Floor Statements

Offered By: Mr. Jindal

Amendment No. 11: Page 28, line 9, after the first dollar

amount, insert the following: ``(increased by $9,000,000)

(reduced by $9,000,000)''.

Offered By: Mr. Jindal

Amendment No. 12: Page 34, line 20, after the dollar amount

insert ``(increased by $1,000,000) (reduced by $1,000,000)''.

Mr. Speaker, recently more than 1,200 students from across the country participated in the national finals competition of We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution. This is one of the most extensive educational programs in the country developed specifically to educate young men and women about the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The program is administered by the Center for Civic Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. It is my distinct pleasure to announce the competition's Unit 5 Award winner: Grace King High School from Metairie, LA.

The national finals are an arduous 3-day academic competition that simulates a congressional hearing in which the students testify before a panel of judges on constitutional topics. Students from many schools demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of constitutional principles as they evaluate, take, and defend positions on relevant historical and contemporary issues. This year's winner, Grace King High School, is an educational institution known for high standards of academic achievement that has produced many talented students. The winners of this competition have proven through their hard work and meticulous study of our Constitution that they are no exception.

Mr. Speaker, the names of these outstanding students from Grace King High School are as follows:

Aaron Baer-Harsha, Patrick Berrigan, Jaime Bruno, Lily Chen, Caitlyn Clarke, Paulius Donauskas, Janice Fan, Rebecca Felix, Jeremy Finnegan, Alice Ho, Tony Huang, Thomas Lambert, Krysten Le, Donald Leverson, Ali Mahbod, Elise Murphy-Mejia, Jacob O'Neil, Sean Olsen, Veronica Oro, Anna Plaksiy, Rachelle Ross, Olivia Saito, Sara Sands, and Murielle Telio.

I also wish to commend Jamie Staub, the teacher who was responsible for preparing the student class for the national finals competition. Also worthy of special recognition is John Alexander, the State coordinator, who is among those responsible for implementing the program in my district.

Mr. Speaker and my colleagues in the House, please join me in congratulating these young constitutional experts from Louisiana for their outstanding achievement.

Mr. Chairman, I, too, want to thank Chairman Hunter, the staff and members of the committee for their very good work on this bill.

I rise to offer an amendment. The National Guard and active duty military troops and assets deployed since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita constituted one of the Nation's largest domestic deployments of military assets since the Civil War. The National Guard and active duty military response saved lives, provided urgent food, water, shelter and medical care to many hurricane victims.

The deployment of National Guard forces before active duty troops is consistent with current U.S. Department of Defense strategy for homeland defense and civil support, which relies on the National Guard in the first instance for civil support.

However, in the wake of these particular hurricanes, Federal and State officials lacked coordination and consideration of requests for National Guard and active duty troop deployments. Local, State and Federal offices had differing perceptions of the number of Federal troops that would be arriving and the appropriate command structure for all troops, causing confusion and diverting attention from response activities.

This amendment requires the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security and State governments, to develop detailed operational plans regarding the use of Armed Forces to support activities of civil authorities in response to a catastrophic disaster.

The amendment works to significantly strengthen the response options to hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, pandemic, and other natural disasters.

My amendment is consistent with the findings and recommendations from both the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for Response to Hurricane Katrina and the report from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and it builds upon provisions in the base bill, which require DOD to maintain real-time capability assessments of responsibilities under the National Response Plan.

Mr. Speaker, whereas, the historical record of the United States, as acknowledged by the highest court in our land, reveals a clear and unmistakable pattern woven throughout our Nation's history; America was founded upon the principles and truths revealed in the Holy Scriptures; and

Whereas, as a Nation with a Judeo-Christian heritage, prayer has been and remains an essential element of our national conduct as we seek divine direction and blessing; and

Whereas, our Nation's leaders, beginning with our first president, George Washington, to our current president, George W. Bush, have called upon Americans to individually and corporately pray for and seek God's divine blessing upon our Nation in both times of peace and in times of conflict; and

Whereas, in times of great crisis we have been prompted by officially proclaimed days of prayer to ask for God's guidance; and

Whereas, Holy Scripture instructs in 1 Samuel 2:30 to give God honor; and

Whereas, in 2006, on the 54th Anniversary of the National Day of Prayer, America once again finds herself in the midst of danger and uncertainty making it essential that we as a people seek God's direction through prayer so that our world might enjoy peace.

Now Therefore, I encourage all of the citizens of Louisiana to participate in honoring God by seeking His blessing both upon our State and our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, the Nation's energy prices continue to rise. Families and businesses are feeling the pinch. We are paying the price for decades of extra taxes, poor energy policy, curtailed exploration and a lack of new refineries.

The Nation needs to take a new approach to our energy problems. We need to break our dependency on foreign sources of oil, which leaves us at the mercy of foreign powers. To do that, we should increase domestic energy production.

My bill, H.R. 4761, gives States control over the waters off their shores and encourages them to increase energy exploration by giving them a share of the revenues generated.

We should increase our development of alternative fuels, taking advantage of renewable resources, like using corn and sugar to produce ethanol or soybeans to produce biodiesel.

Finally, we should help developing nations like China and India curb their exponentially increasing consumption of oil and natural gas, which is driving world prices higher.

India, in particular, is looking to develop nuclear power for domestic, commercial use, and we should work with them. This is a good deal for both countries. India develops its own self-sustaining nuclear power sources, which will limit their need for oil and natural gas. We get a reduction in the demand for world energy, lowering prices in the process.

Clearly, the energy problems facing us are too big to use yesterday's thinking.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, in the days and weeks after first Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, it became very clear that the lack of communications was one of the biggest obstacles to a rapid recovery and a rapid rescue effort in the face of these awful disasters.

The purpose of the amendment that I offer today is to use $2 million for the Department of Defense's Technical Support Working Group to deploy in hurricane-affected States existing technology that provides wireless, interoperable, mobile, encrypted broadband communications for first responders, National Guard, Federal response personnel in the case of future disasters or in the case of the temporary absence of communications.

FEMA has already been tasked with identifying and providing existing commercially available capabilities in time to provide responders with this capability before the next hurricane season begins. The capability exists and needs to be rapidly deployed.

The purpose for my amendment is to use $2 million for the working group to deploy in these areas existing technology.

Federal, State, and local law enforcement and first responder agencies were limited in their ability to respond to Hurricane Katrina because they couldn't communicate. The House Select Committee on Katrina identified this as a key failure at all levels. The Select Committee's recommendation states in part that the Department of Homeland Security should establish and maintain a deployable communications capability to quickly gain and retain situational awareness when responding to catastrophic incidents.

My amendment takes a step in the right direction and, importantly, does so before the next hurricane season, which starts June 1. We must provide responders with the capability to talk across agencies, within their agency when customary communications systems like phones are disrupted or destroyed.

This is not, obviously, a cure-all approach to solve our Nation's interoperable problems; but it is one solution that provides a stopgap system that allows responders to talk to each other using their existing hardware from mobile or fixed locations when existing systems aren't available.

FEMA has already been tasked with this responsibility before the next hurricane season. The capability exists and needs to be rapidly deployed.

This amendment does not require additional Federal dollars. It simply provides $2 million and directs the Department of Defense and its technical support working group to work with FEMA using funds Congress has already planned to provide FEMA to identify and deploy the capability.

From a personal perspective, I can state, being on the ground in the days and weeks after Katrina and Rita, this was one of the biggest gaps in our Federal, State and local response, the inability to have interoperable communications.

I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I intend to offer and withdraw this amendment.

The purpose of my amendment is to restore the administration's request to rebuild New Orleans' VA Medical Center. I do intend to withdraw this amendment pursuant to a colloquy with my colleagues. I want to, first of all, state the rationale for my amendment in the first place.

The VA Medical Center suffered significant damage after the hurricane. It is a 354-bed acute care facility. It provides health care to more than 220,000 veterans who live in a 23-parish region served by this medical center. It is absolutely critical to get this hospital rebuilt as quickly as possible to continue serving these thousands of veterans, our men and women who have served us so proudly in uniform.

Ironically, it was not the hurricane that did the majority of damage to the VA center. Instead, the facility actually initially weathered the hurricane with minimal damage. However, the breach of the levees days later flooded the entire area around the medical center. Let me correct myself, I am sorry, Mr. Chairman.

It was the breach of the levees, not days later, it was the breach of the levees caused by the failure of design and construction. It was the breach of the levees that flooded the entire area around the medical center, the facility's first floor basement and sub-basement. Those floors housed the facility's major electrical, mechanical and dietetics equipment. Of the 1,819 VA employees in New Orleans, 40 percent lost their homes.

Despite this destruction, despite the obstacles, the VA was one of the few bright lights to shine through the devastation that hit the region. Advanced planning, a well-known electronic medical system helped to ensure that VA could coordinate and move thousands of staff and patients to facilities across the United States without a single loss

of life attributed to the lack of medical attention.

In addition, VA staff members volunteered thousands of hours of their time to assist veterans and other citizens in the affected communities to ensure that the aftermath of this storm and the response could go as smoothly as possible.

Right now, the current situation is that thousands of veterans are being forced to drive a long distance or do without the health care they need. The President initially requested over $600 million to rebuild the medical center in addition to the previous $75 million that was included in the December supplemental for planning and land acquisition.

This is an important facility for the VA. I also want to commend the VA for working together with LSU, which operates the city's Charity Hospital. They have announced an intent to try to work together to construct a shared facility, so the new hospital would have the economies of scale, for example, sharing potentially laundries and other facilities with the State hospital that will also need to be rehabilitated, maybe even rebuilt before it reopens. It is crucial to restore this funding; it is crucial that we get this hospital open as quickly as possible.

I do intend to yield to one of my colleagues. It is my understanding in working with the committee, that they will work with me to ensure that the VA does have the funds they need to reopen this facility in its entirety. I think there was some discussion about the adequacy of the funds, and there was some analysis of how much funds would actually be needed to reopen this facility.

I yield to the gentleman from New York.

I want to thank my colleague and thank the committee. With this agreement, I am willing to withdraw this amendment.

My understanding was there was some confusion in the initial estimates about the actual cost of constructing a parking garage that might have caused an inflated estimate.

I do thank my colleagues for being willing to work with me to make sure this facility is reconstructed as quickly as possible so the veterans can get the health care they deserve. I thank my colleagues. I thank the Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I again intend to offer and then withdraw this amendment pursuant to a colloquy with my colleagues.

The purpose of this amendment, but before I do that, I want to explain the rationale and importance of this amendment. I have offered an amendment to provide funding requested in the amount of $142 million to allow the reconstruction of the National Guard facilities in New Orleans, Louisiana. Replacement of these facilities are absolutely critical for the function of the Louisiana Army National Guard.

Hurricane Katrina severely damaged these facilities, so that they must be replaced. These units are now currently in temporary interim facilities and have less than half the required training area and storage facilities. These makeshift facilities are overcrowded and disjointed in terms of the capacities they offer. Proper facilities need to be constructed immediately to prevent further deterioration of the equipment.

On August 29, 2005, the Jackson Barracks, in particular, suffered massive flooding from Hurricane Katrina. Several weeks later, after the floodwaters had subsided from the hurricane, the readiness centers were again flooded from Hurricane Rita. Together these two hurricanes caused extreme catastrophic damage to the readiness centers that housed the Joint Force Headquarters and the 1/141 Field Artillery Battalion. Portions of each facility were completely destroyed, suffering from building collapses, collapses as a result of the storm's wind, rains and floodwaters.

The damage inflicted upon the readiness center and all other facilities on the Jackson Barracks has rendered them completely useless. The 512 soldiers of the Field Artillery Battalion and the 216 soldiers of the Joint Forces Headquarters are now operating out of small corner spaces in numerous buildings spread across the State of Louisiana until interim facilities can be provided for these units affected by these hurricanes.

These interim facilities should be ready for use in a few short months. However, they will be nothing close to what is authorized or required to provide for mission ready combat units of the United States Army. The Field Artillery Battalion will have less than a quarter of its authorized square feet required for unit training assemblies and a readiness center for a unit of its size. This is the space needed to provide the facilities needed for the unit to meet its wartime training requirements.

The unit will share this space with another unit as well. Not only will it have a quarter of the space, it will be sharing the space with another unit. This heavily cramped facility, though, we are grateful for this in the aftermath of the storm, will hardly satisfy the long- term mission capability for the two units.

Over time, readiness levels to meet training requirements, retention and recruiting will all suffer greatly. Moreover space required to store unit equipment is insufficient. These same issues have also plagued the Joint Force Headquarters.

The post-hurricane plan for the Joint Force Headquarters has resulted in splitting the headquarters into several locations. This strategy is important for recovery of the State. However, facilities for the operation of the headquarters are not available to consolidate the organization at each location. These long-term operations will not be acceptable as this will result in critical management issues for the Joint Headquarters mission providing command and control to the Louisiana National Guard. This will result in poor oversight provided by the headquarters which could significantly affect the readiness for the National Guard.

My amendment seeks to restore the administration's request to rebuild these facilities in New Orleans. Replacement of these facilities should be provided to sustain the readiness posture of the Louisiana Army National Guard. Hurricane Katrina has severely damaged the facilities and these facilities must be replaced, and certainly, we need to send a signal to the Guard that we want to help them increase their readiness even before next hurricane season.

Many of my colleagues have done me the honor and privilege of coming to my state on CODELs to see the damage. Many of you have landed at Jackson Barracks and been accompanied by Louisiana Army National Guard members on your tours. Many of you have seen the heroic footage of what they did in the aftermath of the storm to rescue people out of the water. Many of you are very aware of their extreme sacrifice serving us overseas in Iraq.

Mr. Chairman, I want to enter into a colloquy with my colleagues. My understanding is the committee will work

with me once information is provided from the Louisiana Army National Guard to make sure that these facilities are indeed rebuilt and repaired.

I yield to the gentleman from New York.

I want to thank the gentleman and my colleagues. Based on their commitment to work with me to make sure we do provide the funding to rebuild the facilities, my understanding is there are some questions that need to be answered and some additional information that needs to be obtained, but once that information is obtained, that we are confident we can do that before conference.

Based on that, I will seek unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment. Before I do that, I want to thank my colleagues on the committee for working with me on each of my three amendments.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. Speaker, it is my unique privilege today to have the rare opportunity to recognize and honor a truly great organization, the Pastor's Resource Council (PRC), and the work of the PRC Compassion. Formed several years ago, the PRC comprises of a coalition of churches and pastors who united together in order to provide relief to the community whenever necessary. For the past several years, the PRC has been playing an indispensable role in serving communities affected by the ravages of natural disasters whether it was through providing shelter to the homeless, food to the hungry, or offering spiritual comfort and guidance to those who needed it among a myriad of other services. True to its name, the PRC has always been there for the people of Louisiana to lend a compassionate, helping hand in the most difficult of times.

The tragedy inflicted upon us by the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was certainly no exception. As Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc and destruction over the peoples of the state of Louisiana, PRC once again answered the call of duty and courageous pastors, priests, and other ministers, united in the cause of humanity and service, promptly organized on September 1, 2005 as ``PRC Compassion'' to provide immediate response to the disasters through compassion and inspiring hope. According to its mission, PRC Compassion coordinates national, state, and local faith and community-based organizations to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of people impacted by Hurricane Katrina. PRC Compassion has worked tirelessly and selflessly to assist those disaster stricken communities in a number of different capacities. The organization's accomplishments in the face of such adversity cannot be overstated: 1,801,200 people served; 253,260 volunteer hours logged; 17,220 tons of food, water and supplies distributed; 11,480 evacuees sheltered; 10,152 volunteers deployed; 4,500 medical encounters facilitated; 676 trained counselors and chaplains mobilized; 250 faith based organizations involved; 84 faith based shelters established; and 16 stress management teams deployed. The organization continues to assist the community today.

While words cannot adequately encapsulate the gratitude and debt the people of Louisiana and the rest of the country owe to this incredible organization, we can pay tribute to the heroic men and women of PRC Compassion by formally recognizing and acknowledging the caliber and breadth of their service to the people of Louisiana. It is for that reason I am pleased to recognize and commend the heroic, timely, and selfless actions and prayers of the faith community, particularly the actions and prayers of PRC Compassion, in providing assistance and support to the citizens of Louisiana who were displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While each and every member of PRC Compassion deserves this commendation, I must also recognize the able leadership of the PRC Compassion's Board of Directors, namely Pastor Larry Stockstill of Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, LA; Pastor Fred Luter of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, LA; Pastor Jacob Aranza of Our Savior's Church in Lafayette, LA; Pastor Steve Robinson of Church of the King in Mandeville, LA; Pastor Dennis Watson of Celebration Church in New Orleans, LA; Apostle Willie Wooten of Gideon Christian Fellowship in New Orleans, LA; Dr. Jere Melilli of Christian Life Fellowship in Baton Rouge, LA; and Pastor Dino Rizzo of Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, LA.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be able to recognize and commend PRC Compassion, who went well above and beyond the call of duty in assisting the peoples of Louisiana during their hour of need.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the private support that has been delivered to my home State of Louisiana following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Ford and Dodge motor companies donated dozens of vehicles to first responders in my State.

In addition, one of the greatest examples of support, though not the only example, came from Wal-Mart. I want to take a moment to tell you about it. It is easy to tell you of their generosity. Wal-Mart donated over $17 million to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, the Salvation Army and the Red Cross. They donated $3.5 million worth of merchandise to shelters and command centers throughout the Gulf Coast region. They provided $20,000 in cash donations to animal shelters across the region. They provided 150 Internet-ready computers to shelters across the region to help loved ones stay in contact. They donated use of 25 vacant facilities for use by relief agencies. Their customers have donated more than $8.5 million in stores across the country.

The best thing I can do is share a brief story that was told to me by the men and women on the ground. Wal-Mart told officials and first responders, We don't have staff on the ground, they have all evacuated, but come in, take what you need, just shut the door after you leave.

It took our government days to provide what Wal-Mart and other private companies did in those first few hours.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3975) to ease the provision of services to individuals affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3975.

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

I rise in support of H.R. 3975, the Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act of 2005. This bill will provide much-needed flexibility and regulatory relief to help the students, schools, workers, families and communities affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

While the recovery effort on the gulf coast is well underway, there is still a significant amount of work yet to be done. In my home State of Louisiana, educational services at all levels have been severely impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Unfortunately, we are finding the bureaucratic inefficiencies and red tape have a tendency to slow the efforts of individuals and communities working to rebuild. Entire communities have been uprooted by these unprecedented natural disasters, and we must work to ensure that bureaucratic red tape does not hamper efforts to restore the region.

Accordingly, I have introduced the Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act of 2005 to provide commonsense solutions and flexibility that will help affected students, schools, workers, families and communities bypass the bureaucracy and move forward with the recovery effort.

In general, this bill eases restrictions and provides flexibility for various programs and initiatives administered by the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and, finally, the Department of Labor. For an unlimited period of time, H.R. 3975 increases flexibility for elementary and secondary schools and teachers; provides assistance for higher education students; expands access to child care and early childhood education; promotes community-based services; and addresses issues related to workers displaced by the hurricanes.

H.R. 3975 would ease some financial requirements, such as maintenance of effort and supplement not supplant funding requirements for K-12 schools in the impacted gulf coast region. Easing these requirements would ensure States and schools can serve students effectively with the resources available. The bill also gives these schools more time with regard to special education evaluations and reporting requirements. By extending, but not

waiving, these deadlines, States and schools would have the flexibility they need to ensure the affected students will have access to the services they need.

To address the specific needs of teachers, the Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act would expand opportunities for quality teachers to serve displaced students. For 1 year, the bill would allow teachers that meet the highly qualified standard in an affected state to be considered highly qualified in other States that are serving large numbers of displaced students where they may be temporarily teaching.

The bill would also help special education teachers by expanding the paperwork reduction pilot program under the Disabilities Education Act to include States affected by the hurricanes.

To assist higher education students, H.R. 3975 would expand outreach efforts to ensure disadvantaged students and families have access to information about financial aid that may be available as they pursue higher education. The bill requires colleges and universities to adjust financial aid award calculations through the expected family contribution, taking into account changes in families' financial circumstances caused by the hurricanes. H.R. 3975 would also encourage institutions of higher education to ease the process for displaced students to transfer the academic credits they have earned and to continue their studies as the region rebuilds.

With regard to child care services and early childhood education, the Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act would ease Federal requirements for State administration of the child care and development block grant to give affected families easier access to child care service. Additionally, H.R. 3975 would ensure that displaced children have access to Head Start by requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to provide additional guidance, technical assistance, flexibility and resources to affected areas to ensure children impacted by the hurricanes will have access to the educational and comprehensive services provided through the Head Start program.

To promote community-based services, H.R. 3975 would provide additional flexibility within the community services block grant program by allowing a State to send a portion of its discretionary funds to a State directly affected by the hurricanes.

The Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act also includes several modest but important provisions to provide greater flexibility to those in need and to ensure that bureaucratic red tape does not impede relief and recovery efforts.

So that those who may need to are able to obtain loans or distributions from their pension plans, such as 401(k)s, the bill provides new authority to supplement the Secretary of Labor's existing authority under section 518 of ERISA by authorizing the Secretary to waive, suspend or grant an exemption from any provision of ERISA, or regulation issued under the Act, if the Secretary determines that doing so would facilitate the distribution or loan of individual account plan assets to participants and beneficiaries affected by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita. This commonsense provision makes clear that compliance with the terms of a waiver, suspension or exemption would safeguard a person from liability regarding any action or omission covered under them.

In addition, to speed and facilitate recovery efforts, while maintaining important safety protections for workers engaged in reconstruction, the Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act includes several amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

First, the bill expressly provides that the Secretary of Labor may utilize the services of volunteers to assist in the recovery effort, a practice often impossible under current law.

Second, the legislation authorizes the Secretary to use OSHA funds to purchase and distribute equipment and supplies to public and private entities assisting in hurricane-related recovery.

Finally, the bill waives current law matching requirements for certain grants so that States that maintain their own occupational safety and health system may contribute supplies and assistance in relief efforts.

The Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act provides flexibility and regulatory relief to help students, schools, workers, families and communities affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This bill is narrowly tailored and makes commonsense changes to these various statutes for a limited amount of time so we can help reduce many burdensome bureaucratic processes that are associated with our relief efforts.

As former president of the University of Louisiana system, I truly understand the need to be flexible, responsive and to help the neediest students and the affected institutions in their time of need. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3975, the Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act of 2005.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank my colleagues across the aisle, as well, for working with us on what I think is a small, but important, step towards regulatory relief in my home State and the other impacted States along the gulf coast. Obviously, we have much more work that remains to be done.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I certainly urge passage of H.R. 3975.

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the substitute and in favor of the underlying bill.

An amendment offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Radanovich) in committee, which was accepted without objection, will allow local officials to perform vital work needed to prevent the potential threat of catastrophic flooding. I rise in opposition because this needed amendment is stripped out of the substitute.

We know how complex Federal bureaucracy can be, but in times of emergency nothing is more important than human health and safety. My disaster declaration and protection provision in this bill must be preserved.

When critical levee repairs are needed to protect human life, time is of the essence. Appropriate action to repair levees must be done quickly and cannot be delayed by cumbersome paperwork and bureaucracy. The ESA must be made flexible enough to allow timely repair and maintenance of levees before disaster strikes. Any efforts to improve ESA must include this provision which recognizes protecting the public from impending danger must take priority.

The amendment that I offered recognizes that when critical repair, reconstruction, or improvements to levee systems are needed, the Federal Government should not be an impediment to targeted, urgent public safety work that must happen.

The amendment that we offered frees local agencies from lengthy processes only for those projects where critical repairs are needed to avoid the loss of human life due to natural disaster. Current agency regulations only allow for an expedited consultation in a Presidentially declared disaster area for levee repair, but they only allow that after flood waters have topped or broken through levees and devastated the communities that they are designed to protect.

The amendment that we offered in committee is narrowly tailored to give local flood protection officials the same flexibility to make needed repairs; but importantly, it does so before the onset of deadly flooding.

It is ironic that the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries have recently implemented emergency procedures enabling them to expedite the otherwise lengthy consultation process that has to occur before the reconstruction of levees and other flood protection infrastructure ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Thank God they did implement these procedures, because time is of the essence.

Remarkably, however, these emergency guidelines are only invoked after disaster strikes. There is no provision under existing law that allows for emergency measures to be taken prior to the onset of danger. The Federal Government will only expedite vital repair work that will protect people from deadly floodwaters if they first suffer the calamity that we are trying to avoid.

My colleague advised in California back in 1990 and 1991, the Corps of Engineers warned the community that their levees needed repair work. It took 6 years. Tragically, right as they got approval, a flood occurred and three people lost their lives. We must not allow this kind of avoidable tragedy to happen again.

The amendment that we offered reflects the commonsense notion that local flood protection districts should not have to haggle with Federal agencies for more than 6 years to repair a levee, particularly when that levee has been designated as posing a potential threat to human life. For that reason, I stand opposed to the substitute.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3863) to provide the Secretary of Education with waiver authority for the reallocation rules in the Campus-Based Aid programs, and to extend the deadline by which funds have to be reallocated to institutions of higher education due to a natural disaster, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3863.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in support of H.R. 3863.

In my home State of Louisiana, several institutions of higher education have been impacted by both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, literally dozens across the entire State.

The bill we are discussing today addresses an approaching deadline for the Department of Education that requires the Department to redistribute campus-based aid funds.

Currently, campus-based aid funds include the Federal Work Study program, Perkins loans, and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants.

Currently, schools that have additional campus-based aid funds are required to return those funds to the Department. Under current law, after September 30, the Department is required to redistribute the funds to schools all over the country.

This bill we are discussing today would extend the September 30 deadline to allow the Department to recapture unspent funds and reallocate them to the institutions that have taken in students from Louisiana, from Mississippi, from Alabama, and from Texas.

In addition, the bill would allow the Department to give additional campus-based aid funds to colleges in the affected States when they got up and running again.

Waiving the Federal matching requirements will assist the financially strapped institutions since the affected schools do not have matching funds that are currently required to receive this funding.

The authority granted to the Secretary in this bill is important to ensure that the affected institutions in the gulf coast region do not experience additional financial strain and provides assistance to get them back on their feet.

As the former president of the University of Louisiana system, a system that comprises universities and colleges that have been impacted directly by the storm, I truly understand the need to be flexible and responsive and to help the neediest students in the affected institutions in their time of need.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

I am certainly sympathetic to what the gentleman and my colleague have both referred to in terms of the provision in H.R. 609. Indeed, I was one of the Republicans that actually voted for his amendment.

However, my understanding from the majority on the committee, the rationale for the current language in H.R. 609, is that right now campuses are keeping the financial aid they receive regardless of the number of needy students they have enrolled on campus. The intent behind H.R. 609 is, over a number of years, phase this out and allow the funds to actually follow the needy students to whatever campuses they may be on.

Regardless of the merits of both sides of this issue, certainly today we are here to talk about a provision that will help those institutions impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I want to, first of all, thank my colleagues both in the majority and across the aisle for their support for today's legislation.

Certainly, nobody thinks today's legislation will solve all the problems facing institutions of higher education in Louisiana, in Texas, and Mississippi and Alabama; but today, with consideration of this legislation, I do think we are taking an important step forward.

I also want to thank the Members across the aisle and the members of my committee and the chairman in particular for not only moving so quickly on this legislation but for, lastly, moving so quickly on another piece of legislation that helps students directly, waiving some of the requirements that they repay their Pell grants and their other financial assistance if their studies were interrupted by Hurricane Katrina.

I certainly think with the steps we are taking today, we are providing quick, flexible relief, both to students in great need, but also their institutions of higher education.

I have literally spent hours visiting with the leaders of these various institutions, campus presidents, with students visiting some of the impacted campuses, and there are questions in their minds regarding how they are to continue their studies, how are they going to continue their payrolls, how are they going to get their facilities back in preparation for welcoming students back to continuing their studies and their research as the rebuilding process continues.

Again, as a former president of a university system, I know how important these institutions are to the vitality, the economic growth, and the well-being of the region and the families that have been so devastated by these hurricanes. So I certainly thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their bipartisan support for this legislation, and I want to thank the chairman and the House for moving so quickly.

Again, this is not a comprehensive solution, but it is, again, a very important first step forward.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner) for allowing this bill to move so quickly and their time today.

An awful thing happened in my district and an awful thing happened in Louisiana, in Mississippi, and in Alabama. The people of my district, the people of my State, the people of the Gulf Coast have been hit not once but three different times. Many of them that survived the original Hurricane Katrina were then hit by the rising flood waters due to a levee that broke, a levee that is actually located within my district and just a few miles from my home.

Many people that survived the rising flood waters were then victimized a third time by the awful acts of a small number of looters, of people committing violence, and also a lack of basic food, shelter and medicines. We, as a body, owe it to these people to make sure they are not victimized yet again, a fourth time.

That is why I am so proud to be able to sponsor this legislation with so many co-sponsors. That is why I am so proud of my chairman, of the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany), and the others that have seen and understood the potentially devastating impact this hurricane might have on thousands of students and their families.

Many students attending colleges and universities when the hurricane hit have now found it necessary to withdraw from college due to the impact the storm has had on their homes, job, and families. Indeed, many universities in the city of New Orleans are still struggling to figure out how or whether they are going to resume classes in the fall. Not every institution has decided to offer fall classes. So not only are families displaced, not only are many families without their homes, their possessions, many universities and colleges have not yet figured out how they are going to resume or when they are going to resume their instructions.

Indeed, many of these institutions, many of these administrators have not been able to go back and inspect their buildings, inspect the damage, to even know what is left. The records, the buildings, the facilities, many of them are still unreachable and still inaccessible.

Under current law, the Higher Education Act and our Federal financial aid regulations require the schools determine whether students need to refund a portion of the Federal aid they receive in the case of a withdrawal. Our current regulations certainly did not anticipate I think this kind of catastrophe.

The rationale behind the bill we have crafted, my bill, was to do it narrowly and responsibly to protect low-income students who are forced to withdraw from school because of a federally declared natural disaster. My bill would grant the Secretary of Education the waiver authority for purposes of the return of title IV formula funds in the case of a natural disaster in case that natural disaster adversely impacts title IV grant and scholarship recipients and forces them to withdraw from their institution of higher education.

Yesterday, I was proud of this House for passing the Keller bill that grants similar waiver authority for the return of Pell grant funds also in the case of a natural disaster. This bill goes a step further. That is a great first step. This bill builds on that bill. This bill allows us to go a step further and provides waiver authority for additional scholarship and grant funds under title IV.

What do I mean by that? This includes funds like TRIO scholarships, GEAR UP money, Byrd Scholarships, LEAP funds. This bill, in essence, gives the Secretary of Education the ability to exercise the waiver authority in the event of a natural disaster declared by the President. It is the same authority that exists for the student loan program. This waiver authority also exists currently for institutions of higher education; similar waiver authority exists for institutions of higher education that are adversely impacted by natural disasters.

However, even though there is waiver authority for loans, even though there is waiver authority for the institutions, there is currently no authority for the Secretary of Education to work with the Nation's neediest students in times of catastrophe caused by natural disasters. This authority is important.

It allows the Secretary of Education to ensure that our Nation's neediest students are not put in a worse financial situation where they are forced to withdraw from a natural disaster.

In a previous position, I actually served as the President of the University of Louisiana, the University of Louisiana system. In that system was Delgado Community College. Delgado was located in one of the areas most severely impacted, quite literally in the heart of New Orleans, most severely impacted by the rising waters, by the hurricane.

Also in my system was the Southeastern University, Southeastern Louisiana University, another university located in a region that was hit fairly hard. To their credit, the faculty, the president, the staff have been focused on rescue and recovery efforts. Southeastern has opened up its dorms to house those that had nowhere else to go. They are working with students to welcome them back to campus, sometimes allowing them to bring their families who are otherwise homeless, allowing them to bend the rules to meet human needs.

I think we as a body have an obligation to do the same thing. Instead of just sticking to the red tape, sticking to the rules, we have an obligation to be flexible, to be responsive, to help these neediest students in their time of need.

I am proud of the chairman. I am proud of the different cosponsors. I certainly hope that this passes later today with a unanimous vote from this body to send a strong bipartisan message that we want to help students in need; we do not want them to be victims again. They have suffered through a hurricane. They have suffered through a flood. They have suffered enough. Let us not make them victims a fourth time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Lafayette not only for recognizing me but also for his volunteer efforts and his community's hospitality to so many thousands of dislocated residents of my own district.

Mr. Speaker, I want to share with this body that, first of all, the pictures do not do the suffering justice. I have been spending the last several days in the water, in helicopters, in boats, on land, just trying to help bring comfort

and trying to bring relief to the people of southeast Louisiana. The pictures do not do the suffering justice.

Yet there are some lessons that we have learned. Many of you have heard me share very specific frustrations about what has worked and what has not worked. Certainly we can learn from the red tape and the bureaucracy where aid could have been delivered more quickly, where relief could have been provided in a more efficient way.

But I am not here just to point out what did not work, and there are many examples where red tape and bureaucracy got in the way. I am also here to say a big thank you. I am here to offer on behalf of my district our sincere gratitude to the people of Baton Rouge and Lafayette; to the people of Texas and Arkansas; to the people across the country who literally took in thousands of evacuees, people who were forced, like myself, to leave our homes.

The State of Texas took in over 220,000 people. They did not ask how are we going to do this. They literally opened their homes, opened their wallets, opened their hearts to create temporary housing, to create health care, to create opportunities for people to find comfort.

I want to say thank you to the medical volunteers that rushed into harm's way. I want to say thank you to the first responders, the sheriffs' deputies, the law enforcement officials, the Coast Guard officials, Wildlife and Fisheries officials, those that have been working 7, 8, 9, 10 days without relief, without rest. Many of these heroes have no idea what happened to their own property. Many of these heroes have been separated from their own families. Yet they worked tirelessly to provide relief to others.

I want to say thank you to our National Guardsmen. If ever before we needed yet another reminder of the true heroism of our military, we saw tens of thousands of men and women on the ground in the most dangerous circumstances, thinking not of themselves, but of others.

I want to say thank you to the entire communities that pulled together, with the sheriffs, the mayors in my districts, who had so little, and yet reached out to their colleagues to share what they had, literally patching together impromptu communications systems, food supply systems, and other systems. Those that had the least shared the most.

I want to say thank you to all these people. We have been reminded again what a great and powerful country America really is.

I want to say thank you to the private sector. We called on Ford Motor Company to provide overnight search and rescue vehicles to first responders, and they did that. I want to say thank you to the bottling companies that sent the water, the food, the supplies, Anheuser Busch and the many other companies. I want to say thank you to Lamar for providing the tarps to cover people's homes.

I want to say thank you to all the companies like Verizon, Wal-Mart and others, the pharmaceutical companies and small businesses that opened their stores, opened their warehouses, provided during this time of need without any concern for compensation, without any concern for anything other than helping their fellow man.

I want to thank all those employers that have done so much work to find their missing employees, to set up shelters to truly meet our needs during this devastating tragedy.

I also want to comment on the amazing spontaneous effort by our faith-based community. Churches all over our State, all over our Nation literally opened their doors, made room in their pews, made room in their sanctuaries for families. One church, Healing Place in Baton Rouge, literally put up hand-lettered signs the day of and the day after the hurricane saying: ``If you need water, if you need food, if you need shelter, come here.''

We have private individuals across the State and now even outside the State that organized a network for people with extra bedrooms, extra places in their own homes to take in complete strangers.

Again, in this tragedy we have seen on TV and in national images some of the very worst behavior. And yet these are the very few, those that choose to be obstructionists to get in the way of the relief efforts, a very few who resorted to violence. They were outnumbered greatly by the tremendous number of people who opened their doors, opened their hearts, opened their wallets.

Let us not let the images of a small number of people who out of frustration or for whatever other reasons became violent, became obstructionists, let us not let them be the final story of Hurricane Katrina. Let us look to the churches, let us look to the first responders, let us look to the National Guard, let us look to the communities in Texas, in Arkansas, across the country, that have been so generous.

Now I want to say a word to this body about what comes next. We are still rescuing people from the water and off the rooftops. We have an obligation to bring people to safety. We have an obligation to cut through the red tape and bring people housing, make sure that people know where their kids will go to school, how they get their health care. We also have an obligation to rebuild. We have an obligation to rebuild southeast Louisiana.

But shame on us if we also at the same time we preserve and rebuild what was good in southeast Louisiana, we also rebuild what was bad. Shame on us if we do not use this as an opportunity to rebuild a better health care system, a better educational system, a better economy, better paying jobs for the people that are coming back. We want every single person to come back to a better city, to a better region.

We had problems in New Orleans and in southeast Louisiana before the hurricane. We had problems with education, we had problems with health care, we had problems with crime, we had problems in our economy. Things were getting better, but more can be done.

I want to say thank you to those who have been so generous; but I want to urge this body as we are generous in our response, let us keep our eye also on saving lives, but also on rebuilding a better city, a better region.

God bless Louisiana.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise both with a grateful and also a heavy heart. I rise with a grateful heart and I want to thank my colleagues for their speedy consideration of this resolution. I rise with a heavy heart because of the untimely passing of not only a colleague, but a friend.

I first met John Hainkel well over a decade ago, and at that point he had already been involved in elected politics for well over three decades. Senator Hainkel, as you already heard, accomplished many significant things in his public career. Indeed, he was the only person in Louisiana's history to be elected both speaker of the house and president of our senate.

His broad-based appeal, however, extended beyond party lines. He was elected as speaker of the house, serving as a Democrat, with the active support of Louisiana's first Republican Governor elected in modern times. He then went on to serve, when I first met him, as chairman of the senate budget committee as a Republican, even though two-thirds of the senate at that time was comprised of Democrats. Indeed, when he served as president of the senate as a Republican, two-thirds of the senate in Louisiana at the time was comprised of Democratic members. I think that fact alone shows his bipartisan support, his broad appeal to many senators and representatives.

The reason he commanded such respect was the fact that he brought integrity, the fact he brought humor, wit, the fact that he brought fashion to the daily legislative tasks.

But John was more than just a senator, he was more than just a legislator. Indeed, he was very accomplished in those arenas. Senator Hainkel not only worked with Pat Taylor to bring about Louisiana's TOPS bill, which provides access for students to higher education, but he championed many budget reforms, helping to turn deficits into surpluses, helping to reform our State's health care system and helping to revive our State's economy.

But his accomplishments outside the legislature were almost as noteworthy as his accomplishments inside the legislature. John was also not only a dedicated senator, a dedicated representative, he was also a dedicated Tulane fan. I know that he watched from above as his Green Wave served him well in Omaha and went on to do so well in the College World Series. I know that he will still be watching them season after season, just with slightly better seats than he had before.

Indeed, Senator Hainkel was known for his friendship and was known for reaching out to new members of the bodies in which he served, to new members of the administration. He truly brought a passion and an attitude of public servant leadership that too often is missing from our elected halls. He brought a spirit of bipartisanship, a spirit of love for his home State of Louisiana.

Several things have been said about Senator Hainkel and the years of service he offered my State. I also want to note that he is survived by his son, John J. Hainkel, III, his daughter, Juliet Hainkel Holton, his other daughter, Alida Hainkel Furr, and by five grandchildren. I know his family brought him much joy. I know they, like I, am very saddened by his untimely and his early departure.

It is hard, it would be really impossible, to overstate the amount of affection and respect that Senator Hainkel engendered not only in his home district, but the home State of Louisiana. Whether you were with him or against him on a particular legislation, and I was in both places, whether you were with him or against him in a particular election, and I was in both places, he was always a worthy friend and a worthy opponent.

I can certainly think of nothing that would be more appropriate than naming, at least as a small tribute to him, this post office in Hammond, Louisiana, that was within the district he represented in the senate. Indeed, there is a spirited election to replace him now. Two very distinguished women are seeking that post. Though either one of them will serve well, neither of them will be truly able to succeed and replace the giant that was John Hainkel.

I want to thank my colleagues again for their support.