Floor Statements

Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Ben Nelson of Nebraska, an amendment numbered 1732.

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

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, too often, the civil servants who make a State run properly do not get the recognition they deserve. Arthur ``Art'' Edward Bernard is one of those men. Today, I rise to honor a man who has left a lasting impact on Nevada through his work in government.

Art Bernard was raised in the mining camps of Utah before striking out on his own at the age of 16. His travels brought him to the Bristol Mine in Pioche, NV. There, he worked in the hardscrabble world of ``mucking'' or loading the ore carts. Mucking is all about brute strength, and Art won mucking contests throughout Nevada. The toughness and tenacity he showed as a miner served Art well in his appointment as State Mine Inspector in 1947. In this capacity, he worked to improve the safety standards of the mines.

His work was noticed by Governor Charles Russell, and Art was appointed warden of the Nevada State Prison in 1950. At first, Art had doubts about his new position because he had no previous experience in the prison system. Like any good miner, Art refused to become discouraged, and he embraced the new challenges of his position.

Art's tenure could not have come at a better time for the Nevada State prison; he navigated the tumultuous changes occurring in prisons across the country. Demanding better living conditions, prisoners across the country rioted and the Nevada State prison was no different. Rioting prisoners demanded to see the Governor, but Art refused to cave to their demands. Instead, he barricaded the prisoners in the prison yard for 3 days until the protest disbanded peacefully.

As part of the settlement, Art allowed a commission of three prisoners, called the ``three wise men,'' to submit prison grievances directly to him. Art viewed the inmates as students at what he dubbed ``Greystone U.'' Over the years, Art developed a close relationship with the inmates, and he made himself available to any inmate who wanted to see him during daily walks around the grounds. He worked to improve the quality of life at the prison by establishing a boxing program for the inmates and a prison orchestra.

Art's revolutionary ideas jump started the work program at the Nevada State prison. Art applied his mining background to prison life when he started a rock quarry for the prisoners. Each new prisoner was responsible for a certain quota from the quarry each day. In addition, Art allowed prisoners to work on local ranches and farms as laborers, and the prison received local produce and supplies for the prison in exchange. The prison labor exchange was not the only way Art saved Nevada taxpayer dollars. He also used prison labor to build new facilities at the Nevada State prison.

Art served Nevada in a great time of need and helped modernize Nevada's prison operations with the strength and tenacity that he learned from mining camps across my State. Most importantly, Art sought to improve the lives and treatment of prisoners when other prison systems were languishing with inferior standards and facilities.

Art's contributions to Nevada did not stop after his retirement. Recently, Art finished interviews about his life with the Nevada Mining Oral History project. Future generations will be able to hear about Art's years spent in mines across Nevada, in addition to stories about prison life at ``Greystone U.'' This oral history is another contribution to Nevada history from a man who helped to shape my State. Nevada is a better place because of men like Art Bernard, and he deserves recognition today before the Senate.

Mr. President, in accordance with rule V of the standing rules of the Senate, I hereby give notice in writing on behalf of myself and Senator Bingaman that it is our intention to move to suspend paragraph 4 of rule XVI for the purpose of proposing to the bill, H.R. 2862, The Science, State, Justice, Commerce Appropriations Bill, the following amendment: No. 1706.

(The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of Amendments.'')

amendment no. 1660

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

Mr. President, I would ask Senator Inhofe and Senator Leahy if we could start the 20 minutes now.

Parliamentary inquiry: Do we have a vote set?

I ask unanimous consent I be able to speak--I hope to finish in 5 minutes, but if I don't, I ask consent I be allowed to complete my statement before the vote.

Mr. President, I understand the consternation of the distinguished majority leader. I spend a lot of time with him. It is hard to manage this unwieldy body. I understand that. I try to help as I can. Sometimes I am not as much help as he would like.

Take, for example, this bill. We have been working on this bill and I am convinced the end is in sight for this bill. I don't know the exact number. There are probably five or six Katrina-related amendments on this bill. They are good amendments if they relate to spending on Katrina for the victims, education, housing, medical. We should vote on those. If there is a problem with them, work with our managers.

For example, we tried to accept the amendment related to medical that came over from the House. We cannot do that. Even on Public Radio this morning--not actually a bastion of democratic liberality--Public Radio had an example of what the bill passed

in the House would do or not do. They give an example of a woman who is from Louisiana who was sent to the Astrodome, 55 years old, heart condition, diabetes. Under the House provision we have now, she could not get help. Under our provision, she could. We are trying to help the people who got hurt, and there are a lot of people who got hurt.

I agree we need to do more on these appropriations bills. We should not have a big omnibus bill. I was happy to see the distinguished Senator from Mississippi, the senior Senator from Mississippi, the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, say he did not want an omnibus bill. I congratulate him.

However, I say to my friend, and I have said this privately and I will say it publicly to the distinguished majority leader, we have to get conferences done on the appropriations bills. I, along with Senator Domenici, have done the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee for many years. We have never had figures like this. We cannot go to conference. The House refuses to sit down and talk to us. We have to work this out. Among other things in the Energy and Water appropriations bill, we fund the Corps of Engineers. We are going to go this year on some kind of a continuing resolution and not take care of the Corps of Engineers and the other matters within the confines of that subcommittee? We should not do that.

We have not done anything with Homeland Security. If there was ever a time in the history of this country where we could have a civilized conference between the House and the Senate and take care of the Homeland Security appropriations bills, this should be the time. Let's get that done. That should not be an omnibus.

Foreign operations bill, my Energy and Water Subcommittee, July, August--it has been there for 60 days and we have not done anything. I spoke to the distinguished majority leader a few minutes ago and he suggested three of his top staff people and my top staff people see what we can do to focus on some of the things on Katrina. We can never get to the victims of Katrina unless we have floor time to do it-- whether they come from committees or amendments offered by Members from the floor.

So I would hope we could finish the bill before us, the Commerce bill. We should do that. There is an amendment dealing with COPS. We would have to waive the budget on that one. We know it takes 60 votes to do that. I understand there is one on small business they are about ready to work out. There is a possibility that can be worked out. So I would hope there wouldn't be a cloture motion filed on this bill. I think we are about to finish it. But I cannot control that.

I want the Record to be spread with this: We are willing to work late, early--it does not matter--toward what we think needs to be done to help the gulf victims.

I would also say we have lived up to our bargain on Judge Roberts. We made a commitment to those involved that we would do our utmost to finish this by the beginning of the October term in the Court. I think we are along the road to doing that. We have not in any way thrown up any roadblocks. We have tried to cooperate.

We realize we are in the minority, but we realize we are also in the Senate that is a body governed by rules that give the minority the power to do a lot of things. We are going to continue to do a lot of things to see if we can move this along.

But I say to the distinguished majority leader, we will be as helpful as we can. Hopefully, we can work more together than apart. I think that would be good for the country. I think the country is looking for some good bipartisanship.

Mr. President, I yield to the distinguished floor manager of the bill.

I am aware of the non-Katrina amendments. As I indicated, some of those I think, with the two managers, can be worked out. The others will not be able to be worked out. They will go the way of amendments that are not able to be brought before the Senate.

I think the point of the distinguished Senator is we can finish this bill fairly quickly.

Yes.

Mr. President, I say to my dear friend, the senior Senator from Alabama, I agree that we need to make sure that money goes to the people who need it. That is what we are trying to do. We have not had the ability to bring Katrina amendments to the floor and act on them. That is what we need to do.

It is not as if we were working in a vacuum. We have a model we know works. After 9/11, we worked in a bipartisan fashion and created legislation that was unique. But most important to the families of the 3,000-plus people who got killed, plus the fact there were billions of dollars in damages, we did $20 billion worth within a matter of days to get relief to the people of New York, the people of Virginia.

So we know how to effectively address issues of concern. We have done that in the past. We relied then on committees to produce legislation through the regular process. I believe that is what I heard the majority leader say. We are willing to do that. But in following through on that, we have to be able to have some time on the floor to debate and vote on those issues. That is what we need to do.

Although there are a few exceptions to this, for the most part, the majority has not followed this process, and we have not been permitted an opportunity to address these issues on the Senate floor. We have been trying for 2 weeks to do that.

So let's empower every one of our chairmen and ranking members to sit down together and see what the committees can produce to address the needs of the survivors in the communities hit by this catastrophe. And then let's commit to give them the floor time to deal with their legislation. We badly need to do that.

Yes, we have had two emergency supplemental appropriations bills for more than $60 billion, but a lot of that money cannot go to the people who need it because it is illegal. We want to refine the law so we can get people the money they need.

I apologize to everyone. I know there is a vote pending. I have said enough. I hope I made my point.

Amendment No. 1661

Mr. President, in accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby give notice in writing that it is my intention to move to suspend paragraph 4 of rule XVI for the purpose of proposing to the bill, H.R. 2862, the Science, State, Justice, Commerce appropriations bill, the following amendment:

amendment no. 1652

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

Mr. President, in accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby give notice in writing that it is my intention to move to suspend peragragh 4 of rule XVI for the purpose of proposing to the bill, H.R. 2862, the Science, State, Justice, Commerce appropriations bill, the following amendment:

Mr. President, In accordance with rule V of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby give notice in writing that it is my intention to move to suspend paragraph 4 of rule XVI for the purpose of proposing to the bill, H.R. 2862, the Science, State, Justice, Commerce appropriations bill, the following statement:

Amendment No. 1678

On page 191, between lines 9 and 10, insert the following:

Mr. President, I want to bring to the administration's attention an issue of vital importance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

As you know, FEMA provides crucial financial assistance to eligible individuals, households and to local and State governments following a disaster. Many of FEMA's programs require local governments or States to provide a 25-percent match.

I commend President Bush's decision to waive the matching requirements for certain FEMA programs for 60 days. Given the unprecedented destruction resulting from Hurricane Katrina, however, I call on President Bush to immediately direct FEMA to reimburse all eligible recipients the full 100 percent of costs eligible under FEMA's various relief programs for as long as necessary. This waiver should apply to all entities that are providing assistance in the entire gulf coast area impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

As seems obvious to all, 60 days will simply not provide enough time for local and State governments to get back on their feet. Leaders from the municipalities and States devastated by Katrina should not be concerned with finding revenue to match Federal funding during this time of crisis. Federal aid should flow unimpeded.

Does the majority leader agree with me?

I thank the majority leader.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, the Senate Judiciary Committee, as we know, has started hearings on the nomination of John Roberts to be the Chief Justice of the United States. I am confident that Chairman Specter, Ranking Member Leahy, and the other committee members will do a good job exploring the nominee's qualifications for the job and thoroughly explore his judicial philosophy.

There is much at stake in these hearings. If confirmed, Judge Roberts will serve as Chief Justice for the next several decades. He will be the head of the third branch of the Federal Government and the most prominent judge in the world.

The Senate's duty to render advice and consent, with respect to his nomination, is one of the most critical tasks we will face in this Congress. I am very happy that no Democrat has prejudged the Roberts nomination. Not a single Democratic Senator has stated how they will vote on this nomination. Some may be leaning toward supporting him; others may be leaning against him. But every Democrat knows that we need to wait for these hearings, the questions and answers, the statements by Mr. Roberts and the independent witnesses before making a final decision. That is the responsible way to approach a nomination such as this.

I look forward to hearings, hearings that I know will be respectful, dignified, and thorough. I, personally, have encouraged Judge Roberts to answer questions fully and forthrightly. I, for one, am enormously impressed with Judge Roberts career and his obvious legal skills. I met him in my office right across the hall.

I said: How many trials have you had, Judge?

He said: None.

This man is an appellate advocate. He has argued nearly two score cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and many others at various appellate levels. I enjoyed meeting with him. It was soon after he was nominated. I saw him last week at the funeral for Justice Rehnquist. The only thing that I am troubled about, and I am troubled, is some of the memos he wrote during the Reagan administration regarding women's rights and other civil rights issues. In more recent years, he appears to have been a thoughtful, mainstream judge on the DC Circuit. I want to give Judge Roberts an opportunity to convince the Senate, the American people and myself that, as a Supreme Court Justice, he could continue to be a fair, evenhanded judge and not revert to his ideological roots that we saw during the Reagan years. If he can meet that test, I can support him. If he doesn't, if he is not persuasive on that point, I cannot support him. The burden is on John Roberts.

The Supreme Court hearings are likely to dominate the news today, but let's all remember, these hearings are about whether one man is qualified to fill one job. While we carefully weigh that important decision, I remind all my colleagues that, as we speak, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans without jobs, without homes, and they are losing hope as a result of our inaction. These are the people in the Gulf Coast region. We must get our priorities in line. It has been nearly 2 weeks since flood waters poured into Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and the terrible windstorms hit them. That is 2 weeks. Thousands of families have gone without shelter, schools for their kids, health care for their injuries and the resources they need to pick up and move on with their lives.

In the Senate, we passed two supplemental appropriations bills. That is good. It is a start, but it is not nearly enough. Along with Senator Landrieu, my colleagues and I introduced the Katrina Emergency Relief Act last week. The act would make changes in law that we need to give survivors health care, housing, education, and personal financial relief. We are trying to add these provisions to the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill. We had hoped the Senate would act on these items promptly, but it appears the majority will use procedural devices to prevent them from passing or even allowing votes on them. That is unfortunate. Thousands of survivors still are living on cots in the Astrodome and other places, makeshift shelters all across the country. These victims do not care about Senate procedures. They know that they need help now, not more redtape.

I believe America can do better, and we Democrats will continue to press for action on these items in the days ahead. The Government turned its backs on Katrina's victims once. We can't let it happen again.

In addition to votes on the four amendments to the Commerce appropriations bill that we want, we should help victims and help our troops by bringing to this floor the Defense authorization bill. Unlike the Commerce bill, the Defense bill is an amendable vehicle. Through this bill, the Senate would be able to get legislation here now and act on it. The Katrina relief emergency matter could be brought before the Senate and we could vote on it to help Katrina victims now.

But just as importantly, we need to act on the Defense authorization bill so we can get to our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families the resources and support they deserve. The Defense bill delivers a better quality of life, state-of-the-art equipment, new housing for our troops, and relief for their families. This bill provides critical health care benefits for guardsmen and veterans. It also increases the

end strength of the reservists, Army and Marine Corps, so we can begin to take steps to relieve the stress of these overstretched Active military personnel.

This bill should be at the top of our Senate agenda, but I am sorry to say it is not. It is hard to comprehend that since May this bill has been literally languishing. It was reported out of the Armed Services Committee in May. We worked for a couple of days on it here on the floor. The Senate was not permitted to complete action on this important measure. We were working on this bill for a short time in July before the leader decided to set it aside in favor of the gun liability legislation. The gun liability legislation is the law. It has been signed by the President. The Defense authorization bill should be the law so our troops who are on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan can get the help they need and give the families of the approximately 2,000 men and women who have been killed in Iraq the knowledge that we are doing something to help the people on the ground and to help the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been spawned as a result of this war. This doesn't take into consideration the tens of thousands who have been injured and wounded in this war. Those fighting in Iraq deserve it. Those fighting in Afghanistan deserve it. Our veterans deserve it.

Americans can do better than this. The Defense bill should be taken off the back burner and placed on the front burner right now.

Our troops--I repeat--and the victims of Katrina are literally crying for our help. In the days ahead, we will owe the victims of Katrina and all the American people something in addition to relief. We will owe them answers. Four years after 9/11, the Government was supposed to be prepared for a crisis such as Katrina. Yet, as we all saw, the Federal Government was not, and we owe it to the American people to find out why.

Today on public radio, they had a number of pieces on Katrina, but the one that stands out in my mind was the story of St. Bernard Parish President Henry ``Junior'' Rodriquez who told of how it took 5 days before anybody came to help his parish of some 80,000 people. And the fifth day, did we see FEMA coming to help them, or American troops? No. His first sign of help was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. ``Junior'' Rodriguez deserves to know why it took so long to get his parish help. All Americans should know.

Americans can do better. When we searched for answers following 9/11, Democrats and Republicans came together and established an independent blue ribbon commission that was a great success. Too bad we didn't follow all the recommendations. But Democrats, Republicans and, most importantly, the American people embraced its answers. Senator Clinton has proposed that we need another independent commission, and we need it now.

I close by reminding everyone that times have changed. Times are different today than they were 2 weeks ago. We now have different priorities after Katrina, and our actions in the weeks ahead should reflect these new priorities. It is not business as usual for the families along the Gulf, and it should not be business as usual for us here.

Nowhere is this more clear than in the budget that is before this body. I spoke about that budget the night it came before us. I read a letter written to me by the mainline Protestant churches in America. They said please tell everyone this budget which you are about to pass is immoral. This is certainly worse than it was then.

I point out to everyone the results of the recent Census Bureau report which show that poverty rose for the fourth year in a row. Incomes dropped again, and more Americans are going without health care than the year before--almost a million more than the past year without health care.

Combine these facts and figures with the images of Katrina--images of the poorest and neediest among us bearing the brunt of a national tragedy--and ask yourself this question: Should we proceed with this budget that was immoral the night it was passed and even more so now, that cuts taxes for the rich and cuts Medicaid by $10 billion, cuts food stamps, student loans, and other programs for the neediest among us? The answer, of course, is no. We must revisit these priorities in the budget resolution.

America can do better. We can't change the past, but we can change the future. We can put the Senate's priorities in line with the American people, and there is no excuse not to do that.

I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I will use leader time, not to use the remaining time Senator Leahy has.

Mr. President, we do not have a lot of rivers in Nevada. We have very few. The little river we love a great deal is called the Carson River. It is a wonderful place to fly fish. But there are signs posted in various places on the Carson River warning of the danger of mercury.

Mercury in Nevada is a problem, as it is in 44 other States. Forty- four States, including Nevada, have warnings urging residents to avoid eating mercury-laden fish caught in lakes, rivers, and streams.

I first want to thank Senators Leahy and Collins for bringing the mercury pollution rule resolution of disapproval to the floor today.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can affect the brain, heart, and immune system. Developing fetuses and children are especially at risk, and even low-level exposure to mercury can cause learning disabilities, developmental delays, and other problems.

Mercury's impact on public health has been well documented. EPA scientists estimate that one in six pregnant women in the United States has enough mercury in her body to put her child at risk. That is too bad.

The Food and Drug Administration has recommended that children and women of childbearing age eat no more than two meals of fish per week and to avoid eating certain fish altogether.

Powerplants are the largest emitter of mercury in the United States, emitting over 40 percent of the total mercury emissions.

On March 29, 2005, the Bush administration issued the final rules that give powerplants a pass on mercury emissions for years, delaying modest reductions until the year 2018.

Every time I hear the Clear Skies Initiative, it reminds me of the book ``1984.'' That is Orwellian. That legislation does everything except clean the air. The American people want air they can breathe that is safe. They want water they can drink. Delaying these reductions until 2018 does not do that.

Earlier this year, the EPA Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office found that the EPA failed to analyze the health impact and ignored scientific evidence to establish a predetermined and less protective mercury rule favored by the Bush administration political appointees.

This is not some partisan harangue. This is from the Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Government Accountability Office, the watchdog of this body, the Congress.

Ten States have filed lawsuits against the EPA saying the rules certainly do not go far enough. In addition, thousands of sportsmen's groups--thousands of sportsmen's groups--public health groups, environmental groups, and religious organizations oppose the Bush administration mercury rule.

EPA rules that allow mercury emissions to continue are a danger to public health. This great Nation cannot compromise health simply to protect the financial interests of utilities. That is why we should reject the administration's mercury rules and send the EPA back to the drawing board to write a rule that complies with the law and protects our health.

So I strongly urge my colleagues to vote for the Leahy-Collins mercury rule disapproval resolution. Forty-four States have warnings urging residents to avoid eating mercury-laden fish caught in their rivers, lakes, and streams. Mr. President, that says it all.

Mr. President, is the distinguished Senator from Hawaii here ready to give a speech?

Mr. President, I yield to him and reserve my leader time.

Mr. President, this has been cleared with the majority. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Landrieu be recognized at 11:30 a.m. today.

Mr. President, there are many things we do not yet know about the Government's response to Hurricane Katrina, but two things are very clear: The Federal Government's response was unacceptable, and the victims and all Americans deserve to know why.

Following 9/11, preparedness for national emergencies was supposed to be a priority for our Government. Americans were made to believe that the Government was doing everything it could to prepare for terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and national crises. Katrina makes it clear that we failed. We must find out why, and we need to do it soon, to make sure that devastation, such as caused by this hurricane, never happens again, whether natural disaster or act of terrorists.

When we faced a similar situation after 9/11, Democrats and Republicans came together and established an independent blue ribbon commission. I am sad to see the Republicans now want a different approach. We don't know the details of their approach. I have been talked to on a couple of occasions very lightly about having either chairmen, ranking members, and a few members from some of the committees to get together. It would be a joint task force of the House and the Senate.

I have great confidence in the Senate committee structure. The chairmen and the ranking members are where they are based on the rules of the Senate, something that is called seniority. Democrats do it a little differently than the Republicans, but it is still basically a seniority system. So that is why I have confidence in the HELP Committee, with Mike Enzi from Wyoming, a fair man, and Ted Kennedy, the ranking member, a fair man; also, Homeland Security with Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman.

I could go through the whole committee structure we have in the Senate. They do good work together, as indicated by what has been going on in the Judiciary Committee with the relationship developed with Senator Specter and Senator Leahy. At a very difficult time in the history of our country, with two Supreme Court vacancies, they are working their way through this. I do not think it is the time to invent something new.

Yesterday, the Republicans unveiled very briefly their proposal to investigate the events of last week. They called it a bipartisan commission. I do not have the details of this--there are no details-- but what little I do know raises serious concerns about whether their proposal will provide Americans the answers they deserve.

I went through how Senate leadership is picked with the committees. That is not how it works in the House anymore. I can remember being elected to the House of Representatives and meeting a wonderful man by the name of Cliff Young, who served in the House a number of terms, a Republican Congressman from Nevada. After leaving the House, he later served more than 20 years in the Nevada State Senate, became the chief justice to the Nevada Supreme Court, and served there for more than two decades. Cliff Young told me: Harry, when you come back to Washington in the House of Representatives, there are two things I want you to do. No. 1, use the gym. You need to keep your body strong. And No. 2, do not do anything to change the seniority system because in that large body of 435, stability is needed. The one thing that gives that body stability is seniority.

That has been thrown out the window. Now the leadership in the House on the committees wants whoever appears to be the nicest to the Speaker and to the majority leader. If they do anything wrong, boy, they are booted out. We have examples of that. They would not even let Chris Smith from New Jersey have a subcommittee because he did not vote the way they wanted him to on a number of issues. He is gone. That is not what we need to be looking at after the disaster that took place in the Gulf Coast.

What has been proposed is not bipartisan. It is like a baseball player saying, we have a great deal here. The game is going to move more quickly and I think it will turn out pretty well. I am going to do the pitching and I am also going to call the balls and strikes.

This is not the way we should do things. It may speed up the ball game, but one does not get the results that are fair.

We have a Republican President, a Republican House, and a Republican Senate. We should not have the pitcher calling the balls and strikes. The President has already said he is going to lead an investigation of what went wrong. On its face, that is flawed. It is flawed to try to change what we are doing in regular order. It is wrong. We have a role for committees. We have a committee structure in place to investigate.

I have had somebody ask, well, why should Secretary Chertoff have to appear at a committee in the House and then one in the Senate?

That is the way we do things around here. That is what oversight is all about. We have the ability to do things on a short-term basis under what we call regular order, have Congress itself, in its role in oversight, do what is done in the ordinary course. We have seen what happens when this administration investigates itself or any administration investigates itself. It simply does not work.

There are serious concerns about this so-called Republican approach. That is why Americans deserve answers independent of politics. That is why Democrats and Republicans preferred an independent commission for investigating 9/11. It took awhile before the President signed on to it, but when he finally did, we got great people such as Hamilton and Kean. They did a wonderful job as the chairmen of this 9/11 Commission. They came up with facts that have been supported. They spent a

year with a staff that was adequate to come up with what went wrong on 9/11.

We are ultimately going to have an independent bipartisan commission to study what went wrong with the Government's response to Katrina. There is no question about that. So we should move that along and get it done as quickly as possible. In the meantime, have the committees of jurisdiction in the House and the Senate do what they are obligated to do by virtue of their role in history.

I would hope that on this issue we can move forward on a bipartisan basis. If we use the model of the 9/11 Commission, the majority still gets the edge because with 9/11 what happened is the President picked the chair. As it turned out, the Republicans had one more vote on the commission than did the Democrats, but it worked out OK. While that may not be perfect, it is certainly more perfect than this very awkward presentation that has been made in the last 24 hours about this so- called bipartisan commission. That is Orwellian. That is not bipartisan.

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

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Will the Senator yield?

We have a unanimous consent request to be offered on the emergency supplemental. We will return as soon as this is offered.

Reserving the right to object, I am wondering if the two distinguished Senators from California and Texas could give us an indication--there are Members wanting to know when we will vote--as to how much time they will require.

Mr. President, if I could, on the Democratic side the time will be divided in the following manner: Senator Byrd, 15 minutes; Senator Reid of Nevada, 10 minutes; Senator Kennedy, 5 minutes; Senator Durbin, 5 minutes; and Senator Clinton, 10 minutes. That uses our 45 minutes.

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

Mr. President, I extend my appreciation to President Bush for making this request that is now before the Senate. It contains important money for the victims of Katrina, and I will support it. However, before we vote, my colleagues should know that this bill is seriously flawed in several ways.

First, all the money for the relief effort--most of the money in the bill--goes to FEMA. After what we have witnessed these past 10 days, is there anyone in America who feels we should

continue to rely exclusively on FEMA to head the Federal Government's response? I think not.

Second, the President's request fails to make the substantive changes in law necessary to address many of the critical needs of our survivors--notably health care, housing, education, and financial relief. Victims need this assistance, and they need it now. But this legislation before the Senate tonight makes no such changes. It only spends more money.

Again, let me be clear. Despite these flaws, my Democratic colleagues and I will support this supplemental. We simply must do everything we can for the victims of Katrina.

That said, I would like to remind the Senate we cannot rest with the passage of this supplemental. There is much more work we need to do, and there are dozens of steps the Senate should take quickly to get the victims the relief they need.

Along with Senator Landrieu and many of my colleagues today, I introduced legislation called the Katrina Emergency Relief Act that makes the changes in law we need to give survivors the relief they need right now.

For example, health care. The survivors of Katrina need health coverage. Some of them were already uninsured. Others may have had insurance but they have been relocated miles from home and lost their insurance when they lost their jobs.

Here is how the Senate could help. We can ease enrollment into Medicaid so that survivors get Medicaid benefits without regard to assets and income. These people do not have the necessary documents to prove their residency or their needs. But we can make all that irrelevant by easing enrollment. We can also assure States that the Federal Government will pick up the tab for any health services they provide survivors.

Regarding housing, FEMA has estimated that up to 1 million people may be left homeless by Katrina and require housing assistance. Many will lack the standard paperwork to apply for Government assistance and will face steep rents as affordable housing is already limited for many. Yet FEMA is ill-equipped to handle the housing needs of Katrina's victims, many of whom are scattered around the country and will need housing for an extended period.

Regarding this housing, here is how the Senate can help. We could very easily direct legislatively the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide housing vouchers that survivors can use anywhere to get out of shelters and into a home. We have all seen the images of families sleeping in the convention center or in the Astrodome, at the Superdome or at our armory here in Washington, DC or in universities in Nevada or in States all across this country. The Senator from Arkansas has indicated that 60,000 people who are victims of the gulf disaster are now in Arkansas. We must help them get off the cots and into real homes.

About education, the Katrina disaster struck as school was set to begin. Thousands of kids have lost their classrooms. They have lost their teachers. They have nowhere to go. No student should miss a single day. Here is how the Senate could help. Again, it is pretty simple. We can give school districts $2,500 for each displaced student they enroll. It will help offset their costs, and it will encourage some of them to open their doors. We have a lot of school districts that are suffering financially. We can help school districts get other resources. For example, they need to deal with bigger classes--help with teachers, textbooks, material, and counselors who are badly needed.

What about financial assistance? Senator Lieberman has legislation, which is his part of our package, that shows not only have hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their homes but they have lost their jobs and their livelihood for now and any time in the near future. It will take time for Americans to get back on their feet. And here is how the Senate can help. We can temporarily forgive victims of their financial obligations for the Federal Government--things such as student loans and Small Business loans. We can help people so they don't lose their homes because they lost their jobs to Katrina and can't make the payments. We can extend unemployment insurance for these victims who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. The joblessness rate is expected to increase to 25 percent or higher in the region, and we need to make sure unemployment benefits are available.

We can make it easier for victims to use their own savings to get back on their feet. Some may have Individual Retirement Accounts which they could draw from at this time, and we can make it easy for them to access money by suspending taxes on such withdrawals.

All of these are steps we could have taken today. A number of these amendments have been presented on the Commerce, State, Justice bill. But there are points of order raised against it because the rules of the Senate are such that you can't have legislation on an appropriations bill.

We had hoped the Senate would act on these items promptly, and that is why we introduced four amendments this afternoon to the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill that I have described in some detail. But rather than voting on our efforts, as I have said, the majority plans to raise procedural objections. It is unfortunate. Victims of Katrina don't care about the Senate procedures. They just know they need health care, housing, and school for their children--not more Federal redtape.

My colleagues and I will continue to fight for these items in the days ahead. People who have lost their jobs and everything they have ever worked for don't care if they get Democratic relief or Republican relief. They want relief, and they want it now.

In the days ahead, victims of Katrina and the American people will want something in addition to short-term relief. I think it is important that we begin to address this. Survivors and the American people will want at least two things--a long-term plan to rebuild the gulf coast and answers about why the Government failed them.

To rebuild the gulf coast, we need to think about a Marshall plan.

I have something I have worked on for a number of years that was moving along very strongly prior to September 11, the American Marshall Plan. Remember, for every $1 billion we spend on developing our infrastructure, we create 47,500 jobs. We need a Marshall Plan to reconstruct the gulf region, a plan on par with the one we used to rebuild Europe after World War II. This is a region rich in culture and steeped in our history. It must be rebuilt, and we need a grand plan to rebuild it.

While we rebuild the gulf coast, we make sure we do not do it on the backs of American workers. I have been told the President has decided to suspend Davis-Bacon, a bill on the books for 60-plus years. It works because it creates an even playing field for workers. I will object if the President decides to do this. This is a time to work together and restore lives, not to play partisan politics.

We also need to find out why the Federal Government failed the people of the gulf coast when they needed their Government the most. Following September 11, preparedness for national emergencies was supposed to be a priority for this Government. Americans were made to believe the Government was doing everything it could to prepare for terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and other natural crises. Katrina makes it clear that we aren't ready.

When we faced a similar situation after September 11, Democrats and Republicans came together and established an independent blue ribbon commission. We now want to do this. We must do this. It will happen. It is only a question of when it will happen.

I have been told the majority in the Senate and in the House wants a different approach. They unveiled, very loosely, a proposal to investigate the events of last week. They call it a bicameral committee. Please. We have down at 16th and Pennsylvania Avenue an announcement by the President that he is going to be the leader of the investigation. We certainly do not need the same thing in the Senate. We have committees of jurisdiction that can do the work, and we must have, as Senator Clinton has proposed, this bipartisan commission. It is very important. I support this commission. The victims deserve an answer independent of politics--the kind of answers only an independent commission can deliver.

I appreciate the patience of my colleagues.