[StBernard] Homeland Security Committee Chair Endorses Landrieu Amendments

[Westley Annis]

Homeland Security

Committee Chair Endorses 

Landrieu Amendments
Sen. Lieberman delivers floor statement endorsing 

amendments introduced by Sen. Landrieu.

 

WASHINGTON - Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., today delivered remarks on the
floor of the Senate endorsing S. Amdt. 295 and S. Amdt. 296, introduced by
Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., to S. 4, the Improving America's Security Act
of 2007.

S. Amdt. 295, the FAIR Funding Amendment, would waive for Katrina- and
Rita-affected communities provisions of the Robert T. Stafford Act that
require localities to match 10 percent of the cost for disaster recovery
projects before the remaining 90 percent is filled by the federal
government.

S. Amdt. 296, the Disaster Loan Fairness Amendment, makes Katrina- and
Rita-affected Gulf Coast states eligible for the same Community Disaster
Loan forgiveness made available to all other disaster-stricken communities.

Sen. Lieberman said:

"I thank the chair. Mr. President, I wanted to ask unanimous consent that I
might put two statements in the record supporting amendments that the
Senator from Louisiana, Senator Landrieu, put in earlier today. One of the
amendments, amendment numbered 295, is actually identical to a bill that
Senators Landrieu and Stevens and I introduced earlier this year called the
Local Government Disaster Relief Act of 2007.

"That bill, S. 664, would waive the 10% state match requirement for the
restoration of public infrastructure under FEMA's public assistance program.
The statement I'm going to put in the record explains this in more detail.
Senator Landrieu talked some about it earlier in the day. I believe she'll
return to the floor to describe it in more detail.

"Our homeland security committee held a hearing in New Orleans during
January of this year, and, you know, progress has been made in recovering
from Hurricane Katrina, but there is an enormous amount yet to be done in
the Gulf Coast and particularly in New Orleans, one of America's great
cities, large sections of which are really a shadow town now -- a ghost town
and part of what -- there is a lot of bureaucratic red tape.

"The problem here is not that Congress has not responded.  In fact, we have
appropriated, I believe, well over $110 billion in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina to the Gulf Coast. The problem is that so much of that
money is tied up. And in the case of this match, a lot of the programs are
being tied up because some of the governments down there just don't have the
resources to provide the match. The match has been waived in other natural
disasters. I think this amendment that has been offered is exactly the right
thing to do to expedite the recovery of the Gulf Coast.

"The second amendment that Senator Landrieu introduced is amendment number
296, which I also want to support. It would allow the forgiveness of certain
loans provided in the second Katrina supplemental appropriations bill passed
last congress to Gulf Coast states devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita. The program is authorized under the Stafford Act as a tool for local
governments that suffer substantial loss of tax and other revenues as a
result of a disaster. The program is capped at $5 million or no more than
25% of the locality's operating budget, whichever is reached first.

"The Stafford Act also provides for the forgiveness of these loans. Congress
passed the supplemental appropriations bill in part to provide $750 million
to help gulf coast localities recover from the storm. And the bill waived
respect to $5 million and 25% caps because of the enormous and immediate
need that all of us saw. And this law would continue that. I supported
waiving these caps to allow for the full flow of aid. At the time I did not,
however, support another provision that prohibited forgiveness of the CDL
loan as a condition for allowing funds to be released.

"The fact is that rebuilding is underway, but that recovery will take years.
Some people think decades. The Stafford Act provides for the forgiveness of
these loans because it recognizes in certain instances localities are simply
unable to recover lost revenues, which in turn stops their efforts to
rebuild, which ultimately leads to longer dependence on federal assistance.
This amendment would allow the Gulf Coast localities -- some of them so
devastated with their revenue bases dramatically shrunk -- to continue their
rebuilding free from the burden of repaying loans that they simply, in fact,
cannot repay. So I ask unanimous consent, Mr. President, that the full text
of both of my statements in support of both of these amendments that Senator
Landrieu has offered be printed in the record as if read."

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