Floor Statements

Mr. President, as we all know, there was a tremendous amount of criticism of the Federal Government's response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year. Things are better now and the region is slowly recovering. But having just finished the 2006 Hurricane season, and with the 2007 season a few months away, we must be sure that if we have another disaster, the Federal Government's response will be better this time around. Disaster response agencies have to be better organized, more efficient, and more responsive in order to avoid the problems, the delays, mismanagement, and the seeming incompetence that occurred last year.

Today, I am proud to be an original cosponsor of legislation to improve the disaster response of one agency that had a great deal of problems last year, the Small Business Administration, SBA. This bill, the Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act, makes major improvements to the SBA's disaster response and provides them with essential tools to ensure that they are more efficient and better prepared for future disasters--big and small. I should also note that this bill is a result of intensive bipartisan work over the past few months. As such, it is reflective of the priorities from Senators Snowe and Kerry, respectively chair and ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee, as well as Senator Landrieu. For my part, I have heard loud and clear from our impacted businesses that SBA reforms should be implemented as soon as possible. That is why in September, I sent a letter to the new SBA Administrator Steve Preston, expressing concerns on the lack of progress on SBA Disaster reforms, which were included in S. 3778, the fiscal year 2007 SBA reauthorization bill reported out of the Senate Small Business Committee. In this letter, I requested his cooperation, along with our committee, to pass this important legislation before Congress adjourns at the end of the year. The introduction of this bill today, shows the progress that the committee made since September on this issue. I hope that this spirit of bipartisanship continues well into the 110th Congress and that I can continue to work with my colleagues on the Senate Small Business Committee to reform SBA.

This legislation offers new tools to enhance SBA's disaster assistance programs. In every disaster, the SBA disaster loan program is a lifeline for businesses and homeowners who want to rebuild their lives after a catastrophe. When Katrina hit, our businesses and homeowners had to wait months for loan approvals. I do not know how many businesses we lost because help did not come in time. Because of the scale of this disaster, what these businesses needed was immediate, short-term assistance to hold them over until SBA was ready to process the tens of thousands of loan applications it received.

That is why this legislation provides the SBA Administrator with the ability to set up an expedited disaster assistance business loan program to make short-term, low-interest loans to keep them afloat. These loans will allow businesses to make payroll, begin making repairs, and address other immediate needs while they are awaiting insurance payouts or regular SBA disaster loans. However, I realize that every disaster is different and could range from a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina or 911, to an ice storm or drought. This legislation gives the SBA additional options and flexibility in the kinds of relief they can offer a community. When a tornado destroys 20 businesses in a small town in the Midwest, SBA can get the regular disaster program up and running fairly quickly. You may not need short- term loans in this instance. But if you know that SBA's resources would be overwhelmed by a storm--just as they were initially with Katrina-- these expedited business loans would be very helpful.

This legislation also would direct SBA to study ways to expedite disaster loans for those businesses in a disaster area that have a good, solid track record with the SBA or can provide vital recovery efforts. We had many businesses in the gulf coast that had paid off previous SBA loans, were major sources of employment in their communities, but had to wait months for decisions on their SBA disaster loan applications. I do not want to get rid of the SBA's current practice of reviewing applications on a first-come- first-served basis, but there should be some mechanism in place for major disasters to get expedited loans out the door to specific businesses that has a positive record with SBA or those that could serve a vital role in the recovery efforts. Expedited loans would jump- start impacted economies, get vital capital out to businesses, and retain essential jobs following future disasters.

This bill also makes an important modification to the collateral requirements for disaster loans. The SBA cannot disburse more than $10,000 for an approved loan without showing collateral. This is to limit the loss to the SBA in the event that a loan defaults. However, this disbursement amount has not been increased since 1998, and these days, $10,000 is not enough to get a business up and running. That is why this bill increases this collateral requirement to $14,000 and gives the Administrator the ability to increase that amount, in the event of another large-scale disaster. I believe this is a reasonable and fiscally responsible increase, and at the same time gives the Administrator flexibility for future disasters which will inevitably occur.

As you may know, pushed to get language in the last hurricane supplemental appropriations bill in June 2006 to require SBA to develop a disaster plan and report to Congress on its contents by July 15, 2006. SBA provided this status report in July, and I am pleased that, since then, SBA has been working on a comprehensive disaster response plan. That said, I believe that with the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season fast approaching, and other disasters possible before then, the SBA should be looking at additional ways to improve upon this plan. This legislation requires SBA to report to Congress, by March 15, 2007, on the current status of its response plan and to provide us with a snapshot of where they were with Katrina and where they are now. The report also requests SBA feedback on suggested improvements. These improvements include better incorporating State disaster assistance efforts into SBA's response, as well as better coordination with Federal response agencies like FEMA.

The Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act will provide essential tools to make the SBA more proactive, flexible, and most important, more efficient during future disasters. Again, I look forward to working with both Senator Snowe and Senator Kerry during the 110th Congress to ensure that the SBA has everything it needs to meet these goals.

I thank the Chair and ask that my entire statement appear in the Record. I also ask unanimous consent that a copy of my September 27, 2006, letter to SBA be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my statement.

Mr. President, as we all know, there was a tremendous amount of criticism of the Federal Government's response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year. Things are better now and the region is slowly recovering. But having just finished the 2006 Hurricane season, and with the 2007 season a few months away, we must be sure that if we have another disaster, the Federal Government's response will be better this time around. Disaster response agencies have to be better organized, more efficient, and more responsive in order to avoid the problems, the delays, mismanagement, and the seeming incompetence that occurred last year.

Today, I am proud to be an original cosponsor of legislation to improve the disaster response of one agency that had a great deal of problems last year, the Small Business Administration, SBA. This bill, the Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act, makes major improvements to the SBA's disaster response and provides them with essential tools to ensure that they are more efficient and better prepared for future disasters--big and small. I should also note that this bill is a result of intensive bipartisan work over the past few months. As such, it is reflective of the priorities from Senators Snowe and Kerry, respectively chair and ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee, as well as Senator Landrieu. For my part, I have heard loud and clear from our impacted businesses that SBA reforms should be implemented as soon as possible. That is why in September, I sent a letter to the new SBA Administrator Steve Preston, expressing concerns on the lack of progress on SBA Disaster reforms, which were included in S. 3778, the fiscal year 2007 SBA reauthorization bill reported out of the Senate Small Business Committee. In this letter, I requested his cooperation, along with our committee, to pass this important legislation before Congress adjourns at the end of the year. The introduction of this bill today, shows the progress that the committee made since September on this issue. I hope that this spirit of bipartisanship continues well into the 110th Congress and that I can continue to work with my colleagues on the Senate Small Business Committee to reform SBA.

This legislation offers new tools to enhance SBA's disaster assistance programs. In every disaster, the SBA disaster loan program is a lifeline for businesses and homeowners who want to rebuild their lives after a catastrophe. When Katrina hit, our businesses and homeowners had to wait months for loan approvals. I do not know how many businesses we lost because help did not come in time. Because of the scale of this disaster, what these businesses needed was immediate, short-term assistance to hold them over until SBA was ready to process the tens of thousands of loan applications it received.

That is why this legislation provides the SBA Administrator with the ability to set up an expedited disaster assistance business loan program to make short-term, low-interest loans to keep them afloat. These loans will allow businesses to make payroll, begin making repairs, and address other immediate needs while they are awaiting insurance payouts or regular SBA disaster loans. However, I realize that every disaster is different and could range from a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina or 911, to an ice storm or drought. This legislation gives the SBA additional options and flexibility in the kinds of relief they can offer a community. When a tornado destroys 20 businesses in a small town in the Midwest, SBA can get the regular disaster program up and running fairly quickly. You may not need short- term loans in this instance. But if you know that SBA's resources would be overwhelmed by a storm--just as they were initially with Katrina-- these expedited business loans would be very helpful.

This legislation also would direct SBA to study ways to expedite disaster loans for those businesses in a disaster area that have a good, solid track record with the SBA or can provide vital recovery efforts. We had many businesses in the gulf coast that had paid off previous SBA loans, were major sources of employment in their communities, but had to wait months for decisions on their SBA disaster loan applications. I do not want to get rid of the SBA's current practice of reviewing applications on a first-come- first-served basis, but there should be some mechanism in place for major disasters to get expedited loans out the door to specific businesses that has a positive record with SBA or those that could serve a vital role in the recovery efforts. Expedited loans would jump- start impacted economies, get vital capital out to businesses, and retain essential jobs following future disasters.

This bill also makes an important modification to the collateral requirements for disaster loans. The SBA cannot disburse more than $10,000 for an approved loan without showing collateral. This is to limit the loss to the SBA in the event that a loan defaults. However, this disbursement amount has not been increased since 1998, and these days, $10,000 is not enough to get a business up and running. That is why this bill increases this collateral requirement to $14,000 and gives the Administrator the ability to increase that amount, in the event of another large-scale disaster. I believe this is a reasonable and fiscally responsible increase, and at the same time gives the Administrator flexibility for future disasters which will inevitably occur.

As you may know, pushed to get language in the last hurricane supplemental appropriations bill in June 2006 to require SBA to develop a disaster plan and report to Congress on its contents by July 15, 2006. SBA provided this status report in July, and I am pleased that, since then, SBA has been working on a comprehensive disaster response plan. That said, I believe that with the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season fast approaching, and other disasters possible before then, the SBA should be looking at additional ways to improve upon this plan. This legislation requires SBA to report to Congress, by March 15, 2007, on the current status of its response plan and to provide us with a snapshot of where they were with Katrina and where they are now. The report also requests SBA feedback on suggested improvements. These improvements include better incorporating State disaster assistance efforts into SBA's response, as well as better coordination with Federal response agencies like FEMA.

The Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act will provide essential tools to make the SBA more proactive, flexible, and most important, more efficient during future disasters. Again, I look forward to working with both Senator Snowe and Senator Kerry during the 110th Congress to ensure that the SBA has everything it needs to meet these goals.

I thank the Chair and ask that my entire statement appear in the Record. I also ask unanimous consent that a copy of my September 27, 2006, letter to SBA be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my statement.

Madam President, I take the opportunity to thank the Governmental Affairs Committee for bringing H.R. 3699 to the floor for passage today. The Federal and District of Columbia Government Real Property Act of 2005 is a unique proposal to reevaluate the significant Federal property in DC and make some land available to redevelopment by the city. This redevelopment will broaden the District's tax base and will eventually add strength to the city economy. As the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the District of Columbia I am tasked with my friends on the Government Affairs Committee to provide appropriate oversight of the District and ensure a strong financial condition.

The Federal property that will be transferred to the District through this bill will provide for a variety of new projects and there is a great deal of potential. Reservation 13 is envisioned as a mixed-use new community that will include new housing and businesses, and improve access to existing healthcare facilities. That property also includes the Court Services and

Offender Services Agency, CSOSA, a Federal entity providing offender and defendant oversight in the District. I commend my colleagues for including a provision in this bill to ensure the CSOSA will remain on reservation 13 in a facility which the Federal government has provided significant resources to renovate. They are doing a tremendous job to ensure that offenders returning to the city are prepared for the challenges that face them and should continue that good work.

In addition, I emphasize my strong support for youth recreation and education opportunities in this bill. Properties all along the Anacostia River and elsewhere will now be under the District's control to develop and I strongly encourage them to commit to reserving a portion of each property for youth recreation. We all know the health benefits to children being outdoors, whether in organized sports or the chance to learn about the environment. There are many tremendous youth sports organizations in DC that boost kids' self-esteem and oftentimes provide educational support or mentoring at no cost to low income children. Particularly in an urban area where space is limited it is critical that the District commit to providing opportunities for youth to be outdoors.

I recognize the important need for outreach to the poorest and most vulnerable children in DC. I strongly urge the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation to form a partnership with a DC-based organization whose mission is to provide environmental education to children in natural and historic settings, and particularly to underserved populations. In my work with the District I have always encouraged partnerships with community organizations who know the need and how best to meet it and this is a perfect opportunity to create new vibrant partnerships to benefit the community.

I thank Senators Collins, Voinovich, Lieberman, and Akaka for their hard work on this legislation over the past year. The base of the bill was proposed by the administration in 2005 and we have worked collaboratively with the District government and the Federal agencies holding property in the city to develop a sensible approach. I support the goals of this bill to rationalize property in the District and I encourage city leaders to ensure youth have a place to play in their plans for the property. I urge passage of H.R. 3699 and thank the authorizing committee for their work.

Mr. President, those were three of the most beautiful tributes I have heard any of our colleagues give about the men and women who have died in service to this country. It was truly a testament to the strength of the Senator from Ohio, his caring and compassion for the people of Ohio that he and his team would take the time to compile such beautiful memories of these three young men and to share them with us in the Congressional Record as he did. I thank him for those beautiful tributes.

Mr. President, I rise to speak about amendment No. 5189 that is pending to the Agriculture Appropriations bill.

According to the unanimous consent agreement entered into a few moments ago, when we return in December we will take up an amendment by Senator Conrad and I will have time after that amendment to speak again about this issue. It is an issue that I believe we have an opportunity to resolve before this Congress comes to an end. According to the schedule we are operating under, we only have a few more weeks to get our work done. There is a great deal of work that has to be done and a few things that can in fact be done on a bipartisan basis. This is one of them.

Both leaders have expressed their commitment to helping the Senate resolve the issue of expanded offshore drilling so we can provide more oil and gas for a country that is running short.

Four States--Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama, America's energy coast--have been proudly hosting this industry for over 60 years. We have contributed literally billions of barrels of oil, trillions of cubic feet of gas, and much money from the royalties paid has gone to the Treasury. But this is a problem we have to solve. It goes back to the 1998-1999 lease arrangements entered into by Minerals Management. This has been widely reported. It has also been the subject of several hearings in the Senate and the House.

Very simply, the Department made a series of mistakes. Those mistakes are being looked at to determine how and when and under what circumstances. But the fact is, although all the facts are not out yet, we do know that a serious mistake was made. When these contracts were entered into, there was no price threshold in them. When my predecessor Bennett Johnston wrote the Royalty Relief Act, which he did with some of his colleagues, it was always intended to be an incentive if the price of oil was low. At the time the bill was written, the price of oil was $17 a barrel. We wish that were true today. But it was true back in the early to mid-1980s, when this bill was written.

As the process went on and these leases were entered into, the price threshold was left out. So now the price of oil is $70 a barrel, or it has been recently, and what happened was, because the thresholds were not in there, the companies didn't have to pay royalties. The bottom line is, we have lost to date $1.3 billion. It is estimated that we could lose as much as $10 to $12 billion; that is, the Federal Treasury.

My amendment has already been filed. If the Senate agrees to the amendment, it will fix that situation without violating contracts. We have established a way for Minerals Management to basically renegotiate the contracts. The taxpayers could then recover that money, and a portion of the money would then be used for the coastal restoration efforts so desperately needed in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in the next few years. If this amendment is passed, coupled with the bill we have already passed, we will have some immediate funding to begin the project of saving our wetlands and securing the energy infrastructure that is a tremendous asset to the Nation. This isn't just about helping Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama. This is about protecting a great coastal wetland that came under tremendous challenge with Katrina and Rita and will come under challenges again. We most certainly can recover this money, $11 billion, that does belong to the taxpayer. It was a mistake, a very bad mistake that was made. We can recover some of that money and most of it can go to deficit reduction. If anyone hasn't noticed lately, we have quite a deficit to tackle. Some of this money could go to deficit reduction, and some of it could go to the States under a program already authorized, already supported in a bipartisan way, already in the law, called the OCS Program where this money would be directed.

I thank my colleagues for allowing me to speak tonight. I have filed the amendment so Members could consider it on our break through the holiday and come back and try to restore this money to the Treasury, help take the deficit down, and let's get started saving these wetlands and protecting the coast which is so vital to the economic future of the Nation.

I thank my colleagues for their patience.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, the people of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast have been working hard to rebuild their communities and the economy of the region. The Gulf Opportunity (GO) Zone legislation that the Congress passed and the President signed into law at the end of last year, has contributed greatly to the rebuilding efforts.

The benefits of this legislation have been tremendous so far. Hundreds of businesses, large and small, will be able to take advantage of tax incentives made possible by the GO Zone bill. These include a bonus depreciation provision that allows businesses to take a 50 percent depreciation deduction in the first year on new plant or equipment in the GO Zone. This has helped jump start our recovery by giving businesses the incentive to invest quickly in the GO Zone.

The GO Zone Act also increased the amount of low income housing tax credits available to GO Zone states. The Louisiana Housing Finance Agency reports that it has awarded more than $80 million in low income housing tax credits. These credits will be leveraged to finance 195 rental housing developments for working families.

The GO Zone also included an increased rehabilitation tax credit to encourage the preservation and rehabilitation of historic structures. We have many beautiful, old buildings in New Orleans and along the Gulf. They are part of our heritage and as we rebuild we want to preserve that heritage.

The problem with the GO Zone Act is that these tax benefits have limits in terms of the time that they are available for our rebuilding. Most require that any plant and equipment, or the housing financed by the tax credits, must be placed in service by the end of 2008--that is only two years away. The rehabilitation tax credit is also only available until the end of 2008. The problem with this is that our recovery is going to take longer. In Louisiana we are rebuilding an entire city essentially from scratch. Whole communities were wiped out in Mississippi. We have never seen a recovery like the one we are attempting in the Gulf.

The placed in service date is particularly difficult for the low income housing tax credits. It can take years to get together all of the financing for housing developments and even more time for construction. The current placed in service date effectively makes any credits allocated in 2008 unusable because it would be nearly impossible to get a building financed and constructed by the end of the year.

Today, I am introducing legislation to extend the placed in service dates for the various GO Zone tax benefits for an additional two years. This will give us more time to take full advantage of the opportunities the GO Zone legislation has given us. Our recovery is proceeding steadily, but it will take time. We do not want to diminish the impact these tax credits will have on our recovery by artificially limiting their availability. My bill would make these credits available for a longer period of time so that the recovery in the Gulf will be sustained.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

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

Mr. President, I understand the chairman and ranking member are trying to work out the final amendments on this bill, and they have both done an excellent job in putting the Military Construction bill together for the Nation. But also, while my colleague from Idaho is on the floor, Senator Craig, who is leading on the authorization side, I wanted to come to the floor on behalf of the people of Louisiana and the gulf coast, really, to thank the chair and ranking member for putting in this MILCON bill, the Military Construction appropriations bill, a full authorization for the veterans hospital that was destroyed or heavily damaged in Hurricane Katrina, and then, of course, flooded again in Hurricane Rita. Four hundred thousand veterans from Louisiana rely on this hospital, as well as hundreds of thousands from the gulf coast: Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama.

We have worked very hard to reestablish the veterans infrastructure along the gulf coast. This has been extremely problematic because of some tensions between several committees. But the good work of Senator Hutchison from Texas and Senator Feinstein from California and, of course, Senator Craig's good help and support has helped us to get this authorization done in this way. We are extremely grateful. It may be the first public-private partnership in the Nation, or one of the earliest. We think it is going to be an excellent model of health care, not only for our veterans but a real economic anchor, if you will, for the revitalization of New Orleans and the gulf coast. We are looking forward to doing an excellent job with this money for the taxpayer and for the veterans, who have come to rely on this hospital and the services we provide as a lifeline, literally. Now they look at it as more than just a place to go for health care; they look at it as a flag that will be raised in the devastated part of New Orleans to rebuild this great city and region. It has really become a symbol of hope, not just for veterans, which it always is, and their families, but now it has become a symbol of hope for our whole community.

So I just wanted, while that is being worked out and other things are being worked out, to take this time to thank them and to tell them how grateful we are in Louisiana and those in the New Orleans area for their help and support and for their confidence in moving this project forward. As a member of the committee, I have been very pleased to work on this and have it accomplished in this way.

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

Reserving the right to object, could I ask the distinguished majority leader if he could add me to the list as the last person for 10 minutes?

I do object, I want to be cooperative.

Mr. President, we are trying to wrap up many important issues before we leave. One issue that has remained elusive at this point is the solution for our offshore energy bill. The House has passed a version; the Senate has passed a version. I am here to talk about the benefits of the Senate approach to this subject since there seems to be some real confusion on the part of some of the House members about the Senate approach. I have had many private conversations and many meetings, but I thought I might try to clarify a few things as we seek to understand each other a little better.

I have great respect for many Members on the House side. Chairman Pombo and others have worked very hard. I know they are very sincere about trying to find new avenues for domestic production. It is most certainly a goal I share and that many Senators in the Senate share, Republicans and Democrats.

We have had our arguments, knockdown, drag-out arguments about ANWR. I am clearly on the side that supports production in ANWR. I happen to be in a minority of Democrats on that, and we could never pass that in the Senate, or have not to date. We have been debating it now for 30 years. But there is consensus--there is consensus--in the Senate about opening a significant area in the Gulf of Mexico to help bring much- needed oil and natural gas to this country.

I wish to put into the Record from the Consumer Alliance for Energy Security what they say about natural gas:

Natural gas is used to make fertilizer for ethanol.

For those who are arguing for more ethanol, ethanol needs sugarcane, ethanol needs corn. We need fertilizer to grow sugarcane and corn.

Natural gas is used as a substitute for diesel fuel in our

buses and fleet vehicles.

Electric utilities use natural gas to generate clean power.

Natural gas is a raw material that goes into lightweight

cars for fuel efficiency, wind power blades, solar panels,

building insulation and other energy efficient materials.

Natural gas is used to make hydrogen fuel necessary for

fuel cells.

They say:

In the face of declining natural gas production, consumers

are hungry for a solution to our energy crisis.

The Senate has provided a solution. Democrats and Republicans agree-- we need more natural gas. So we have carved out an area. Shown on this map, is an area that is under leasing moratoria right now and which has been under leasing for the last 15 or 20 years. It has been closed off to production--8 million acres.

But this Senate, in a historic vote, has decided that we need the natural gas. We believe in what the Consumer Alliance and thousands of organizations have stepped up to say. We need natural gas. We are prepared to open this section--8 million acres.

To put this in perspective, ANWR is only 2,000 acres. So when critics of our approach say the Senate bill does not do anything, then, why did we debate for 30 years over nothing? If we debated 30 years only 2,000 acres, why is 8 million acres nothing? I do not think that is true. It is obviously incorrect. Eight million acres is a great many more than 2,000 acres. The reserves here are thought to be substantial.

Shown on this map is the oil discovery that was announced 3 weeks or 4 weeks ago announced: the Jack well, as it is commonly known, discovered by a Chevron partnership. This one well, drilled 28,000 feet--10,000 feet of water and 18,000 feet of land--will double the reserves of oil and gas in the

United States of America. This one little square, right here.

So when people in the House of Representatives say, opening up 8 million acres here will do nothing, they are dead wrong. We might find four or five ``Jack'' wells in here. We could find 100. How would we know? Because no one will let us go look. And if we do not pass this bill, which the Presiding Officer helped to pass and helped to craft, we will never know, and our industries will continue to lose jobs and lose their competitive edge. We are losing thousands of jobs.

Experts estimate that there is enough gas in this section alone to run 1,000 chemical plants for 40 years. That lessens the need to go drilling in ANWR. But this bill is not about ANWR. And the good news about this is, the States of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas are all in agreement. Republicans and Democrats are in agreement. They understand the need. They want to step up and help America. This money generated by this bill will go to support these coastal communities and reduce the deficit.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 3 more minutes. I see my colleague from California.

Mr. President, I appreciate that.

Instead, the House of Representatives has proposed a bill that is breathtaking in its reach, and then wonders why we cannot pass it. In the House bill, the House committee decided to open up drilling along the entire Atlantic seaboard, and they took it upon themselves to redraw state boundary lines. Very few people have seen these state boundary lines, so I decided I would go ahead and show this map so people can see it.

These lines have not been approved by the Commerce Department. They have not been approved by the Interior Department. They have not been seen by the Defense Department. And MMS does not certify these lines. There are 200 years of maritime law that went into developing the original lines that looked like this, as shown on this official Interior Department map. The lines shown on this Interior Department map are the lines that we are all governed by now. But the House committee decided to go into a room and redraw the lines without talking to the Governors of these States, the Senators from these States, and I am not even sure the House Members from these States ever saw these lines.

They ask me why I can't pass this bill on the floor of the Senate. What is wrong with Senator Domenici and Senator Landrieu. They can't get this bill passed. I would suggest it is going to take a few hearings, a few public meetings, and a little bit of work over there before we can get something such as this passed. I will help them. I actually believe in what they want to do. I may be in the minority over here. I will help. But I do not think I can get this done this weekend. But what I can get done this weekend--what we can get done this weekend--is to open up 8 million acres filled with the natural gas and oil this country desperately needs. We can send a positive signal and a necessary signal to the marketplace that America is serious about finding more domestic reserves for oil and gas. And we can send a hopeful signal--as the Saints did when they carried that ball across the goal line earlier this week several times; an extraordinary game-- to the people of the gulf coast that we still know they are suffering, and we are going to pass a bill that helps to generate jobs in this region, saves their wetlands, builds their levees, and reduces the Federal deficit.

Our bill respects the coast of Florida, it reduces the deficit, it saves the wetlands, it builds levees, and it gives everybody in America natural gas--and there is a problem with this bill?

I do not know what the problem is. We had 72 Senators who worked all year on it. I respect the House of Representatives. I understand what they want to do. But it is too broad of a reach.

The Senator from California is on the floor, and she has been very gracious, and I will only take 1 more minute. I did not have time to go get the model they have for the west coast, of which their bill wants to open up west coast drilling. With all due respect to Congressman Pombo, he does not even have the support of his own Governor in his own party. And he wonders why Senator Domenici cannot get his bill passed? He cannot get it past his California legislature. How am I supposed to get it past the Senate?

So I am asking the House colleagues, please be reasonable. Take this a step at a time. Some people object to drilling on the Atlantic coast. I do not happen to be one of them. I will help them, but we cannot get that done this weekend. And it may never happen because you have to get political support from these States.

But I will conclude with this: We have a great coalition in the gulf coast. The people of the gulf coast know how to drill for oil and gas. The technology is superb. We minimize the environmental footprint. We know where the gas is. Let us go get it. Then we can use that money to continue to help us restore our coast.

So I am pleading with my colleagues. I will work with you. I will continue to work with you. So will Senator Domenici. And I think I can speak for the Senators from Florida, as well as the Senators from Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. We will put our shoulders to the wheel to do what we can, but let us go forward.

In the Senate, the Gulf Coast States came together and created a formula that is fair to all. Each coastal-producing State shares in the revenues received according to the length of their coastline, their proximity to oil and gas development--and the likely impacts from that development.

Also, the Senate formula recognizes that some of the Gulf States have provided oil and natural gas to the country for decades, receiving the brunt of the impacts, and few of the benefits. For that reason, States that have hosted the industry for the longest would have secured marginally more of the revenues by way of compensation.

The Senate bill also recognizes that the minerals of the Outer Continental Shelf are a national resource--belonging to the Nation as a whole. That is why every State receives the majority share of the revenues: 50 percent would go directly to the Federal Treasury; 12.5 percent would go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund--a conservation royalty that benefits all 50 States.

Arriving at a formula that was fair and equitable was not easy: each of the Senators from the four gulf-producing States met on a daily basis over a series of weeks.

Ultimately, the gulf coast was able to stand united: all ten Senators from the Gulf States voted in favor of the Senate bill. But it was not an easy feat.

Agreement among neighboring States is critical--and difficult to achieve. What is at stake are billions of dollars and the Nation's energy security.

The House bill creates State boundary lines that would divide the Federal OCS into zones controlled by the closest State. Under the House proposal, States have the power to authorize or halt energy development activities within this zone. They also have claim to the lion's share of the revenues generated within this zone.

The Senate and the House take fundamentally different approaches to two key issues:

The Domenici-Landrieu bill would open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico--a region that has continuously been one of the most productive oil and natural gas basins in North America.

Since the world's first offshore oil well was drilled near Creole, LA, in 1933, the Gulf of Mexico has provided the Nation with more than 15 billion barrels of oil and 165 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Each year, offshore production from the Gulf of Mexico offshore accounts for more than 560 million barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. If you add in the onshore production from the neighboring Gulf States, this region produces more than 1 billion barrels of oil each year. That is more than the imports from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela combined.

Conservative estimates show that the Senate bill will increase the Nation's supply of affordable, domestically produced energy by 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

That much crude oil will produce enough gasoline to drive 1.7 billion cars

from DC to New York--with plenty left over to heat 1.2 million homes for more than a decade.

These lines were drawn without any input from the coastal States, without input from the Minerals Management Service, the Coast Guard, or other stewards of America's oceans.

In fact, the Minerals Management Service had painstakingly crafted ``State Administrative Boundaries'' in an effort to clarify which State has the most interest in the area seaward of its coastline because of the increasing number of commercial activities on the Federal OCS.

These boundary lines--which were crafted in consultation with the MMS, the National Ocean Service, the Department of State, as well as in accordance with past Federal and Supreme Court decisions, and significant public input--were disregarded in the House bill.

States that were deemed more likely to drill off their coasts seem to have been granted more territory. States that have made their opposition to OCS activity well known, seem to have had their territories trimmed down significantly.

Virginia's gain was Maryland's and North Carolina's loss. Georgia's gain was Florida's loss.

I support increased access to the Nation's offshore energy resources. I believe strongly that we need to make this Nation more energy independent and less reliant on foreign sources of oil.

But I am also a pragmatist and know that we cannot overturn 30 years of poor energy management policy overnight--without consulting the States, without consulting our Federal natural resource managers.

I encourage our neighbors on the east and west coasts to re-examine their failed policy on moratoria on developing energy resources from the Federal Outer Continental Shelf. But I cannot force them to do so. Instead, we need to have an open dialogue on this issue and work to improve U.S. policy in this critical arena.

That much natural gas will sustain 1,000 chemical plants for 40 years--and those plants would provide jobs for about 400,000 Americans.

The potential of future drilling in the Gulf was recently underscored by a massive oil discovery miles of the coast of Louisiana.

Some analysts believe that this single find in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico could produce more than 15 billion barrels of oil.

By 2012, daily production from this single prospect could total 800,000 barrels of oil per day of light, and more than 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas.

This discovery effectively increased the total proven oil reserves of the United States by 50 percent.

While the ``Jack'' discovery is not directly adjacent to the 181 and 181 South area, some geologists have speculated that these mineral-rich ridges could extend eastward into the 181 and 181 South area.

This find shows that the Gulf of Mexico remains one of the most promising oil and natural gas regions in North America and the world.

It is likely that major finds such as the ``Jack'' prospect will spur an increase in exploration and production activity in the ultradeep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

It is highly likely that this discovery--and other major finds in the Gulf of Mexico--will cause bonus bids to escalate at future lease sales, and increase revenues flowing to the Federal Treasury.

In contrast to the bounty available in the Gulf of Mexico, the MMS anticipates that the total production off Virginia will be about 560 million barrels of oil and 327 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Compare this to the resources opened by the Senate's Domenici- Landrieu bill in the Gulf of Mexico which the MMS estimates will total 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 5.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The Virginia proposal has 4.7 million acres.

Domenici-Landrieu is adjacent to existing infrastructure--pipelines, ports, and refineries. The area off Virginia is not adjacent to industrial infrastructure.

Virginians may want to open their shores to offshore oil and gas production--a goal that I share and support--but Virginia's waters are quite close to the shores of North Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware.

Why is this a problem? In 1990, the State of North Carolina successfully forced several oil companies to cease all activity and relinquish their rights to drill more than 50 miles from shore, far out of sight from shore.

Similarly, California, Maine, and Florida have repeatedly proven that they can shut down production, even when it is far from their shores.

Today, the President has acquiesced to his brother's request that no new drilling be allowed within 100 miles of Florida. As a result, no new leases are allowed off Alabama--despite the fact that their oil and gas has been safely produced in that region for more than 30 years.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that excerpts of document from the Consumer Alliance for Energy Security and other relevant material be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak about an issue that, of course, many of us have been involved in now for years, literally, trying to provide a revenue stream for the Gulf of Mexico-- not just Louisiana but Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. For 40 years or longer, they have contributed more oil and gas to this Nation than Saudi Arabia and Venezuela combined. In the minds of many along the gulf coast, particularly post-Katrina and Rita, two of the largest hurricanes to hit the North American continent, people along the gulf coast are feeling, on this issue, that perhaps the gulf coast has been forgotten.

I want to say to my colleagues here, Republicans and Democrats, the people of the gulf coast are grateful, extremely grateful for all the support given this year for hurricane relief--not one, not two, not three, but four supplementals.

Mr. President, you yourself have been down there personally, walking the neighborhoods that were destroyed and being a strong advocate for us on the Appropriations Committee. So we are very grateful.

But there are two extremely important bills and issues that we must have to complete this package of initial recovery and lay a foundation so that the gulf coast can build securely. We know we can rebuild, but the question, from Pascagoula to Beaumont is, Can we rebuild safely?

We have counties in east Texas and parishes in west Louisiana, western Louisiana and southeastern Louisiana, and counties in Mississippi, that have literally been 100 percent destroyed. I mean, in Saint Bernard Parish there was not a house left standing out of 75,000 people.

It is so tragic because this particular parish has flooded like this not once but twice. Saint Bernard Parish has flooded, not once but twice. It flooded in 1965, when Hurricane Betsy poured about 10 feet to 12 feet of water, sort of in the same way--a storm surge, aided and abetted by this channel that the Corps of Engineers dredged to help the port and help navigation on the Mississippi River, which helps the whole country. But it really didn't help the people of Saint Bernard because they lost their homes. President Johnson came down and pledged, ``Never again.''

Here we are, 35 or 40 years later, and they have lost everything again. Some of these families who built back from Betsy, they are 70, 80 years old, to have it washed out again. It is just too much for this Senator to bear. It is too much for our delegation to bear.

There are two major pieces of legislation that the Louisiana delegation cannot go home without this Congress, and that is the WRDA bill, because it is the water resources bill of the United States of America. Since we have more water than almost anybody, this is a huge bill to us.

We are not managing our water well. It has flooded our homes.

We have to pass this WRDA bill to help us build our levies, navigation channels, locks, and dams to protect our people--not because we are a charity case but because we contribute so much wealth to the Nation. The Nation can't do without it. You wouldn't want to try. If you did, and our pipelines closed and our refineries closed, and south Louisiana, south Texas, and the southern part of Mississippi and Alabama closed, you would just as soon turn the lights out in this Chamber. There would be no economy in the United States of America.

That is a bold statement. You say: Senator that is not true. We could do without you.

If I showed you the charts, which I am not going to bore you with, you could not get anywhere near the oil and gas we need to fuel the economy in this country without it.

We can't go home without the WRDA bill, and we can't go home without the offshore oil and gas revenue.

As much money as we get in WRDA, and as many projects as we get in WRDA, we can't wait every 10 years to authorize our project. We need an independent stream of revenue to secure our wetlands, to restore them. We have lost more wetlands than the State of Delaware. We lose a football field every 30 minutes. We lost the size of the District of Columbia in the last storm. I don't know how much more we can lose. If an enemy came to our shores to take our land away the way we are letting it drift into the gulf, we would have declared war.

Our delegation put in a bill for OCS revenue sharing. We said we have a deal for the country. We will open even more in the gulf. Everyplace else is shut down. Nobody wants to drill, so let us even drill more. We will open up 9 million acres, and we will share the revenues with Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The country gets enough natural gas to fuel 1,000 chemical plants for 40 years. That is a lot of gas. The Southern States would share in a very fair and reasonable way these revenues. We think that would be a good thing for America.

This is the Jack well that Chevron just found. It is one well, 28,000 feet deep, and it has doubled the reserves in the United States of America.

When I hear some critics of the Senate approach saying to me--to the Senators from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas--that our bill doesn't do anything, it is just a wonder of what it might do if we could maybe find five more Jack wells here or 10 more. Who knows. There is a lot of land.

The great beauty of our arrangement is we protected the coast of Florida, as the Florida Senators and the Governor of Florida, Governor Jebb Bush, have asked us to, and we still found enough territory to open.

We are leaving here without this bill that makes a tremendous amount of

sense because we just couldn't finish negotiations with the House.

But I am very hopeful that when we return in the lame duck that it is a lame duck and not a dead duck because I could get a lame duck hobbling out of here, and I can't take a dead duck home. We need to take something home that is alive and flapping to give these people homes, to restore these wetlands, and for heavens' sake, send some oil and gas to the industries in America that are really on the edge right now of whether to expand these refineries or not because China looks more promising every day.

If we don't give them hope, they are going to leave and jobs are going to be lost.

I see my good friend from Idaho who knows this issue well. He might want to take one of my minutes and add a thought about this because he has been a good partner on this issue. I would appreciate his words on this chart or anything he wants to talk about.

I thank the Senator.

Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. President, I want to call my colleagues' attention to this chart which I had my office put together today. I thought it would be a good chart to leave with because maybe it will put a little energy underneath our efforts to get something done when we get back.

Production from the gulf coast is over 1 billion barrels of oil. The total production from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela together is 973 million barrels of oil.

I do not know if the Governors of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama want to shut down production. But if they do, there would be a real problem for the country. I know people might say that couldn't be done because you don't have jurisdiction over pipelines, and the Federal Government could operate that. I would hate to see the court battles that would ensue. We actually have one court case pending which was filed by the State of Louisiana alleging that the appropriate environmental standards have not been attended to. And the judge will rule on that in November.

No Governor other than Governor Blanco has taken that step, and no Governor has suggested it. I am not giving testimony that I have heard them even privately say it. But I can promise you that the people in the Gulf of Mexico are getting tired. Everywhere I go, people in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana say to me: Senator, why are we the only ones producing? And why when you go to Washington and ask them to just share these revenues with us they say no? Don't they know that we don't have any houses to live in? Don't they know our churches have been ruined? Don't they know our children don't have schools? What is wrong with Congress?

I am having a hard time explaining that.

For people who say the Senate bill doesn't do anything, I think 1 billion barrels of oil--almost equivalent to 60 percent of what OPEC contributes on a yearly basis--is a lot of oil.

Considering things aren't going real well in Venezuela these days, we might want to get this bill passed and help our industry and help our people.

In the last 4 minutes, I want to say in the spirit of cooperation that I filed a bill today on the issue of royalty recovery. This is an issue with the House of Representatives. It is an issue with us. It is an issue with the other House, and it is an issue with us. I thought maybe this would help everybody to see.

We can talk about it when we come back, of course.

These are the wells that were issued in 1998 and 1999 that did not have thresholds. There were over 1,000 of them. I am sorry I can't identify the 15 that are producing, but out of these there are only 15 that are producing. These are the ones which are producing and royalties are being generated because there was a mixup in the contract. When we get back we should resolve this issue. That is what my bill says, and it suggests how to do it.

Some of this money could go to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in the earlier years. Some could go to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and a lot of it could go to deficit reduction. We could reduce the debt on people and get a little head start on our coastal restoration, as well as do something for the Nation on land and water.

We could debate how the revenue should be shared, but I laid a bill down today to give us maybe a starting point for people who discuss how we might do that.

I will conclude with this: The Louisiana delegation cannot go home for Christmas without the WRDA bill and without the OCS bill. We are going to be here a long time until those bills are passed. We want to work with people, we want to be cooperative, and I filed a bill to solve this problem and meet the House halfway on this issue.

Then let's do something when we get back and work hard to get something out to the American people that could make at least the industry have a happy Christmas. Individual consumers might not feel the price of natural gas directly. But our industries and big and small businesses certainly do, and our farmers most certainly do. It would be a good Christmas present to give them.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, like many in Congress, I am disappointed that we are adjourning Congress for the October recess without enacting comprehensive U.S. Small Business Administration disaster assistance reforms. As our small businesses impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year can attest, this is an agency that is in woeful need of substantive reforms to its Disaster Assistance Program. Our businesses had to wait 4 to 6 months for SBA disaster loans to be approved, and some are still waiting to this day, for loan amounts to be disbursed.

For my part, I have worked for the past year to enact substantive SBA disaster reforms to ensure that `lessons learned' from Katrina and Rita were incorporated and that businesses nationwide could count on a better prepared and more efficient SBA should a disaster strike their community. Under the leadership of the chair and ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee, Senators Olympia Snowe and John Kerry, we sent to the Senate floor bipartisan legislation, S. 3778, which along with reauthorizing SBA programs, also enacts comprehensive SBA disaster reforms. Instead of working with us to take up and pass this important bill, the administration has frustrated this bill's passage at every turn and will not allow it to the Senate floor for consideration--almost 9 weeks after it was introduced. I am concerned about this lack of urgency from the SBA and the administration so just this week, I sent a letter to the new SBA Administrator Steve Preston. In this letter, I requested his cooperation with our committee to pass this important legislation before Congress adjourns at the end of the year.

I will ask that a copy of this September 27, 2006, letter be printed in the Record.

As we adjourn tonight, I note that we are set to pass legislation which temporarily extends programs under the Small Business Act until February 2, 2007. Although I do believe it is essential to extend these SBA programs, I worked with my colleague Senator Kerry to revise this date to November 17, 2006. This November date would have ensured that the Congress would have to return in November and at least attempt to pass SBA Disaster reforms. Instead, with these programs authorized through February 2, 2007, the Congress will adjourn in September 2006 and not take up SBA reauthorization until at least February 2007. I am disappointed by this development because, as elected officials, I believe it sends the wrong signal to our small business community.

If the Congress, in partnership with the SBA, does not address these systemic problems now, I am afraid that it will continue to plague the SBA's disaster response for future disasters. I believe there is a general consensus that these reforms need to get done. Therefore, I will continue my work with my colleagues from sides of the aisle to make these essential improvements this year.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter to which I referred be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak up to 15 minutes as in morning business.

Yes.

Mr. President, I am sure there is going to be a very vigorous response to the charges that were made by my good friend, the Senator from South Carolina. Those will come later. I am sure that will be a very heated debate as we go on through these next few days and next few months.

I thank the Chair.

(The remarks of Ms. Landrieu pertaining to the submission of S. Res. 585 are located in today's Record under ``Submission of Concurrent and Senate Resolutions.'')

Mr. President, I would like to turn my attention to one issue we have to resolve before we leave on this Friday or Saturday.

The Senators from Mississippi and Texas and Alabama and Louisiana and the Senators from Florida have stepped forward to come up with a plan that will do more than just talk about the recovery of the gulf coast but will actually put money behind that promise. We will put real money behind that promise.

We have been working for months and months through an extremely difficult negotiation and have come up with a way to open more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, drilling for oil and drilling for gas-- particularly natural gas--as our region struggles to come back, to stay competitive as industries large and small struggle to come back. The price of natural gas remains too high. One way to drive it down is to open more gas reserves in this Nation, to open the supply.

In the last Energy bill we passed, there were any number of ideas and new initiatives for energy conservation. But what we didn't do in the last Energy bill--please hear me--was open

new production. We spent the whole time debating ANWR as if it were the only place in America we could drill. We have debated it for 40 years, and maybe we will continue to debate it, but it ended in a no advance- no retreat status--basically a draw--in the last Energy bill because all the energy was spent in a discussion of ANWR, which is a very important subject, but it is not the only place that has oil and has gas. We have a lot of it in the gulf. We are willing to drill.

This is the extraordinary find just off the coast of Louisiana-- actually an outside distance of over 200 miles--most extraordinarily, 28,000 feet deep, 20,000 feet of water and 8,000 feet below the floor. This well in this small, little square will double the size of the reserves in the entire Gulf of Mexico. There is plenty of oil and gas in the gulf, and the great news is that Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama will do the drilling. We will be host for the industry. We respect the rights of other States that might choose other ways. Your State, Mr. President, has chosen a different way, other States look at the Atlantic coast and have chosen a different way, and Florida has chosen a different way. That debate is for another day.

Right now, the American people need this leadership team to act, to open 9 million new acres of land in the Gulf of Mexico. This has been agreed to by Democrats, by Republicans, by Florida, by Alabama, by Mississippi, by Louisiana, and by Texas, by all the Governors, starting with Governor Bush, to Governor Perry, to Governor Blanco, to Governor Riley, to Governor Barbour. You would think we could get this done before we leave.

This is a jack well, one little square. This is lease sale 181 and 181 south, which Pete Domenici has led in an extraordinary bipartisan effort with 72 votes on the floor to open this drilling. Many want to say it is not enough. It looks pretty big to me. We don't even know the oil and gas that is there because we haven't even tested it. Trust me, there is a lot of oil and gas. Check the industry, check the Web site about what must be there. And there is no fight about it. The only fight is we can't seem to get this bill passed when most everybody has agreed to it. Some people are holding out to drill off the coast of California or off the coast of New Hampshire or off the coast of New Jersey, which is not going to happen in the next week. It may not happen in the next year or two. But this can happen now. We need to make this happen now. The industry needs the oil and gas.

Why do I keep saying it is America's energy coast? Because this is the pipeline. I didn't make this up. This comes off of the Web site. It is from the Annual Florida Natural Gas Supplemental Gas Supply and Disposition from the Energy Administration. This is not from Mary Landrieu's office; this is from the Energy Administration. This is where the natural gas is. This is where it comes from. The infrastructure is here, and our country desperately needs it.

Here is another chart that shows it in a more colorful fashion. This is the pipeline coverage. You can see the contributions of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. This is the Superdome. It sits right here. There is Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Right here is the heart of America's energy coast. We are proud of it.

There is not a whole lot of drilling going on up here, not a whole lot up here in the northwest, but the infrastructure is here.

We need to open up lease sale 181. The steady stream of revenue to restore this coast and to build these levees--$8 billion--is produced off of this coast every year, and getting a portion of these revenues back to these States, opening additional reserves, and sharing these revenues to build this coast and to restore this coast is something we can get done.

In the spirit of the leadership and the spirit of the great victory last night, let this team in Washington get this victory for the country before we leave.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I came to the floor today to speak about something we can actually all agree on, something that has lifted the spirits of New Orleans and the region, and Louisiana, and the gulf coast, and that is the extraordinary victory of the New Orleans Saints against the Atlanta Falcons last night, in the super game, the first game in over 13 months and surely a game that will go down in history for many reasons.

At this time I would submit a resolution to the desk in honor of the New Orleans Saints in behalf of myself and others.

I will read the resolution, if I could, because it expresses so many of the feelings of so many throughout New Orleans and the gulf coast:

Whereas the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast were severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005 and the subsequent levee breaks which occurred;

Whereas southwestern Louisiana and the State of Louisiana were severely impacted by Hurricane Rita on September 24, 2005;

Whereas the New Orleans Saints and the Louisiana Superdome have always been special symbols of pride to the City of New Orleans and to the State of Louisiana;

Whereas, due to the leadership and hard work of the men and women who rebuilt the Superdome, as well as to the partnership of the National Football League, the State of Louisiana and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Louisiana Superdome was able to reopen on Monday, September 25, 2006--13 months since the last New Orleans Saints home game was played there;

Whereas the return of the New Orleans Saints to the Louisiana Superdome serves as a symbol of hope for the great rebuilding of the City of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region;

Whereas the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana showed its pride and support for the New Orleans Saints with an attendance of 70,003 fans at the September 25, 2006 game;

Whereas the New Orleans Saints won their first game in the Louisiana Superdome since. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by defeating the Atlanta Falcons, 23 to 3;

Whereas with the win over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday, September 25, 2006, the New Orleans Saints improve their record for the 2006-2007 season to a total of 3 wins and 0 losses, matching its win total from the 2005-2006 season and is one of just six National Football League teams with a record of 3 wins and 0 losses; Whereas Head Coach Sean Payton led the New Orleans Saints to win their first three games of the 2006-2007 season and showed his appreciation to the City of New Orleans by giving the game ball to the city;

Whereas wide receiver Devery Henderson scored a touchdown on an 11 yard run in the game;

Whereas cornerback Curtis Deloach scored a touchdown following the blocked punt by Steve Gleason;

Whereas place kicker John Karney kicked three field goals in the game;

Whereas the New Orleans Saints defense held the Atlanta Falcons to 229 total yards in the game and had 5 sacks on the quarterback;

Whereas quarterback Drew Brees completed 20 of28 pass attempts for a total of 191 yards in the game;

Whereas running back Deuce McAllister had 81 rushing yards and running back Reggie Bush had 53 rushing yards in the game;

Whereas the entire team and organization should be commended for the work together over the past 13 months;

Whereas the New Orleans Saints have demonstrated their excellence in athletics and strength and has shown their commitment to the City of New Orleans and to the State of Louisiana through their hard work and sportsmanship; and

Whereas with the triumphant return of the New Orleans Saints, the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana have proven to be open for business and ready to continue the recovery of the city, state and region: Now, therefore be it

Resolved, That the Senate commends the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League for (1) winning their Monday, September 25, 2006 National Football League game with the Atlanta Falcons, by a score of 23 to 3. (2) and we commend League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue for demonstrating exemplary leadership and commitment to the City of New Orleans.

Mr. President, I thought it was important to read the words of this resolution which will go in the Record today. I am certain there were millions and millions of people all over America who watched that special football game last night because, as you know, it was more than a football game. It was a symbol of hope and recovery for a great American city in a great region of this country.

I came to the floor today to share this resolution and to also thank my colleagues, as Senator Lott from Mississippi has done earlier this morning, to thank them for coming together in such an extraordinary and bipartisan way throughout this year to pass not one, not two, not three, but four supplemental requests that are helping to send money to this stricken region of the country.

Even when there were some problems and some hurdles in the executive branch, this Congress came together across party lines, led in large measure by the appropriators in this Chamber, to say: Yes, this region deserves investment; yes, we need to fix FEMA; yes, we need to reform the Corps of Engineers; yes, we need to build levees; and, yes, we need to restore the wetlands that protect this great coast of which New Orleans and Houston and Gulfport and Beaumont and Lake Charles and Lafayette and Baton Rouge are such important cities in this region-- America's only energy coast.

Last night, the Saints did us proud. They came home and not just won the game, but it was, of course, more than a game. For the Saints managers, for the dome director, for the commissioners of the dome stadium who

helped get their magnificent building ready after such a tragedy of last year, we thank them.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the roster of the Saints players, the names of the coaches and the assistant coaches and their managers, the names of the contractors, and as many of the workers as we can get.

Mr. President, it demonstrates that the people of the city of New Orleans are fighting to come back, to fight some obstacles that were thrown our way. Despite so much of the criticism that came from some places, we are determined to rebuild.

The spirit of our city and the spirit of this region is strong, and the Saints represented that last night. They came roaring into the dome, as the Saints go marching in with our musicians and our artists and the great spirit of its people to say: We will not allow this city to die or this region to die. We are going to continue to fight hard, to build partnerships, to reform what needs to be reformed, to fix what needs to be fixed, and to build this region, every single neighborhood, every single town, and to do it smarter and better.

The Saints came marching in. They brought a lot of hope to everyone. This resolution will commend them for their extraordinary work as we go into the difficult rebuilding in the years ahead.

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