Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, much of the gulf coast lies in ruins. Iraq is on the verge of a civil war. Government spending has spiraled out of control, leaving structural deficits as far as the eye can see; and we are in the midst of an energy crisis. With these and other challenges mounting, how does the Republican Congress respond? Of course, by gutting the Endangered Species Act.

They are using this time of mounting crises as a way to smuggle their long-held ideological goods through customs, the policies they can never enact because of the public's opposition to them.

This Congress sees an opportunity to reward their special interests by eliminating the backbone of our environmental laws. The Endangered Species Act needs reform and needs to be updated, but we should not throw the baby out with the bath water.

To add insult to injury, while it guts the very successful environmental policies, the bill will actually cost more than the current Endangered Species Act. CBO estimates that the administration costs will more than double. So much for smaller government.

Mr. Speaker, the American people want leadership, they want solutions to challenges confronting this Nation, not wholesale auction of everything we hold dear to the special interests.

When the Speaker's gavel comes down, it is intended to open the people's House, not the auction house.

Mr. Speaker, the double standard in this Congress takes your breath away. In the 2\1/2\ years since I have been in Congress, this body has allocated nearly $400 billion for Iraq without a worry about the deficit. You have funded three wars with four tax cuts and added $3 trillion to the Nation's debt. Yet when this Congress is facing a tab for rebuilding the lives of Americans that is roughly half of what we have spent in the Iraqi war, suddenly everybody is a deficit hawk in this institution.

In Iraq we have spent millions to rebuild the Sweet Water Canal system, including the repair of the levee system. But here in America we cut levee construction and repair for Louisiana by 80 percent. When it comes to rebuilding Iraq, this Congress writes hot checks. Rebuilding America? You want to cut education and health care. Your inconsistency is breathtaking, especially when America draws the short stick. When it comes to rebuilding in the gulf coast, you are turning yourself into pretzels, all to protect tax cuts for the wealthy.

But rebuilding Iraq should not come at the expense of America's future. Everyone must have skin in the game when it comes to meeting our challenges. Freedom is not free. This Congress cannot have one set of books and one set of priorities for Iraq and another for the American people and their future.

Mr. Chairman, since 1965, Head Start has provided 22 million children, American children, with the education and health and social services to lead productive lives. It is the most successful school readiness program in the Nation. It has always received bipartisan support. I want to commend the chairman and the committee for producing a very good bill that reauthorizes Head Start so America's children get the same type of investment that we have been providing Iraqi children.

I find myself puzzled why you would take such good legislation and play politics with it when we can make progress. The rest of the country is looking at us and asking us to please put politics aside and put progress first. Do not divide Americans along religious lines. That is not the America they want; they want an American that comes together, recognizes our differences, and makes progress rather than politics.

Mr. Chairman, it is amendments like this that remind me why 29 percent of the American people think the Congress is doing a good job, but well over 75 percent of the American people think this Congress is failing to meet the obligations and the challenges that America has. You today can get a bill passed in a bipartisan vote, unanimously, with everybody understanding because we are investing in America's children, and you chose to take that progress and play politics in the most ugly way, by pinning American against American based on their religion. This does not represent America's values, it does not represent your values, and you chose to put politics over progress. It reminds me when I look at today's data why the American people hold this Congress in the lowest esteem it has in over 15 years.

Invest in America's future. Choose these children. Give them the best start they can for productive lives where they can come and be contributors to this country. No, we do not take the progress. The chairman of the committee did a good job in the committee, producing a good bill that builds on the progress of the last 40 years and continues to invest in America's children, and you chose to put an amendment on this floor, unprecedented, that chose to divide America, not unite it, to choose politics over progress, and to continue the same policies that has taken this Congress to the lowest esteem ever in the American people's history.

Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Chairman, as somebody who worked for President Clinton as his senior advisor, President Clinton did not support, nor did he introduce in his welfare bill, anything that you are saying, and I will say he never promulgated those rules or enforced that. Mr. Chairman, as the gentleman knows, that is not correct.

Mr. Chairman, in the original welfare reform bill by President Clinton, this provision was never in it. Second, it was unconstitutional, and it was never promulgated by President Clinton in the rulemaking. He does not support that provision. If you want to support something that President Clinton believed in, then try fiscal responsibility and start balancing the budget. This is not what he believes, and the gentleman from Ohio knows that, Mr. Chairman.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to recognize and welcome Monsignor Velo, one of Chicago's most distinguished religious leaders, as today's guest chaplain.

Born on Chicago's south side, the Monsignor was ordained in 1973. In 1985, Monsignor Velo became the executive assistant to the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, a position he held for 14 years. Monsignor Velo and Cardinal Bernardin were close friends, and it was Monsignor Velo who cared for Cardinal Bernardin's mother after the Cardinal passed away.

Impressed by his reputation as a public servant, the late Pope John Paul, II appointed Monsignor Velo to be president of the Catholic Church Extension Society. Today he is senior executive of the Office of Catholic Collaboration at DePaul University, the largest Catholic university in the country, located in Chicago's Lincoln Park.

Monsignor Velo is an important Chicagoan with an impressive background and resume. But more important, Monsignor Velo is a humanitarian who has dedicated his life to God and to improving the lives of everyone around him. Chicago is blessed by Monsignor Velo. Madam Speaker, I thank him for his service and for being here today.

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentleman from California (Chairman Thomas); the ranking member, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel); and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery) for working on a bipartisan basis to bring this legislation to the floor. It will go a long ways towards helping the 1.3 million families devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

I am especially pleased that this bill prevents the loss of tax benefits, like the earned income tax credit and the child credit, by reason of job loss or relocation due to Hurricane Katrina. I believe, as I have talked on the floor, that we can do more in this area.

I hope in the future tax bills that we look at, we will consider legislation introduced by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor), and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Melacon), and I to immediately fast track the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit refunds earned by working families so they receive them now rather than later.

Many constituents of the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Melacon) have lost their belongings and their homes. Others have been left destitute with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. The Federal Government can respond as they have in past instances, advancing the refunds that Hurricane Katrina victims have earned. By taking these steps, we can fast track the refunds to families that have worked, paid taxes and earned them, all the while stimulating local economies. It is a win-win for those families and communities in America.

I would like to draw attention to the Congressional Research Service that on Monday issued a report entitled ``Tax Policy Options After Hurricane Katrina.'' The study says that measures directed at the earned income tax credit and refundable child credits are the best ways to stimulate the local economy.

I understand that the gentleman from California (Chairman Thomas) and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery) plan to introduce a third Hurricane Katrina tax bill in the coming weeks. I hope that they look at this report just issued on Monday by the Congressional Research Service that this would be the best way to help families and local communities through fast-tracking the earned income tax credits and the refundable child credit.

Mr. Speaker, the cleanup effort along the gulf coast is now fully underway. The floodwaters of New Orleans have receded. We are shifting our focus to rebuilding and restoring lives as we all watch as another hurricane is on its way, and obviously put this work on hold as we again once again not only evacuate that part of the coast but also parts of Texas.

Congress has allocated more than $60 billion in disaster relief. It was the right thing to do, but with some estimates as high as $200 billion, some here are questioning whether or not we can afford rebuilding given our fiscal situation.

I would like to remind some of my colleagues that a number of us mentioned that we may get into a situation where we could have a crisis and we should be able to handle as a country the condition and economic condition, and we already have over $7 trillion of debt. In the last 5 years this Congress has added nearly $2 trillion to America's debt. China and Japan have become our bankers. And now we are in dire straits where we cannot help Americans unless we write $200 billion in hot checks.

This Congress is becoming known as the Congress of hot checks. That is all we do. We got a problem, we write hot checks around here. Now the truth is,

some Members of Congress have written $400 billion for the effort in Iraq, hot checks. Now we say we cannot pay for our own Americans, $200 billion to rebuild their lives, rebuild their communities, and restore their families unless we find ways to cut.

My suggestion to all of us is if we were willing to do $400 billion and going for Iraq, we have got to figure out a way to help our fellow Americans in time of need. That is our obligation to fellow Americans. If we are willing to do $400 billion for Iraq, we need to do $200 billion for Americans who live in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, who have been affected and had their lives for no other reason other than natural disaster literally uprooted.

Some have talked about cutting health care. Some have talked about cutting education. Some have talked about cutting basic infrastructure. Others are talking about repealing the estate tax and tax cuts for those who earn hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars, the top 1 percent. Instead, I believe what we should have is a balanced approach. There should be tax cuts on the table and spending. That is the way to fund the reconstruction of Katrina's damage to Louisiana, to Mississippi, and Alabama.

Let me give you some examples in the tax area, places that I refer to as corporate welfare. When we had the corporate tax bill up last year, it was a $5 billion problem that we had to solve. This Congress passed $150 billion in tax giveaways to solve a $5 billion problem. Now, I cannot believe none of you think that we cannot find a little fat in that bill. If you go back and look at it, you can eliminate handouts to special interests, somewhere around $32 billion.

A couple of examples. A repeal of the bill's provisions that weaken interest allocation rules would generate $14.4 billion; $5 billion by repealing the special rules for the timber industry; $100 million for NASCAR track owner subsidy; $169 million tax break for Puerto Rican rum makers; and the suspension of duties on ceiling fans, which would provide an additional $92 million. That bill is not the only bill, but those are examples.

I ask you, nobody planned through Katrina's damage, but given the damage, do we really need to give the ceiling fan industry $92 million? Do we really need to give the Puerto Rican rum makers $169 million when literally families are asunder and they need the help to get their homes, their lives back together, their education, their savings accounts, their health care?

We recently passed an $80 billion energy bill. We are providing Exxon Mobil and other energy companies $9 billion in tax subsidies to drill for oil when oil is at $65 a barrel, the highest it has ever been. At what time does that market work out its own where it becomes efficient that the oil companies are getting $69 a barrel? You know what? We do not need a tax subsidy from taxpayers to drill and explore for oil. Ten dollars a barrel, I got it. Fifteen dollars a barrel, I got it. Twenty- five dollars a barrel, I got it. We will help our domestic industry.

Exxon Mobil and the other corporations, this quarter alone, had a $10 billion profit, 69 percent up since last year. At what point do we stop subsidizing big oil? There is another place we can save money. Unfortunately, because of that subsidy, the American taxpayers are not only paying $3 a barrel for oil, but on April 15 they are paying another $10 billion to the energy industry because they are subsidizing it on Tax Day and every day at the pump.

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon I did some quick research and found we could easily come up with more than $56 billion in offsets just eliminating corporate welfare this Congress has handed out in just the past year. The fact is that this country can afford to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, but it cannot be done on the backs of those who need our help the most. It cannot be done by cutting health care. It cannot be done by cutting education. It will take leadership and require Congress to do something this Congress that writes hot checks has not done before, and that is stand up to special interests.

The American people expect us to do what is right for America. We are all in this together. Let us take on the special interests, the corporate interests as it relates to corporate welfare. Everybody has skin in the game when it comes to rebuilding America.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in proud recognition of DePaul University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, DePaul is the nation's largest Catholic University. This institution has a long history of public service, and is continuing this tradition in its extraordinary response to Hurricane Katrina by offering compassion, assistance, and educational opportunities to students affected by this national crisis.

Once it became clear that Hurricane Katrina would disrupt the education of thousands of students attending universities located along the Gulf Coast, DePaul University opened its doors. As of September 9, DePaul had accepted 150 displaced students.

DePaul has offered special tuition grants to their visiting students, requesting that they make tuition payments to their home university. DePaul has also taken steps to secure additional financial aid for these students.

The students at DePaul have also taken action to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. By September 9, these students had raised more than $5,000 to purchase supplies to be sent to the Gulf Coast. Many campus groups, including student athletes, Student Leaders Emerging, S.A.V.E, and DePaul chapters of the NAACP and Target Hope, have organized relief efforts. Other DePaul students are exploring ways to assist displaced Gulf Coast residents who have migrated to Chicago after evacuating from their homes.

Mr. Speaker, our Nation is faced with an unprecedented challenge. Caring for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and helping them rebuild their lives will require the dedication of all Americans. I am proud of the efforts of the students, faculty and administration of DePaul University in response to this national tragedy, and of similar efforts in colleges and universities throughout Chicago and across the country.

Mr. Speaker, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the finger-pointing continues. Today's New York Times reports on its interview with former FEMA head Michael Brown. In the interview, Mr. Brown blames Louisiana's Governor and Homeland Security Director Chertoff for inaction in responding to the crisis.

Mr. Brown's statements can probably be discounted as the words of a disgraced individual trying to save face, but the facts speak for themselves: government at all levels failed in the wake of Katrina's devastation. A KnightRidder story makes it clear based on a 2003 Presidential directive that Homeland Security Director Chertoff is the line authority for natural disasters, yet for 36 hours he was nowhere to be found.

Questions need to be answered, not to fix blame but to fix a problem. For example, how were Mr. Brown and his political deputies, all with no experience in disaster response, appointed as head of FEMA? Why did it take so long to get food and water to New Orleans? To answer them, this body should create a bipartisan commission of experts to investigate the failures and flaws in the system just like we did during 9/11, just like we did during Pearl Harbor.

Mr. Speaker, hundreds died. Tens of thousands have lost everything. Billions will be spent rebuilding the infrastructure. The stakes are simply too high to not know what went wrong. Americans do not want Pollyannish speeches or a whitewash. They want answers and results. Mr. Speaker, we need a bipartisan 9/11-style commission not only to find out what went wrong but to give us recommendations to fix the problem.

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank both my colleagues who serve on the Ways and Means Committee who are from Louisiana and the affected area.

As you look at the overall part of this bill, both from the charitable piece to also helping the families, whether that is on debt forgiveness, dislocation as relates to building a home, and also their own family income or casualty loss, finally the Tax Code is beginning to reflect America's values: When something happens to an American, all Americans pull together to help those individuals affected restore their lives, rebuild their communities, and get back on with their own lives.

I want to isolate a particular part of this bill which deals with the Earned Income Tax Credit. I have introduced a bill with Senator Obama in the Senate that would fast-track the Earned Income Tax Credit and child credit and other educational credits to affected individuals. There is a precedent for this. During 9/11, the United States Congress fast-tracked the authority and allowed the Secretary of Treasury to get to affected families during 9/11 the child credit. In the same way, we should get to the Earned Income Tax Credit, the child credit, as well as educational credits like the Hope Scholarship to affected individuals on a fast-track basis so they, as a family, can get their lives restored, families who have children, families who work.

These are all for individuals who have worked and who have paid their taxes, ensuring that they get the benefits and credits that are due to them. It would lock in and ensure that the Secretary of Treasury would fast-track and get those resources to these families and allow them to establish themselves again and get their income moving again.

One of the most important things we are going to talk about in another tax bill is helping businesses get their feet on the ground. The Earned Income Tax Credit, the child credit, other educational credits help families get their feet on the ground, going again, and operating as a family.

Today's provisions, whether it is Earned Income Tax Credit, whether it deals with the forgiven debt, whether it deals with the charity, whether it deals with deductibility for personal casualty, it reflects all of our values that we as Americans act as one in a time of need.

I compliment both of my colleagues from Louisiana, my colleagues from Mississippi, and others in Alabama from affected areas working on this legislation, the bipartisanship here, and hope that would spread to other parts of this Congress as we work on other pieces of legislation. I hope to work with them in the future on the legislation that Senator Obama and I introduced so we can not only help families use the 2004 tax that they submitted, their tax forms, but also that we now direct the Secretary of Treasury to fast-track those checks so those families can actually get moving.

Mr. Speaker, following Hurricane Katrina there are many questions that must be answered. To answer them this body should create a bipartisan commission of experts to investigate the failures and flaws of the system just like we did after 9/11, which I would like to remind my colleagues led to enactment of legislation that helped this country protect itself because the process had integrity.

The enacting and recommended legislation also received bipartisan support. The purpose of a 9/11-like independent commission is not to fix blame, but to fix a problem. And what we are debating today is not sufficient because if it were truly bipartisan, it would be bipartisan from this point of origin. And the beginnings of this commission, or the beginnings of this select committee, do not bode well for what was intended as a bipartisan effort by both Democrats and Republicans to find out

what happened and what needs to be done.

Rather than debate a bipartisan commission, what we are debating today will amount to nothing more than a whitewash because of the long list of items that my colleague from California (Mr. Waxman) just mentioned. From the intelligence failures to the true cost of the prescription drug bill, all these missed opportunities were left purposefully and consciously, not looked into, not asked into. If you do not think you have a problem, you will not fix a problem.

Mr. Speaker, hundreds have died, thousands have lost everything, billions will be spent rebuilding the infrastructure and people's lives. The stakes are simply too high not to know what went wrong.

Look what happened today in the New York Times. Michael Brown, the former head of FEMA, talked about where the Louisiana Governor failed, but also talked about where Secretary Chertoff failed. Brown's statement can probably be discounted somewhat as sour grapes, but recent stories by KnightRidder and others raised serious questions. KnightRidder raised questions about whether Mr. Chertoff delayed the Federal response. Memos were written to him, and according to a Presidential directive, he had authority and control and did not act for over 36 hours and was nowhere to be found.

While everyone has blamed Mr. Brown, it was Mr. Chertoff who was responsible for managing the national response plan according to the Presidential directive.

At the same time, an independent commission could monitor the contracts awarded during the reconstruction. Already a disturbing trend has emerged of awarding no-bid contracts, reconstruction contracts, to politically connected firms.

USA Today points out many of these companies have been fined millions of dollars for overbilling the government during hurricane rebuilding efforts and other government projects. In fact, one company is fined a $3.2 million fine for what they overcharged during Hurricane Hugo. So the same cronyism that led to Mr. Brown's appointment is now guiding the awarding of contracts to the rebuilding of New Orleans.

We need a 9/11-type commission, an independent commission, that basically takes the facts where they lead them, has the integrity of this body and the American people and the confidence so they can recommend the changes. Because after 4 years from September 11, what we saw and over the last 3 weeks is not the best of America in the sense of government's response. We saw the best of America from the American people, and we now need a commission to make sure that we finally fix our response for when a natural disaster or other type of disaster hits this country. We need a bipartisan 9/11-style commission.

Mr. Speaker, as we consider tax incentives for businesses that have been affected by Hurricane Katrina and help them get up and running, we must also help the affected families get up and running. Both are essential endeavors.

Americans have lost their homes and incomes through no fault of their own.

In the coming days, I will introduce the Hurricane Katrina Accelerated Tax Benefits Act. This bill will fast-track the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and educational incentives such as the Hope and Lifetime Learning Credits to the people in the Gulf Coast, providing these hard-working Americans with much-needed resources. It will stimulate the economy and help rebuild the lives of affected Americans.

These Americans who have lost so much should receive their tax refunds now. They have worked for it, and they have earned it.

There is a precedent for fast-tracking tax refunds during times of crisis. Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Congress passed legislation to fast-track the Child Tax Credit refunds.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot undo the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina, but we can begin to restore lives. By taking these steps, we can quickly deliver the funds to these families who have worked hard and paid taxes.

I hope my colleagues will join me in advancing this important legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank my colleague for the time.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 3132, the Children's Safety Act. I want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) for advancing this legislation.

It is unfortunate, but our children are not as safe as they could be. There are nearly 550,000 registered sex offenders here in the United States, one for nearly every 200 children. Worse, many of these individuals are able to slip through the cracks and become lost to law enforcement because many of these do not register; and when they move, States do not reregister. A 2003 investigation found in California alone 33,000 registered sex offenders could not be accounted for.

Studies indicate that the recidivism rate for child molesters is as high as 13 percent.

Consider the horrific case that all of us have read about recently of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. Jessica was abducted from her home, raped and then buried alive by a convicted sex offender who lived 150 feet from her home. Law enforcement officials had lost track of her murderer and were unaware that he worked at her school.

Mr. Chairman, when I worked in the White House, we worked on passing Megan's Law. That law was effective because it used the right technology at that point to help ensure the safety of our children. This legislation, with this type of technology, builds on the progress we made under Megan's Law to protect our children.

To utilize this new technology and to make our children safer, I introduced H.R. 3407, the Jessica Lunsford and Sarah Lunde Act, with companion legislation in the Senate with Senator Nelson.

Similar to programs already under way in some States, the system would utilize electronic technology, such as GPS, to track sexual predators upon their release from prison. There is no opt in or opt out. It would be a system to track them within 10 feet of their location at any time.

I am pleased that the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) has included an electronic monitoring pilot program in the Children's Safety Act. Furthermore, I am pleased that the chairman is also willing to address some of the other issues we discussed in the manager's amendment.

I would also like to thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) for his help in securing our amendments.

Mr. Chairman, the fact is our children are not as safe as they could be. This bill, the Children's Safety Act, is an important step toward ensuring their safety and using the technology that is available today in the marketplace to ensure our law enforcement community has all the tools that are necessary to protect our children.

I support this bill and hope that my colleagues will join me and quickly pass this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the clean-up efforts along the gulf coast are now fully under way. The flood waters of New Orleans are receding, and we are shifting our focus from saving lives to restoring lives.

In the past 2 weeks, Congress has allocated a little over $60 billion in disaster relief. It is the right thing to do; yet some here in Washington have questioned whether it is money well spent. Others even question whether we should rebuild New Orleans at all. And even after witnessing the horrors of Katrina's aftermath, some say they want to proceed with the tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent in this country, all the while cutting Medicaid, educational programs, and environmental programs.

Ironically, many of these are the same individuals who have vocally and unequivocally supported aid and the funding requests for rebuilding Iraq. We should be responsible with the people's tax dollars; but we cannot have two set of books, two sets of priorities, one for the United States and for Iraq.

Here is what we need to do to begin to restore the lives of the people in New Orleans and the rest of the gulf coast:

These Americans need health care, housing, education, clean water. And yet what is the President's budget for this year? A $60 billion cut in Medicaid, a $4.3 billion cut in educational programs, a $1.6 billion cut to police and firefighters, a $330 million cut to the Army Corps of Engineers, a $450 million cut to the Environmental Protection Agency.

So the very initiatives that we need right now to help New Orleans and the rest of the folks on the gulf coast are the ones that the President's budget sought to cut back dramatically, and in some cases even eliminate entirely.

At the same time they want to do this, we are spending billions of dollars rebuilding Iraq in the very same areas of education, housing, health care. Here is a listing of Iraq reconstruction projects according to USAID: 2,500 schools have been rehabilitated; 32,000 teachers and administrators have been trained; over the next year up to 100,000 additional teachers will receive in-service training; 84 primary and secondary schools have been established as centers of excellence; we are provided universal health care for every Iraqi; 110 primary health care centers have been renovated; 10 water treatment facilities have been constructed; the Sweet Water Canal System was rebuilt, including the repair of breaches and the levee system; wetlands are being restored; ports are being rebuilt; and the entire transportation program is undergoing a massive renovation and construction program. All the while some are questioning whether we should do this for New Orleans in our backyard.

All the while the President's budget called for cuts in these very areas that we are now spending, appropriately in some cases, for Iraq.

Let me be clear, I am not against spending this money to help restore the people's lives in Iraq. But we have a budget that was passed with opposition from Democrats to cut educational spending, cut Medicaid spending, cut health care spending, cut education spending, environmental cleanup.

In the coming weeks, I plan on introducing a piece of legislation to ensure that every dollar we spend in helping Iraq restore the communities, help restore the lives of the people there we will spend here in the United States, because we need to do that for New Orleans, we need to do that for the rest of America. But we cannot have two priorities, two sets of books, two sets of values, one for Iraq and one for the rest of America. Those are the wrong values.

Mr. Speaker, the American people are the most generous people in the word. We can do both. We can build America and Iraq. And it is important and imperative that as Americans remain the most generous people in the world, that they cannot think that their kids have less of a future than other countries around the world.

We need to ensure that we invest in America, that the roads and the bridges and the health care and the education and the environmental protection that we have on the laws, that we are investing in those areas. If anything, the horrors in the aftermath of Katrina showed us that America needs today to stand as one, to be invested in as one, that those communities need the same assistance. We cannot pass this budget that calls for cutbacks in the Corps of Engineers, cutbacks of $60 billion in health care, cutbacks in community health care, all the while singing our own praises about the 3,200 schools we are building in Iraq, the teachers we are training, the universal health care we are providing.

Again, I will remind you, I am not against providing those. I am against the cuts in areas, in the very areas, that we are advocating and investing in in Iraq, cuts in those areas for America. This is the time when the country looks to its fellow citizens, to the government to ensure that they can both restore communities, restore lives, and rebuild those communities.

We need to invest in that area, and like the rest of America, build in America and make sure America stands strong going into the future. It is high time as we talk about our investment in Iraq, which is now close to $350 billion, that that investment in Iraq, that we look here at home and say, what do we need to do in the areas of health care, education, schools, environmental protection. Because if we build Iraq, we have got to ensure that America stands strong.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from New York for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, our most important task right now is to help our fellow Americans rebuild their lives. The task of this Congress and the task for this Nation is to restore communities, help people rebuild their lives and have a retrospection of what happened. We must pinpoint the errors made prior to the storm and flooding. Failing to respond in a time of need, when fellow Americans have lost their lives, their loved ones, their homes, failing to respond in a time of need is unacceptable.

Identifying failures is not pointing fingers. It is pointing the way to improve the system for the future. We cannot solve a problem if we do not think we had a problem. We can both help Americans, which is our primary task, rebuild their lives, reestablish their communities, but we must also for all Americans understand what happened here so as it comes to future crises, future natural disasters, we are able and capable of responding. Because saying everything worked well, acting Pollyannish is unacceptable, as much as trying to point fingers and trying to get political advantage in this situation.

We can do this right. The American people ask the Congress to do this right.

What does it mean to help people rebuild their lives? First, there should be universal health care for all children 0 to 18. Second, a $3,000 education voucher for people going to college, GED, continuing their education. A housing program to get people in the communities back to work building their homes, highways and rebuilding all the infrastructure. Lastly, making sure the recently enacted bankruptcy law does not affect people in that area, freezing their credit at that time so they do not go into bankruptcy.

These are the types of things that Congress needs to do to help those Americans, our fellow Americans, get their lives and their communities back together and also taking the time to look into what happened here so this never, ever, ever happens again.

The American people deserve better; and in a time of crisis, they look to their fellow countrymen and their government, and this Congress must rise to the task to do that. Today, the way this is handled is not the right way. We can do better as we seek ideas from all corners to help our fellow Americans restore their lives.

Mr. Speaker, there are three ways to respond to the crisis along the gulf coast: rebuilding, restoring, and retrospection. We must pinpoint the errors made prior to the storm and flooding, develop an action plan on what needs to be done to ensure that the response failures do not happen again, and focus on rebuilding people's lives.

Pointing fingers and attributing blame does little to put our country back together again. On the other hand, acting Pollyannish, as if everything went according to plan, would be dangerous. Failing to respond in a time of need is unacceptable.

Here are four things we must begin immediately to help folks put their lives back together: first, anyone affected by this tragedy should be exempted from the recently enacted bankruptcy laws. Second, we need to make sure the kids whose lives have been turned upside down receive universal health care and an education. Those seeking a higher education will receive a $3,000 voucher. Third, we need to start reconstruction from housing to highways. New Orleans and the rest of the gulf coast must come back better and safer than before. Fourth, we need to immediately begin to restore the region's natural buffer zones.

Mr. Speaker, in a crisis people look to their fellow countrymen, and they are looking to this country. It is time to start the rebuilding, the restoring, and the retrospection.