This bill directs the President to increase to 90 percent the amount of Federal contributions for replacing any State or local government property damaged by the hurricanes. Enactment of this bill is critical if we are going to finally rebuild the historic and vital infrastructure in Mississippi and Louisiana.

This bill also addresses a variety of other issues of importance toward rebuilding communities in Mississippi and Louisiana including temporary housing for volunteers, debris removal program eligibility for Mississippi and Louisiana, providing for respectful care and interment of human remains damaged during the hurricanes, restoring certain public facilities and providing incentives for certain hazard mitigation projects. All of these are important steps toward rebuilding our vibrant Gulf Coast communities.

Madam Speaker, this bill is welcomed, as both Louisiana and Mississippi are still rebuilding from the damages caused by the storms. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in August that some communities are still without basic needs--such as schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure. In addition to these basic community needs, many are still without jobs because the doors of many businesses remain closed. Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office put, capital losses resulting from both hurricanes in the range of $70 to $130 billion. The GAO report further found that a substantial portion of the billions of dollars in assistance to the Gulf Coast was directed to short-term needs, leaving a smaller portion for long-term rebuilding. To date, the Federal government has provided most long-term rebuilding assistance to the Gulf Coast states through two key programs: FEMA's Public Assistance Program and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG). Both States allocated a bulk of their CDBG funds to homeowner assistance, thus, creating a need for supplemental public assistance funds to focus on rebuilding and restoring critical infrastructure, such as government facilities, which funding this bill provides.

The increased assistance from the Federal government to Louisiana and Mississippi to rebuild their infrastructure through FEMA's public assistance program will help with the financial burden they face and will allow the process, which has thus far been daunting, to proceed more rapidly. This legislation is a step forward because it increases Federal assistance toward the rebuilding process and provides needed changes to the Stafford Act.

And, as we focus on rebuilding infrastructure in Louisiana and Mississippi, we must not forget that many of the child care facilities were damaged and even destroyed, while parents struggled to find a safe place to leave

their children while regrouping. Many child care facility owners are still waiting to hear from FEMA about financial assistance. Because I recognize the importance of emergency child care after a disaster, I introduced H.R. 2479, the Emergency Child Care Services Act, which was referred to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. This bill would amend the Stafford Act to designate emergency child care as a ``critical service'' that is eligible to receive disaster assistance from FEMA. Recently, I have received calls from colleagues who represent areas affected by the California wildfires, inquiring about the bill's status. I am disappointed that the Emergency Child Care bill was not included in the bill debated on the floor today. It is my hope that my bill will be successfully passed out of Committee in the near future.

As Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee with oversight of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which FEMA is a part, our Committee works diligently to ensure that DHS and all of its components are prepared to respond to acts of terrorism, natural disasters and other emergencies. This bill will help rebuild our communities in both Louisiana and Mississippi and help with preparedness efforts for future incidents.

In closing, let me thank my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for their leadership on this legislation, and in particular, Ms. Norton, who is also a member of the Committee on Homeland Security, for spearheading this effort. I look forward to working with Chairman Oberstar, Ms. Norton and others on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to assure that our Federal disaster and post-terrorism response capabilities are at the level that the American people deserve. I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 2382, as amended, to require the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (``FEMA'') to quickly and fairly address the abundance of surplus manufactured housing units stored by the Federal Government around the country.

S. 2382, as amended, addresses a number of critical disaster recovery issues related to FEMA. I thank the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Ross), the sponsor of H.R. 4830, the House companion measure to S. 2382, for his critical support for this legislation.

S. 2382 addresses an ongoing consequence of the response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As a result of stockpiling trailers in the aftermath of these devastating storms, FEMA owns a large number of trailers and other temporary housing units that the agency is not using and may never need. Some of these units have never been used.

S. 2382 requires FEMA to assess the number of temporary housing units necessary to meet requirements for major disasters and emergencies under the Stafford Act. FEMA is also required to establish a plan for storing the units that the agency needs, and disposing of those trailers that it does not need. S. 2382 provides FEMA with the flexibility to provide these excess trailers to state and local governments to house victims of incidents caused by hazards that do not result in a Federally-declared major disaster or emergency, provided that the Governor of an affected State certifies that there is an urgent need for the housing.

S. 2382, as amended, also includes some common-sense provisions from H.R. 3247, the ``Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Recovery Facilitation Act of 2007'', which passed by the House on October 29, 2007, and provides specific relief for problems associated with recovery efforts from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The bill authorizes changes made to the public assistance program under the Stafford Act that only apply retroactively to the recovery efforts from those devastating storms. These provisions include an increase in the Federal contribution for alternate projects from the current level of 75 percent to 90 percent, thereby allowing communities to rebuild their facilities in the most efficient manner possible. The bill also allows state and local governments to use alternate dispute resolution to solve some of the most difficult and lingering issues in the recovery from these storms. To help expedite the recovery, S. 2382 also allows FEMA to use a simplified procedure

under which small projects are permitted to proceed based on estimates. The bill increases the ceiling for small projects to $100,000, an increase from the current level of $55,000. Finally, S. 2382 requires FEMA to expeditiously report back to Congress on the status of its recovery efforts from these storms.

S. 2382, as amended, also includes a provision from H.R. 3247, as reported by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, that authorizes FEMA to provide case management services to citizens impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It is unfortunate that some citizens still require these services as they struggle to recover three years after these storms.

The bill further requires FEMA to review, update, and revise, through rulemaking, the factors considered in making recommendations for the assistance to individuals and families under the Stafford Act as provided in 44 CFR 206.48. State and local governments have expressed concerns about the lack of clarity in these regulations, which they use to gauge when to seek assistance from the Federal Government.

I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), Ranking Member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for working with me on this bipartisan amendment to S. 2382, and I strongly support its passage.

The Senate bill was ordered to be read a third time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.