SENATOR HUTCHISON DISCUSSES HURRICANE IKE RELIEF

Last week, when Hurricane Ike entered the Gulf of Mexico and started moving toward Texas, State, local, and Federal officials came together and moved into action. We had reason to fear the worst. In the year 1900, the island of Galveston was destroyed by a hurricane that claimed over 6,000 lives, the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. I was born on Galveston Island. I was raised in Galveston County. When I was growing up, I heard stories about 1900. There have been books written about that hurricane of 1900. And we also faced on a yearly basis hurricane warnings. Of course, some of them hit.

While preparing for this storm, the people of Texas had fresh memories from Hurricane Rita, another violent hurricane that came ashore around Sabine Pass in 2005. While Hurricane Rita only caused seven direct fatalities, the evacuation and recovery efforts along the gulf coast were not without difficulties, and for that reason, everyone who could possibly be helpful in this wanted to improve the emergency preparedness in advance of the next storm.

So in the days leading up to Hurricane Ike, Texas was prepared. Over 1 million Texans successfully evacuated from their homes. However, when the skies cleared on Saturday afternoon, it was clear that Hurricane Ike had caused an appalling amount of property damage. From the early estimates, the cost of Hurricane Ike could reach almost $30 billion. Forty-nine people are now confirmed dead. That number will surely rise. Thousands are homeless. Many communities remain under water and are completely inaccessible due to the significant amount of debris. Yesterday, 2.2 million Texans still lacked electricity. Emergency workers are struggling to distribute food, water, and ice. Offshore oil platforms are damaged and many refineries are without electricity. So it is likely that before the region's oil and gas industry return to capacity, we will see some shortages in gasoline and, therefore, some higher prices.

Gulf refineries and ports are the source of 50 percent of the fuel and crude used in the eastern half of the United States. Disruption of that infrastructure underscores the urgent need for us to expand refinery capacity. Indeed, we need to expand our entire energy supply so that America's economy is never undermined by acts of nature or foreign adversaries.

On Sunday, I joined with Senator John Cornyn, my colleague, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, and many members of our congressional delegation to survey the hardest-hit regions. We came to listen to the concerns raised by the mayors and the county judges, after we had been on the telephone with them for the 4 days before, trying to determine that people were as prepared as they could be in an instance such as this and, of course, we wanted to try to correct any concerns that had been raised. Some were raised. I will say that the mayors of our cities and the county judges have done a terrific job of representing their constituents at the local level. I met with Mayor Bill White of Houston, Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas from Galveston, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, I talked on the phone with the mayor of Port Arthur, Beaumont, the county judge of Orange County, trying to help in every way we could from the Federal level.

Yesterday, I joined with the members of the Texas delegation who were here. Many were still in Houston touring with the President to see the damage and determine what more could be done. I talked to Senator Landrieu and Senator Vitter yesterday about their concerns about Hurricane Ike which hit them very hard. We all know Louisiana has suffered so much in the last few years with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Texas joined them in suffering from the evacuees in Katrina and then Rita, and now we have Ike. We jointly must have the support of all of our colleagues in Congress to help our constituents. We are working together--our Texas delegation, our Louisiana delegation--to have a supplemental appropriation so that FEMA will be fully funded to address the concerns.

The Corps of Engineers will have repairs to make throughout the gulf coast. There are shelters that are going to be needed for families who have nothing to go back to. As I passed over Bolivar Peninsula and I saw what used to be a wonderful group of homes on stilts, today they are stilts. The homes are completely gone--completely gone--as if there was never anything there but sticks. It was amazing to me because I have been there so many times and seen these communities. So we are going to come together and we are going to help the people who have been afflicted.

I wish to speak for a moment about the people of Texas. We are known, I guess, around the country for being a hearty bunch and usually a happy bunch and always resilient. We have a great spirit in Texas. I never have seen it any more so than right now. Colleagues in Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula, Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange, Harris County, Houston, many are down because they have not been able to get back in to see their homes. On Galveston Island the health conditions are so bad that they are not letting people come back on the island, so people have not even seen their homes. They are very frustrated.

But the generous spirit of Texans is surrounding those who are afflicted. The spirit, the pride, the resilience is there. I have seen our citizens do everything they can on a personal level. One of my regional directors of Harris County, Jason Fuller, has 12 Texans living with him right now, including three new dogs and a cat. He is doing his part on a personal level. He is also going out to the shelters

and representing our constituents and trying to make sure that the points of distribution are open, things he can do. Some communities that don't have power organized block parties and they are having barbeques and cookouts because they have no electricity in their homes. Local churches, the Baptist Men, the Second Baptist Church in Houston has an incredible outpouring. The local churches are providing staff support. Volunteers are distributing the water and ice and food to surrounding communities. There are so many good things happening. Neighbors are coming together to help neighbors.

I wish to ask my colleagues to help us. Because we do have an emergency disaster bill coming through for many areas of the Midwest that have suffered from previous disasters, I am going to ask, along with my colleague John Cornyn and my colleagues Mary Landrieu and David Vitter that we be included in this. We don't have the exact assessments yet, but we know it is going to be big. We know we have given for Katrina. We have given to other disasters. What we ask is to be treated in the same way so we can recover and get our economies going again, get our jobs going again, get our schools open, which are not yet done in many parts of our State, so that we can recover, clean up, and begin contributing again to the economy as we have done so much in the past.

I thank my colleagues for listening. My heart goes out to my constituents who are suffering right now in Texas. I am going to stay in constant contact with them. I wish to say particularly how much I appreciate our Secretary of Homeland Security who has so many responsibilities, who has already been to Texas and Louisiana once, who is going back today as we speak, and will be there to try to solve any problems that have arisen. As well prepared as we were, there were things that had not been done. Some lack of coordination has occurred. He is going down there personally to try to fix that. We appreciate that very much and we want to work with him hand in hand to assure that our communities get up and going and that my beloved Galveston Island will once again be able to bring in tourists because of its beauty and its historic value, its ports and its beautiful beaches. I am going to work tirelessly to make sure that happens, along with all of the other areas of our coast that have been damaged.

Thank you, Mr. President, and I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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