Floor Statements

Mr. President, I thank the Senator. He and the Senator from New Hampshire have done a fine job leading us through this budget. It is a tough instrument, of course, to negotiate.

Senator Vitter and I are pleased to come to the floor to speak about three particular amendments that will be offered later in the day. One that will be discussed in more detail is a small business amendment. He and I serve together on the Small Business Committee. It has become apparent to us there are many issues regarding the slowness in which the applications our small businesses are putting in but not getting their due checks based on the current law fast enough to get them reestablished. So we will be offering an amendment on a small business issue which I will be cosponsoring with him later.

These two issues we are speaking about this morning on levees are an authorization for an additional $10 billion through the committee Senator Vitter serves on to try to get the authorization levels up. Mr. President, as you know, because you just visited our great State, any number of levy projects throughout all of south Louisiana, from southwest to southeast, from the metropolitan area of New Orleans to the metropolitan area of Thibodaux, Houma, Lake Charles, and rural areas of Cameron and Vermilion Parish, all are short of the levy systems they need to protect themselves and are short of money to our coastal restoration efforts that serve as the first barrier against storms such as Rita and Katrina.

So the second amendment I hope our colleagues will consider is a $10 billion authorization increase in one of the committees Senator Vitter serves on, EPW. A critical third amendment we will discuss later when the details are worked out is a gulf coast recovery fund. That fund will take some additional revenues flowing into the Treasury from additional offshore oil and gas revenues, not specified to any particular place in the gulf, but of course the ANWR revenues and some others that may be coming in if this resolution passes, to support direct funding, coastal impact assistance to the Gulf Coast States: Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. The Gulf Coast States that serve as America's only energy coast have been devastated by these two storms. Some smart investments now will save us billions of dollars down the road.

Of course, we say from Louisiana and the gulf coast, if it weren't for our Gulf Coast States, we wouldn't even be able to access the great mineral revenues off our shores, right off the southern shore of the United States. So I am pleased to join with my colleague and work through the better part of today on these three amendments.

Then at an additional time later on, with the leadership's go-ahead, we will also hopefully be discussing a defense amendment very important to the Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport.

I thank my colleagues for their generosity, and I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to change my vote on amendment No. 3141, which we just voted on prior to this, offered by Senator Stabenow. I voted ``nay.'' I wish to change it to ``yea.'' It doesn't change the outcome of the vote.

Will the Senator yield for a question?

The Senator from Maine has made a very passionate plea and one with which I tend to agree. I am a supporter of this program and a supporter of making the formula even more fair for the Southern States that have very high energy costs as well--different but high. But would the Senator agree that another way to bring down prices of oil and gas would be to increase the supply of oil and gas into our country? Would the Senator at least acknowledge that is another way to help people?

I thank the Senator. I don't want to take any more time. I am going to support bringing this bill up because I believe, as the Senator outlined, it is an emergency and something we need to do.

But I want to say for the Record that there are other ways we can lower the price. Louisiana and the gulf coast is prepared to do that. I hope, as we move on with this debate, we can get to that issue as well.

Mr. President, when I began serving on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the District of Columbia in January of 2001, my knowledge of the city's relationship with Congress was limited to someone who had lived here for only a few years. I quickly learned, however, not only the workings of the committee, but also the unique relationship between the District of Columbia and the Congress. One of the first people who helped me learn of this relationship and how to best serve the District was the energetic, dedicated chief advocate for DC Mayor Anthony Williams, Mr. Gregory McCarthy.

Behind all of the big ideas, the hours of debate and the finely cut deals, there is the staff. The staff must work the long hours to merge the big ideas and the little details into policy and legislation that achieves the goals set forth by their boss. Gregory McCarthy was an exemplary staffer who did all of this and more. Gregory has worked tirelessly on behalf of the Nation's Capital to create policy that benefited the city, met the needs of the elected officials of the District of Columbia, and satisfied the oversight function of the Congress. While working in the Mayor's Office, he helped build the credibility of the city, from the Halls of Congress, to the many visitors to the capital city, to the bond rating agencies. And all the while, Gregory served as the best source for a history lesson on the District, the current status of a program, and the gauge of the Mayor on any issue that any member of the DC Appropriations Subcommittee could ask for.

Gregory McCarthy exemplifies the public service that fuels a government which serves the people. It is this type of public service that benefits students in the District of Columbia especially. Through Gregory's hard work, he navigated the strong and varying positions of Members of Congress and local officials in order to create the first federally sponsored, private school voucher program. While I have been a tough critic of the program, I have always said that Gregory and the city represented the District's constituents well by seeking more school options, and through their tireless discussion and debate came a program that supports traditional public schools and public charter schools, as well as private school scholarships. Gregory's efforts to improve education for District residents have not been limited to elementary and secondary alternatives. Similarly, he has worked to authorize and fund college grants for more than 8,000 DC residents so that those who wish to pursue a degree of higher education may see their dreams become a reality.

Gregory McCarthy shepherded these and numerous other programs through a frequently arduous District of Columbia appropriations process. The residents of the District have benefited greatly from his years of public service. When the year 2006 draws to an end, a new mayor will be elected and a new staff of dedicated public servants will work to improve this great city. As this new crew weaves their way through charted and uncharted territories, they will build on the positive relationships that Mayor Williams, Gregory McCarthy, and other members of the Mayor's staff have worked so hard to create. As Mr. McCarthy leaves the District of Columbia government for his next challenge, I offer him my congratulations and best wishes. From my own experience in working with him, I know that Gregory will succeed in whatever he pursues next.

Mr. President, after the close of business on February 9, 2006, the Small Business Administration, SBA, notified my office that the SBA Disaster Loan Program was going to run out of money 4 days later on February 13, 2006. I was outraged that my office was only made aware of the situation because USA Today was about to do a story on it. The Disaster Loan Program is one of the most important lifelines that the people of my State are relying on to pull themselves out of the destruction wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. When SBA first knew about the funding shortfall in this program, the Senators from Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, and Alabama should have been the first people told. No doubt some of my colleagues may only have learned about this in the media. That is not how a Federal agency should notify Congress of important developments.

The administration has requested, and the Appropriations Committee has approved, a reprogramming of $100 million from SBA's salaries and expenses account to the Disaster Loan Program to keep it funded for another 2 weeks. The program will still need additional funding beyond this. H.R. 4745, that is before the Senate today, will allow for a reallocation of $712 million in funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to SBA in order to keep the Disaster Loan Program running until the end of April. They hope that by then Congress will have acted on an additional Katrina supplemental appropriations bill to keep the Disaster Loan Program funded through the end of the fiscal year. I certainly support this legislation and I am pleased that SBA acted to keep the Disaster Loan Program funded.

But even with these temporary extensions, this latest incident is just another example of the poor performance of SBA under the its Administrator Hector Barreto. SBA told us that it has known about this problem since December when they realized that their average disaster loan size for damage as a result of Katrina was double what they had previously experienced in the program. So all of their estimates were off. They knew that the amount of money they had budgeted for disaster loans to businesses and homeowners for the program would not last. But they never said anything to us about it--until they thought that the press would tell us first.

The Small Business Committee held hearings focusing on SBA's disaster response to Katrina and Rita, so the agency knew that this was a major concern to the chair and ranking member of the committee, Senator Snowe and Senator Kerry, as well as myself and my colleague from Louisiana, Senator Vitter. The committee staff is in almost daily contact with SBA, giving SBA ample opportunity to discuss upcoming issues that would warrant congressional attention. No one at SBA raised this issue, everything was fine.

When the administration released the Federal budget for 2007, SBA made no mention that the Disaster Loan Program was going to need additional funding. The SBA's Chief Financial Officer took part in budget briefings for staff along with other SBA officials. Again no mention that the Disaster Loan Program was running out of money.

Mr. President, if this was an isolated incident or oversight, I would not be nearly as disappointed. But this is far from an isolated event. My constituents have been complaining about SBA and the Disaster Loan Program since the earliest days after the disaster. Katrina and Rita catastrophically destroyed or damaged over 18,000 businesses and over 200,000 homes in Louisiana alone. Early on after the storm, disaster victims had to wait months for their loans to be approved. The agency did not have enough staff on the ground to do damage assessments. The situation has improved since those early days, and the SBA has finally heeded our calls to contract out the loss verification process to speed things up. I commend them for coming to their senses on that, but I still believe that the SBA's slow start has led to business failures and has left many homeowners without any hope of returning home.

Furthermore, SBA's failure to accurately track the finances of the Disaster Loan Program, and more importantly, its neglect in keeping Congress updated on this developing problem, is evidence of a culture of inefficiency that goes through to the highest levels of the SBA. I want to know what these officials knew and when they knew it, because certainly no one in Congress was told until February 1. That is 12 days--I repeat 12 days--before the program was set to run out of money.

Mr. President, Katrina and Rita threw the gulf coast into a state of uncertainty. SBA's handling of the Disaster Loan Program has only made this feeling of uncertainty worse. We need more than a string of temporary fixes to the financial viability of the program to ensure that the dollars will be there for the people in the gulf who are trying to rebuild. We need a permanent solution or else the management mistakes of the past will continue to plague the SBA's disaster response for future disasters.

Mr. President, I rise provide a bit of background regarding legislation that I am introducing today. The bill that I am sending to the desk would provide independent colleges and universities with direct, immediate aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. Additionally, the bill would assist the recovery of non- profit education institutions from the extensive damage they sustain during natural disasters.

During crises, the critical role that small colleges and universities play in our communities is often overlooked or underestimated. In Louisiana, many of our colleges and universities are not only important in educating our students, but also in bolstering our economy.

In my home State, this legislation would benefit Delgado Community College, Dillard University, Loyola University New Orleans, Nunez Community College, Our Lady of Holy Cross College, Southern University at New Orleans, Sowela Technical Community College, Tulane University of Louisiana, University of New Orleans, McNeese State University and Xavier University of Louisiana.

Under current law, ``education'' has been omitted from the list of ``critical services'' for which facility repair assistance can be awarded directly and immediately. Until 2000, when Congress changed the law, education was always eligible for direct FEMA assistance for facility damages. This legislation simply restores education to its rightful position as a recognized critical service.

This is the only place in Federal law governing disaster assistance that makes this distinction between non-profit and public colleges and universities. This equity must be restored. This legislation is not a demand for the start of a new program, but the restoration of these institutions long-held position under Federal law.

Recent media reports in the New York Times and USA Today have featured stories depicting the massive backlog of applications for aid options for those institutions not eligible for immediate, direct FEMA assistance. When disasters strike these institutions, which often already have limited resources, they incur an extensive range of costs for which they cannot secure any immediate Federal reimbursement or resources. These institutions cannot afford to lose a semester and neither can their students. They should be able to go directly to FEMA immediately, just as others do.

Congressman Kendrick Meek introduced a companion bill, H.R. 4517, in December and I look forward to working with him on this legislation. Our colleges and universities are something we cannot afford to ignore and they are vital to rebuilding the State of Louisiana. I hope that my colleagues will come together in support of this important legislation to support our colleges and universities in this time of need.

Mr. President, I rise provide a bit of background regarding legislation that I am introducing today. The bill that I am sending to the desk would provide independent colleges and universities with direct, immediate aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. Additionally, the bill would assist the recovery of non- profit education institutions from the extensive damage they sustain during natural disasters.

During crises, the critical role that small colleges and universities play in our communities is often overlooked or underestimated. In Louisiana, many of our colleges and universities are not only important in educating our students, but also in bolstering our economy.

In my home State, this legislation would benefit Delgado Community College, Dillard University, Loyola University New Orleans, Nunez Community College, Our Lady of Holy Cross College, Southern University at New Orleans, Sowela Technical Community College, Tulane University of Louisiana, University of New Orleans, McNeese State University and Xavier University of Louisiana.

Under current law, ``education'' has been omitted from the list of ``critical services'' for which facility repair assistance can be awarded directly and immediately. Until 2000, when Congress changed the law, education was always eligible for direct FEMA assistance for facility damages. This legislation simply restores education to its rightful position as a recognized critical service.

This is the only place in Federal law governing disaster assistance that makes this distinction between non-profit and public colleges and universities. This equity must be restored. This legislation is not a demand for the start of a new program, but the restoration of these institutions long-held position under Federal law.

Recent media reports in the New York Times and USA Today have featured stories depicting the massive backlog of applications for aid options for those institutions not eligible for immediate, direct FEMA assistance. When disasters strike these institutions, which often already have limited resources, they incur an extensive range of costs for which they cannot secure any immediate Federal reimbursement or resources. These institutions cannot afford to lose a semester and neither can their students. They should be able to go directly to FEMA immediately, just as others do.

Congressman Kendrick Meek introduced a companion bill, H.R. 4517, in December and I look forward to working with him on this legislation. Our colleges and universities are something we cannot afford to ignore and they are vital to rebuilding the State of Louisiana. I hope that my colleagues will come together in support of this important legislation to support our colleges and universities in this time of need.

Mr. President, confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice is one of the most important duties the Senate performs under the Constitution. We should consider the nomination of Judge Alito carefully and conduct our debate on this nominee with dignity and respect.

The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of whether the laws of our land conform to the Constitution. Once confirmed to the Court, Justices serve for life, beholden only to the Constitution and the rule of law. It is an awesome responsibility; and for such an important event, we must have a confirmation process fitting of that responsibility. Too often in recent years, we have not.

Though the judicial branch of our government is supposed to be independent of politics, the nomination and confirmation process has become far too political to the point that it no longer serves the Nation's interests, regardless of partisan or philosophical differences.

Judge Alito, whom I have met and found to be an honorable, intelligent man, was placed in the unfortunate position of having been selected as a result of this process. As my colleagues know, he was not the President's first choice to fill Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's seat. John Roberts was. After his nomination was switched to become Chief Justice, Harriet Miers became the President's second choice. After she was attacked by members of the President's own party, her nomination was withdrawn. Again, politics prevailed.

Judge Alito's nomination was the President's third choice for this seat and, in many ways, a gesture to the organized interest groups of the President's party who had derailed Ms. Miers' nomination. Unfortunately, it was a nomination of, by, and for politics.

This highly charged political process spilled over into the confirmation hearings before the Judiciary Committee. To secure confirmation, Judge Alito said as little as possible. The strategy was clear: hide, don't explain or embrace, your judicial philosophy.

The Supreme Court nomination and confirmation process has become a game of hide-the-ball. It is a process that does not help to inform Senate deliberations, and it sadly leaves the American people uninformed about who will be sitting on this highest of American courts until it may be too late.

The chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee are not to blame for what has happened to the confirmation process. I also thank Judge Alito for his willingness to appear before the committee for as long as he did. But the entire process is clearly not what the Framers of our Constitution intended. No one in America should be afraid to speak his or her mind openly and honestly. The American people are poorly served by a process that places tactical politics above guiding principle.

If confirmed, Judge Alito will replace one of the most important justices on the Court today, Sandra Day O'Connor. Justice O'Connor is a conservative, appointed by a conservative President. Over time, she became a consensus builder on the Court who took great pains to strike a careful balance in her opinions, never forgetting that the Court's decisions have real consequences for real people. She was open-minded and independent. Her influence on the Court was tremendous and her reasoning always carried great weight. She did not prejudge cases and applied the law to the facts in a fair manner.

Justice O'Connor, who was appointed by President Reagan, was a swing vote on a number of important decisions. Whether you or I agree with her individual opinions or not, I think she acted responsibly: someone committed to equal justice under the law, who applied the law to the facts as presented to her and did not ``overreach'' from the bench. She showed proper respect for the legislative branch and was careful not to cater to Executive authority.

While Samuel Alito has solid qualifications to become a Supreme Court Justice, it is our duty to look deeper. Though we can never know how a Justice will decide a case before it is presented and argued, it is important to know, during the confirmation process, which principles of judicial philosophy will underlie a potential Justice's future constitutional interpretations. We can give advice and consent to a Supreme Court nomination without this information or these insights, as this Senate is about to do. But without this information and these insights, we cannot give informed advice or informed consent.

It was never intended that the Senate be a rubberstamp, approving everyone the President nominated simply because he sent them to us. The Framers expected Senators to bring wisdom and understanding to the task, not to simply check off boxes on an application form.

Judge Alito's record gives me cause for concern. And his testimony during the confirmation hearings unfortunately did very little to lessen that concern. His opinions and dissents on the bench leave open very serious questions as to how he views fundamental civil rights for all Americans and how he views protecting the individual rights of average citizens, especially when they are threatened by powerful forces, including the government itself. Judge Alito's nonanswers to so many questions presented to him at the confirmation hearing added to those troubling concerns.

I have voted for conservative judges nominated by Republican Presidents many times. John Roberts was the most recent. But I must oppose this nomination. I want my vote against confirmation to send a signal to all who care that the Supreme Court nomination process has become far too political and far too removed from the original purposes set forth by the Framers of the Constitution.

It is time for all of us, Republicans and Democrats of every possible philosophical persuasion, to stand up against a process that so poorly serves the people of the States we represent in this great body.

I ask unanimous consent to speak for 1 minute.

Madam President, I rise following my colleague from Mississippi, to associate myself with his remarks. I see my colleague, Senator Vitter, on the Senate floor, and Senator Cochran is not too far away. This is a crucial vote for those of us along the gulf coast who have faced not just two killer storms but multiple levee breaks that have put this great economy of the Nation's only energy coast at risk. While we would not design the bill this way if left up to the four of us who have been negotiating this package with the help of many of our colleagues through the process, I add my voice to say it is imperative that we get this $29 billion of direct aid, not to FEMA but directly to our Governors and to our people to give them hope that this region can be rebuilt. Without this, it will be impossible, and they cannot wait another day.

I thank my Senate colleagues.

Mr. President, I would like to speak for 30 seconds.

Mr. President, I know everyone is anxious to vote. In this underlying bill on defense, I just wish to say that there is $29 billion for coastal restoration, hurricane protection, housing, and business help for the gulf coast. I know it has been a tough, long day, but in this bill there is $29 billion because of the hard work by both sides of the aisle. We are very grateful for the help on this bill.

Mr. President, while we did leave a lot of work to be done, I do want to thank my colleagues, particularly Chairman Cochran and Senator Byrd, for shepherding through a tremendous direct relief bill. That would not have happened without these two leaders. It was initially sent to us at $17 billion, with an anemic funding level for our levees. It was basically a bill that fixed Federal buildings and sent money to Federal bureaucracies and didn't reach the people directly or our cities or counties or parishes or churches or schools or hospitals. Senator Cochran took that bill and he stood it up and added some extraordinary pieces to it and fought like a tiger to keep that money flexible but accountable so our Governors could start rebuilding our States again, with help from the Federal Government; not just promises but real help. If it had not been for Senators Cochran and Byrd and the appropriators who helped to stand this bill up, we would be leaving here tonight in a much less hopeful situation.

We passed that bill out of here a little while ago. It is headed to the House of Representatives. That part is not controversial, but the process is controversial. I hope the House Members will pass that tomorrow so the people of the gulf coast, who have been waiting not for a week, not for 2 weeks, but for 4 months for this Congress to send some package of hope, other than money to FEMA, but a package of hope to our elected officials so they can get their parishes stood up, people back home, the lights turned on, the hospitals working again, the universities functioning again, and stop firing and start hiring people so we can stand up this economy.

I am hoping that tomorrow the House will act, and we will at least send this $29 billion home. Just today the President signed an $8 billion tax relief package that is full of targeted and specific tax credits and tax relief for businesses and individuals that will help as well. I thank the administration for their support of that bill.

Particularly I thank Senators Baucus and Grassley. Senator Blanche Lincoln worked very hard on many portions of this bill as a member of the Finance Committee. I could not leave tonight to go home for the holidays without thanking Senators Grassley and Baucus. Without them, that bill never would have made it through the process. On the House side, Congressman Jim McCrery and my own Congressman from New Orleans, Bill Jefferson, had a great deal to do with the success of that bill.

As we get ready to celebrate Christmas and we remember members of our own family, my parents, my siblings, cousins, very good friends who have lost their homes and their businesses, as we remember the 250,000 homes that have been destroyed and the millions of people impacted negatively, at least this Congress can say we passed an $8 billion tax bill that will help many directly and give them immediate relief as it was signed today, and this $29 billion direct package reallocating FEMA money that is sitting in a bank account and give it to people for this Christmas holiday, and then to resolve when we get back to take up and design some new tools for reconstruction that can help in the area particularly of housing, which is such a desperate need, and reorganization of our neighborhoods and communities.

I can rest assured that the leadership in Louisiana, with the Louisiana Recovery District, led by the Governor, who appointed Norman Francis and Walter Isaacson, the two leaders of the LRA, is prepared, with our local officials, to come up with new and innovative strategies to build a great city of New Orleans again, the great parishes of Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemine, then to move over to the southwest and give the small parishes, such as Cameron, which was totally destroyed, the help they need to stand back up, so we can stand up our farms, hospitals, petrochemical industry, keep our ports open, start hiring teachers and doctors back, and start building up the 18,000 businesses that were lost. Forty-one percent of the businesses in Louisiana were destroyed by this hurricane. Our income fell 25 percent, our personal income, in a report released today.

I know everybody is tired. It has been a long day. I am ready to go home myself and have a few Christmas gifts wrapped before the weekend. But I can say that last night in New Orleans, there was the first party thrown in a long time at Gallier Hall, the old city hall. Although Senator Vitter and I couldn't be there, 500 people showed up. While there were a lot of stories about the heartache that had occurred, there was a lot of hope in the hearts of the people who came. There were former mayors and former council members and leaders of the community, Black and White, Hispanic and Asian. And despite the fact that still this Congress doesn't understand in every way why New Orleans matters, I can promise you that the spirit of the people who live in this city will not let it die, will not let south Louisiana die.

We are going to come back and work even harder to add to the package we passed tonight to get the job done and to be a model for the country, should this catastrophe ever strike another area again.

I thank my colleagues for getting through at least tonight the $29 billion of direct relief and the $8 billion tax package. When we come back, we have work to do on coastal, work to do on housing. I look forward to working with Members on both sides of the aisle to get the job done for the people of Louisiana and the gulf coast.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I will speak just for a moment about each of these important measures. Before I do, I know today has been a long day, and it has been complicated by many procedural votes and a series of bills that we just passed out of here, many important bills. Of course, the Defense appropriations, Defense authorization bill, two of the major bills that Congress works on throughout the year, and it is important we get them through.

On the Defense appropriations bill, as it was amended, there was a very important piece for the gulf coast, $29 billion direct relief package. I will speak just for a moment about that because it has bearing on what we are going to do in the future when we are faced with catastrophic events.

Senator Vitter and I, my colleague from Louisiana, returned to the Congress over 4 months ago to try to describe to our colleagues the devastation that occurred with not one but two hurricanes and then multiple levee breaks which have devastated a major American city and a region, the southern part of Louisiana and Mississippi.

I have said now on many occasions that FEMA, on its best day, is not adequate to address the emergency and enormous needs of the people who have been affected: their need for housing, their need for employment, their need for capital, their need for emotional security, their need for public infrastructure, their need for police, their need for firefighters, their need for health care, their need for education.

I cannot even describe the tremendous angst, anxiety, and despair setting in on many communities in the gulf coast region because help has been slow in coming. And when it has been offered, it has been inadequate to address the situation we find ourselves in.

I do not know if we have ever considered what needs to be done when we have a catastrophic incident such as we had. So we are going to come back after the recess and I hope talk about how FEMA can be restructured, how it can be made to be more efficient, how it can be made to be more accountable, how it can be made to act more quickly. But we are also going to need some additional tools.

That is what the two bills address I have introduced tonight as a companion to a House bill that was introduced and has been worked on very diligently by my colleague Congressman Richard Baker from Baton Rouge, who is the ranking member on the Banking Committee in the House. He has done some excellent work on this bill and has moved it out of the House committee. It establishes a brand new corporation that can step in. It would be established by appointment by the President and by the Governor, with seven members, to establish a corporation that could then access the capital markets by issuing bonds, to step up and into the gulf coast area to work with our local officials, to work with the officials at the city level, at the parish level, to provide opportunities, to provide equity for homeowners who find themselves with homes that are uninhabitable, with mortgages that need to be paid and no possible way to sell their property because it is of questionable value, given the situation.

We are very fortunate in America that we have not had to face these tragedies very often, and this is the first time we faced a tragedy of this magnitude. Mr. President, 275,000 homes destroyed, 10 times the amount of homes destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Mr. President, 28,000 homes were destroyed in the worst disaster before we faced Rita and Katrina. But with 275,000 homes destroyed, clearly, we have to do more than send money through FEMA.

Money is not the only answer for the challenges before us. So we need new tools. That is why I have come to the Senate tonight to introduce, after a long day, a bill that was crafted in the House by Congressman Baker, amended through input from a variety of his colleagues in the House, input from myself and some Senators in anticipation of the bill moving over here, and have had a verbal commitment from Senator Shelby, the chairman of the Banking Committee, and very positive comments from Democrats on the Banking Committee that we could have an expedited hearing on this bill when we return.

Because even with the $29 billion in direct aid that is included in the Defense appropriations bill, I can promise my colleagues, to stand up the great city of New Orleans and the region and the gulf coast is going to take more than FEMA, more than direct aid through community development block grants and aid to our schools and universities and hospitals. It is going to take some new tools we are going to have to invent, we are going to have to place into a toolbox and then give out to local elected officials, to business leaders, to community organizations, to rebuild this great community.

But the great opportunity is, if we can invent these tools, and we can design them appropriately, they will then be available for us in the event a catastrophe such as this or something similar strikes again, whether it is an earthquake in San Francisco, massive tornadoes in the Midwest or, God forbid, a terror strike that would decimate or destroy a population or vast area such as we are experiencing from a hurricane and levee breaks in New Orleans.

There is all this work we can do on this housing corporation bill when we get back. I urge my colleagues' involvement because of the extraordinary need, as outlined and expressed so beautifully by Senator Stevens' remarks toward the end of this evening about how he was so emotionally taken aback by what he saw in New Orleans. I can most certainly understand it. Senator Vitter and I have been living that as we have moved through New Orleans and the region and all through south Louisiana, and share his view that more has to be done.

So these two bills that I introduce--one is a companion bill to Congressman Baker's bill with some important, I think, improvements or important amendments. One is to ensure a strong local input through local advisory committees, appointed by parish governments and municipalities. Also there is an underlining or emphasis, if you will, that the corporation must comply with State and local planning ordinances and direction.

This Senate version will also increase the potential equity recovery from 60 percent to 80 percent and will increase the potential cap of recovery from $500,000 to $750,000. We also put something in this bill to try to give corporate or commercial property owners some relief.

So between the Baker bill in the House, which needs to continue to move through the process, and this bill which will get, hopefully, some expedited hearings when we return, hopefully, we can quickly put into the hands of our communities, our large cities, our suburban areas, our rural areas, and individual property owners--who have seen in the last 4 months everything they have worked for in their life, perhaps even a little bit they were able to inherit, and all they hoped to pass on to their children or their grandchildren gone, without a whole lot of options for recovery--assistance.

We have every intention to rebuild our city and to rebuild our region. Just as if there were an earthquake in San Francisco, I don't think Congress would suggest that the millions of people who live there should simply pick up and move to New York and abandon the city of San Francisco, we have no intention of abandoning the city of New Orleans. We may lie 5 feet below sea level, but let me assure you, there are places in this world that are as or more productive than this region that lie 20 feet below sea level and manage their water properly and invest in their civil works properly in a way we could model ourselves after and do very well.

The city of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana have contributed billions of dollars to the economy of this Nation and to the general fund of

this Nation, and we want to continue to do so. We are not asking for a handout but a hand up. We are not asking for charity. We are asking for a portion of the taxes we pay, a portion of the money we send to the national Government, to be redirected, to give us the security for our coast and our hurricane protection that we warrant and the industries this infrastructure protects warrant for the benefit of not just the 4.5 million people who live in the State of Louisiana, and the 3 million-plus people who live in Mississippi, but which protect and support the almost 300 million people who live in the United States of America.

So these two bills are very important. I look forward to working on them when we get back.

The second bill is a bill where we picked up an idea from the New York situation, 9/11--a terrible situation that is still seared into our memory and our collective conscience.

There were some real problems with housing following the destruction of that neighborhood. This second bill I have introduced would allow FEMA to extend some of their rental and housing programs to give some immediate help to families who find themselves unable to recover their equity for whatever reason out of the houses they have that are uninhabitable but who have to find a decent place to live so they can rebuild and regroup. That bill will address that situation.

Mr. President, I will speak just for a moment about each of these important measures. Before I do, I know today has been a long day, and it has been complicated by many procedural votes and a series of bills that we just passed out of here, many important bills. Of course, the Defense appropriations, Defense authorization bill, two of the major bills that Congress works on throughout the year, and it is important we get them through.

On the Defense appropriations bill, as it was amended, there was a very important piece for the gulf coast, $29 billion direct relief package. I will speak just for a moment about that because it has bearing on what we are going to do in the future when we are faced with catastrophic events.

Senator Vitter and I, my colleague from Louisiana, returned to the Congress over 4 months ago to try to describe to our colleagues the devastation that occurred with not one but two hurricanes and then multiple levee breaks which have devastated a major American city and a region, the southern part of Louisiana and Mississippi.

I have said now on many occasions that FEMA, on its best day, is not adequate to address the emergency and enormous needs of the people who have been affected: their need for housing, their need for employment, their need for capital, their need for emotional security, their need for public infrastructure, their need for police, their need for firefighters, their need for health care, their need for education.

I cannot even describe the tremendous angst, anxiety, and despair setting in on many communities in the gulf coast region because help has been slow in coming. And when it has been offered, it has been inadequate to address the situation we find ourselves in.

I do not know if we have ever considered what needs to be done when we have a catastrophic incident such as we had. So we are going to come back after the recess and I hope talk about how FEMA can be restructured, how it can be made to be more efficient, how it can be made to be more accountable, how it can be made to act more quickly. But we are also going to need some additional tools.

That is what the two bills address I have introduced tonight as a companion to a House bill that was introduced and has been worked on very diligently by my colleague Congressman Richard Baker from Baton Rouge, who is the ranking member on the Banking Committee in the House. He has done some excellent work on this bill and has moved it out of the House committee. It establishes a brand new corporation that can step in. It would be established by appointment by the President and by the Governor, with seven members, to establish a corporation that could then access the capital markets by issuing bonds, to step up and into the gulf coast area to work with our local officials, to work with the officials at the city level, at the parish level, to provide opportunities, to provide equity for homeowners who find themselves with homes that are uninhabitable, with mortgages that need to be paid and no possible way to sell their property because it is of questionable value, given the situation.

We are very fortunate in America that we have not had to face these tragedies very often, and this is the first time we faced a tragedy of this magnitude. Mr. President, 275,000 homes destroyed, 10 times the amount of homes destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Mr. President, 28,000 homes were destroyed in the worst disaster before we faced Rita and Katrina. But with 275,000 homes destroyed, clearly, we have to do more than send money through FEMA.

Money is not the only answer for the challenges before us. So we need new tools. That is why I have come to the Senate tonight to introduce, after a long day, a bill that was crafted in the House by Congressman Baker, amended through input from a variety of his colleagues in the House, input from myself and some Senators in anticipation of the bill moving over here, and have had a verbal commitment from Senator Shelby, the chairman of the Banking Committee, and very positive comments from Democrats on the Banking Committee that we could have an expedited hearing on this bill when we return.

Because even with the $29 billion in direct aid that is included in the Defense appropriations bill, I can promise my colleagues, to stand up the great city of New Orleans and the region and the gulf coast is going to take more than FEMA, more than direct aid through community development block grants and aid to our schools and universities and hospitals. It is going to take some new tools we are going to have to invent, we are going to have to place into a toolbox and then give out to local elected officials, to business leaders, to community organizations, to rebuild this great community.

But the great opportunity is, if we can invent these tools, and we can design them appropriately, they will then be available for us in the event a catastrophe such as this or something similar strikes again, whether it is an earthquake in San Francisco, massive tornadoes in the Midwest or, God forbid, a terror strike that would decimate or destroy a population or vast area such as we are experiencing from a hurricane and levee breaks in New Orleans.

There is all this work we can do on this housing corporation bill when we get back. I urge my colleagues' involvement because of the extraordinary need, as outlined and expressed so beautifully by Senator Stevens' remarks toward the end of this evening about how he was so emotionally taken aback by what he saw in New Orleans. I can most certainly understand it. Senator Vitter and I have been living that as we have moved through New Orleans and the region and all through south Louisiana, and share his view that more has to be done.

So these two bills that I introduce--one is a companion bill to Congressman Baker's bill with some important, I think, improvements or important amendments. One is to ensure a strong local input through local advisory committees, appointed by parish governments and municipalities. Also there is an underlining or emphasis, if you will, that the corporation must comply with State and local planning ordinances and direction.

This Senate version will also increase the potential equity recovery from 60 percent to 80 percent and will increase the potential cap of recovery from $500,000 to $750,000. We also put something in this bill to try to give corporate or commercial property owners some relief.

So between the Baker bill in the House, which needs to continue to move through the process, and this bill which will get, hopefully, some expedited hearings when we return, hopefully, we can quickly put into the hands of our communities, our large cities, our suburban areas, our rural areas, and individual property owners--who have seen in the last 4 months everything they have worked for in their life, perhaps even a little bit they were able to inherit, and all they hoped to pass on to their children or their grandchildren gone, without a whole lot of options for recovery--assistance.

We have every intention to rebuild our city and to rebuild our region. Just as if there were an earthquake in San Francisco, I don't think Congress would suggest that the millions of people who live there should simply pick up and move to New York and abandon the city of San Francisco, we have no intention of abandoning the city of New Orleans. We may lie 5 feet below sea level, but let me assure you, there are places in this world that are as or more productive than this region that lie 20 feet below sea level and manage their water properly and invest in their civil works properly in a way we could model ourselves after and do very well.

The city of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana have contributed billions of dollars to the economy of this Nation and to the general fund of

this Nation, and we want to continue to do so. We are not asking for a handout but a hand up. We are not asking for charity. We are asking for a portion of the taxes we pay, a portion of the money we send to the national Government, to be redirected, to give us the security for our coast and our hurricane protection that we warrant and the industries this infrastructure protects warrant for the benefit of not just the 4.5 million people who live in the State of Louisiana, and the 3 million-plus people who live in Mississippi, but which protect and support the almost 300 million people who live in the United States of America.

So these two bills are very important. I look forward to working on them when we get back.

The second bill is a bill where we picked up an idea from the New York situation, 9/11--a terrible situation that is still seared into our memory and our collective conscience.

There were some real problems with housing following the destruction of that neighborhood. This second bill I have introduced would allow FEMA to extend some of their rental and housing programs to give some immediate help to families who find themselves unable to recover their equity for whatever reason out of the houses they have that are uninhabitable but who have to find a decent place to live so they can rebuild and regroup. That bill will address that situation.

Mr. President, right after Katrina hit the financial services industry responded with compassion to their customers in Louisiana. Every bank, credit union, mortgage broker, and other mortgage holders instituted a 90 day forbearance period during which they did not collect mortgage payments. They deserve to be commended for this policy. They gave peace of mind to the thousands of families who lost their homes to Katrina and Rita, or whose homes were damaged by the storms.

Many of these forbearance periods have now ended, most effective December 1st. I have heard from homeowners throughout the state who are now being told by their lenders that in addition to making December's mortgage payment, they now also have to come up with a lump sum payment for the payments they missed. A lot of these people were under the impression that their loans would be restructured to add the three months on to the end of the loan term. Instead, they are getting a bill for thousands of dollars.

Can you imagine what it must be like for a person in New Orleans or St. Bernard Parish to get this notice from their lender? Their home is gone. Their community has been wiped out. We have lost over 200,000 homes in Louisiana to these storms and more than 18,000 businesses have been destroyed. Personal income in Louisiana has fallen by more than 25 percent in the third quarter of 2005. And now these homeowners--in this kind of situation--face foreclosure.

People in Louisiana are hard working and want to pay what they owe. Most lenders have reported that even with the forbearance period, close to 80 percent of borrowers continued to make their mortgage payments. People who have called my office have said that they can make the monthly payment, but the balloon payment is out of reach and will be for some time.

I was hoping that Congress could pass legislation before we adjourned to establish a Louisiana Recovery Corporation that would bring some stability and guide the redevelopment of the state after these storms. It would create an entity that will give homeowners the opportunity to sell destroyed properties if they feel that it would be in their best interest. The bill that we were working on with the leaders of the Senate Banking Committee--Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member Sarbanes-- as well as Congressman Baker in the House of Representatives, still needed a lot of work. We simply were not going to have time to complete the bill before the holidays. It will be one of my top priorities when we return in the Second Session.

In the meantime, homeowners in Louisiana need more time before they can begin making mortgage payments. Today I am submitting a sense of the Senate Resolution calling on mortgage lenders to continue their forbearance periods through March 31, 2006. This will give the Congress more time to consider and develop legislation to restore peace of mind to our homeowners.

It is my hope that this resolution will prompt the Senate to make passing legislation to give our homeowners peace of mind a priority when we return next year.

Mr. President, we do have some important work to finish tomorrow. That is why I thought I would spend a few minutes tonight reminding my colleagues of a very significant part of that work.

Before I came to work this morning, I spent a little time with our two children, our 8-year-old precious little angel girl, Mary Shannon, and our 12-year-old little boy. We spent some time at breakfast, and then we started doing what a lot of families do around this holiday, and that is listen to some Christmas music and some holiday music and wrap a few gifts that they had actually, amazingly picked out themselves for their Kris Kringles. We talked about how important it was going to be to see family over the holidays. As they struggled to wrap the gifts, with their tape and their scissors, we tried to spend a little family time together before I came to work today.

It reminded me of how simple but wonderfully special those moments are with families at this time of year, as moms and dads make their regular cookies and traditional dinners and recipes and wrap packages the same way and decorate the trees the same way and put out the nativity scenes. And all over the country that is happening.

There is one place that that is not happening the way it usually does and that is along the gulf coast of this country, and particularly in Louisiana.

About 3 months ago, two fierce storms hit our coast. We basically survived through the night, only to wake up the next morning and find the levees had broken, and 200,000-plus homes and 18,000 businesses were destroyed literally in a matter of a few hours.

The devastation was so great and so expansive and so unprecedented that it has literally taken the Nation and this Congress and even officials in the region, major business operations in the region, 3 months or more to actually realize the extent of the devastation.

I have spent a lot of time on the Senate floor with my colleague, Senator Vitter, showing pictures and graphs to try to explain what actually happened. This one isn't fancy. It is simple, but it is pretty clear. When we come down here to try to explain how much help the people of Louisiana need, the people of Mississippi, and to some extent a little bit in Alabama and Texas because of two killer storms, Katrina and Rita, and the multiple levee breaks that ensued, one figure that helped my staff and our people to understand is this chart that shows Hurricane Andrew as the most expensive storm ever to hit the coast of the United States in 1992. They are still recovering from it in Florida.

In that massive storm, 28,000 homes were destroyed--28,000, in Homestead, FL, and in places around. People are still living in trailers after 10-plus, 14 years.

But I have to show my colleagues right here, in Katrina, 3 months ago, a storm and levee break came through and around 275,000 homes, 10 times the amount of Hurricane Andrew, 10 times the amount of destruction.

I was sitting in my home just a few blocks from here with my children this morning, with three rolls of wrapping paper and a couple of pairs of scissors. And, thank goodness, we could find the Scotch tape which is always a challenge when you are wrapping gifts. I had to close my eyes and think about my mother's house that is not occupied now after 45 years of raising 9 children and 37 grandchildren. It had 7 feet of water in it.

And my sisters and our friends and people from all walks of life, rich and poor, Black and White, senior citizens and moms and dads who are looking forward to having their children and grandchildren with them, there are no homes to wrap these gifts or to put the tree or to hang the lights.

I just came tonight to tell my colleagues that while this bill looks like just sort of a regular package of lots of words and lines and fine print, what is in one of these bills tomorrow is a package of hope for the 275,000 families who lived in those homes that were completely destroyed--not a roof damaged, not a porch falling over, not a few steps missing but homes completely destroyed.

I want to show you what a home completely destroyed looks like; 275,000 homes along the gulf coast look something like this. Some of them look worse.

This picture was in the National Geographic a couple of weeks ago. This is what the homes along the gulf coast look like.

That is why I am not going home this Christmas while we will be working as many hours and days as it takes until people like this have some hope that they can get back to their home. It is not just Christmas, which would be impossible in this situation, but at least by next Christmas.

I am going to say again, for the one-hundredth time, FEMA is not sufficient to get us back to our homes, to build our churches again, to rebuild our schools and to rebuild our communities. It is an insufficient mechanism, and on its best day it could not accomplish this goal.

In this package tomorrow in the Defense appropriations bill, because of political concerns of the Congress, we find our $29 billion hope package in there that finally moves money from an agency that can't manage to spend it well into the hands of competent local officials and local entities and private businesses and faith-based organizations and individual Americans who show a lot of grit and a lot of heart to build their State and their community again.

We are not going home without the hope package. It is not fair and America can do better.

This is what the inside of many homes in New Orleans looks like because the water was so high in many of our neighborhoods, even neighborhoods

that had never flooded, neighborhoods that had never had a drop of water before. After several weeks and finally the water went down, this is what families saw all throughout south Louisiana and in New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish, parts of Jefferson Parish, in neighborhoods in some places where the average home is valued at $50,000 to $75,000. But there are also some neighborhoods where the average home is worth $1 million.

In all homes, large and small, rich and poor, this is what families are doing this holiday season. They come up here to Senator Vitter's office and to my office. ``Senator, does anybody know we are down here? Does anybody know we have lost our churches, our schools, our community? Does anybody care? What is Congress doing?''

Because of the good work of many Members of this body, particularly I have to say Senator Thad Cochran from Mississippi, who basically refused to accept an anemic and incomplete proposal from the administration that basically sent money to fix a few Federal buildings--I don't see a Federal building anywhere in this picture. I see a family's home. I see everything that they owned destroyed, impossible to reclaim. While you can buy a few sofas--let me assure you that there are many you can choose from--I promise you that the wedding album which was lost is irreplaceable. The pictures of the children are irreplaceable. The special mementos handed down from grandmother to mother to daughter are gone, are priceless and can't be replaced. And no insurance company can provide you sufficient funding for those things that have been lost.

This is what 250,000 homes in Louisiana look like. It is bad enough to lose your home. But I also want to try to impress upon the Members of Congress that losing your home is pretty bad because it is where most people have equity. Most of the net worth of Americans is in their homes. We pride ourselves on being homeowners and a nation of homeowners and middle-class families.

But let me show you what this hurricane and flood did. It destroyed 18,752 businesses, catastrophically destroyed, gone in Louisiana, compared to 1,912 in Mississippi, 295 in Texas, and 20 in Alabama; 18,700 businesses gone, no more; restaurants, cleaners, manufacturers, law firms, doctors' offices, clinics, just gone.

People who are cleaning out their houses are also cleaning out their businesses, and insurance checks are slow to come, and this hope package is stuck right here in Congress.

Last week we had some, I guess, good news about the economic front in America. I think you can read statistics many different ways. But for the Record tonight--this came out yesterday--I saw one or two submitted for the Record. The Bureau of Economic Analysis in the U.S. Department of Commerce, which issued the growth rate of State personal income, says the hurricane slowed personal income growth.

You can see in a different case, but there is an absolutely dead, stop, halt, reverse taking place in Louisiana. There is a 25 percent reduction in personal income growth in Louisiana. There is no State in the Nation even close.

Mississippi was hard hit, and I do not underestimate the destruction along that gulf coast which we love, as I have said as many times as I can, almost as much as we love Louisiana because many people in Louisiana grew up on the gulf coast and spent many happy days on those beaches. Mississippi has grown .8 percent. The national average was something closer to 1.8 percent. Look at the dramatic fall in Louisiana. There is nothing close: 25 percent reduction.

What we are trying to say is it was not just a regular hurricane. It was not just the second hurricane. It was a multiple break of Federal levees that this Congress had the responsibility to build, to design, and to maintain, which we utterly failed to do, and we lost 250,000 homes.

What do we tell those people? You are on your own? Go gather up your church members and see if you can raise a roof? The churches are not there, either. Go to your school and gather up your community and let's just be self-reliant and raise ourselves up by our bootstraps. The school is gone. There is no cafeteria. There is no multipurpose room. There is no auditorium.

Least week, I went home and attended a church service briefly. It was amazing to walk into a church where the roof was still sort of caved in halfway--not dangerous but hanging; you could see the top of the roof, the inside of the roof was damaged--with 1,500 people in this church. You look out the front door of the church, and there are no homes anywhere around that are inhabitable. You wonder, Where did the people come from? People drove, from what Father Vien told me, 2 and 3 hours to come to Mass. People are driving half a day to go back to their church to say Mass and to be in church with their community--that is how meaningful it is--with the hope that maybe someday they can get back to their neighborhood.

I am not saying that Members of this Congress individually have not tried. There have been heroic efforts made, I believe, with what Senator Enzi has done in our education package; Senator Kennedy. Senator Cochran and Senator Lott have worked tirelessly. Senator Vitter has been in this Senate and in many meetings and has taken Senators to Louisiana.

We cannot go home without help. We cannot go home without help. If this package is not passed tomorrow--and I didn't package it in the bill it is packaged in, which is Defense--we cannot go home without our $29 billion hope package, moving money from FEMA, finally, thank goodness; not adding money to the deficit but moving that money to community development block grants to use in an expanded way; $3 billion to protect our levee system, to give people hope and security that as we begin the plan for rebuilding, they will not be flooded again; help for our universities; help for our medical schools; help for the infrastructure, the major highways that have been destroyed. We cannot go home without that hope package.

I hope my colleagues know what is at stake. I know everyone is anxious to get home to their families and to their children. I am looking forward to spending some off time with my family. We cannot leave without passing that package of hope for the people on the gulf coast. I am prepared to work through Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and into Christmas on Sunday if we have to until we can get this package done. If I thought we could wait until January, we could take a break and come back--we cannot. People are holding on by a thread.

Banks are threatening to foreclose on people's houses. Having given them forbearance for 3 months, they are now sending people notices that they will have to pay their mortgage in January. But not just the January mortgage; they have to pay four mortgages in the month of January. So the people who have lost 1 of the 18,000 businesses, the people whose homes look like this, they are being asked to pay 4 months of a mortgage on this home. This family is having trouble getting a trailer to live in. Meanwhile, they have to pay mortgages on this home. If not, they will be foreclosed. All the equity they built up, which could be considerable--several hundred thousand in some cases, sometimes more, maybe even over $1 billion of equity--lost, not because there isn't a solution to their dilemma but because this Congress and this administration haven't figured out, haven't worked hard enough to give them a helping hand.

These people aren't looking for charity. They give to charity. Most of the people in Louisiana who have lost their homes have never asked for a penny from anybody. All they have been doing is digging in their pocket for the last 50 years as a family. They make a little bit of money and give to people in more need. Now the middle-class families who never asked for a thing need help from us, and we can't figure out how to get their hope package through?

I express that I am prepared to stay through Christmas day, if need be, and beyond, to get this package through. I will read into the record a beautifully written paragraph from a new book that is out which is written by Tom Piazza, ``Why New Orleans Matters.''

I am the Senator for the whole State, and I love all 64 parishes. It is quite a special place and one we will fight hard to restore. The southern part of our

State has been very hard hit. Thank goodness our capital city of Baton Rouge is standing up very strongly. They have grown from a city of 350,000 to a city of 500,000 over the weekend, 3 months ago. The mayor of that city, ``Kip'' Holden, has now had to take on an additional 150,000 citizens and is managing very well under the circumstances. Lafayette is in the southwest and is part of Cajun Country. They have probably increased 50,000 or 60,000. New Orleans is my hometown, and it is something we will fight hard to restore. It is representative of the spirit of all of Louisiana.

I will read into the record in closing why this fight is worth having and why we are not going to give up until we get the help, the money, the tools, and the support.

He writes:

New Orleans is not just a list of attractions or

restaurants or ceremonies, no matter how sublime and subtle.

New Orleans is the interaction among all these things and

countless more. It gains its character from the spirit that

is summoned, like a hologram, in the midst all these

elements, and that comes, ultimately, from the people who

live there, and from those whose parents and grandparents and

ancestors lived there. That spirit, as much as, or more than,

the city's physical and economic infrastructure, is what is

in jeopardy right now. In the wake of the worst natural

disaster in this country's history, one from which New

Orleans, and the rest of the country, will be digging out for

years, it may be good to remember what has been lost, and to

think hard about what is worth fighting to save.

I plan to fight with all of my strength and energy and commitment to save this wonderful city, to save south Louisiana, which has given so much, and to fight hard for people who only ever expected their Government to meet them halfway, for this Federal Government to be what it was created to be, which is a help to people in time of need. We are going to be here through Christmas if we have to.

I thank all of my colleagues for their patience and forbearance. Many of them have stepped up beyond the call of duty to help a State they do not even represent. But, of course, as Senators, they know the need of people in times like these.

I look forward to the debate tomorrow.

Mr. President, the Senate has taken a big step forward in helping Louisiana and the other States affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma by passing H.R. 4440, the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005, also known as the GO Zone Act. I realize that there are a number of very important pieces of legislation pending before the Senate and the House of Representatives as we wind down this session. But I want my colleagues to know that I am grateful, and the people of Louisiana are grateful, for the Senate's passing this bill by unanimous consent. I must thank Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Baucus of the Finance Committee for their work on this legislation and for the tremendous support of their staffs.

The GO Zone Act contains a number of tax incentives to rebuild our economic infrastructure. Our State will be able to issue bonds to build housing, roads, bridges, and industrial plants. The bill increases the allocation of low-income housing tax credits in the GO Zone to $18 per person--more than nine times the amount we are currently allocated--to build housing to allow all of our citizens to return home. Businesses will be able to get favorable depreciation and enhanced deductions for investing in plant and equipment in the devastated areas. These tax incentives are aimed at helping our businesses stay in business. We also included an expansion of the Hope scholarship and lifetime learning credit for students who return to the GO Zone to continue their educations.

The bill also contains a housing provision that I offered as a floor amendment when the Senate considered this legislation. The amendment, cosponsored by Senator Vitter, will create reward employers who have provided housing for workers and their families in the hurricane disaster area. These dedicated employers have made it possible for their workers to live on company property so that their business operations could get going again. They have rented or purchased trailers and put them on their property, all hooked up to utilities. Our business leaders recognized that they could not get back on their feet if their employees had no place to live near where they worked. FEMA has been incapable and incompetent in getting people into housing, so our businesses have stepped in to fill the void.

Under this provision, employees working at firms in the GO Zone may exclude up to $600 per month from income for employer-provided housing assistance. Employers get a tax credit of up to 30 percent of assistance provided to employees. The provision is temporary, lasting only 6 months, but it was the right thing to do for companies that believe in Louisiana and the gulf as a great place to do business.

I must also note that the housing amendment had strong support from local and national business organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Greater New Orleans, Inc., and Michael Olivier, the Louisiana State Secretary for Economic Development. I ask unanimous consent that their letters of support be printed in the Record.

These tax incentives, however, are still only a beginning. Tax cuts will not build a levee, and without our levees, we will not rebuild New Orleans. I was pleased that the President recently announced his support for $3 billion in additional funding to restore our levees to true Category 3 protection, along with a down payment to get us to Category 5 protection.

Now our focus must be on passing Chairman Thad Cochran's hurricane relief package, which adds to the President's $17 billion request for Federal assistance another $17.5 billion in aid to Louisiana and Mississippi, including funding for levee repairs. The chairman's leadership has built up support for the measure in the Senate, but we need to urge the White House and leadership in House of Representatives to follow suit and commit to giving a hand up to the people of the gulf coast. We should not go home for the holidays without taking this step for the thousands still left without homes to go home to.

Mr. President, with the passage of the GO Zone Act, the Senate has taken a key step toward helping the people of the gulf rebuild our communities. We must finish the job for this year in the gulf before we adjourn for the year.

I ask that my complete statement and the additional letters in support of the Landrieu amendment be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, it will only take 90 seconds to thank Senator Lott for his leadership and the two managers, Senator Grassley and Senator Baucus, who have literally worked tirelessly on this piece of legislation to help the people along the gulf coast. This is part of a relief package that will help us to help ourselves, get our people back home, our businesses back to work, and the gulf coast on its feet, so we can continue to support the needs of this Nation through energy and commerce and trade.

I thank Senator Lott particularly for the extra effort he has put into this bill. I thank the leadership for passing it this morning.