Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2005

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005-CONTINUED

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. COCHRAN. I am happy to yield to my friend from Florida.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Perhaps the distinguished Senator from Mississippi-by the way, the third hurricane has a track that keeps getting closer and closer to the Mississippi gulf coast. But as the distinguished Senator, the chairman of the committee, and I have been talking about the emergency supplemental appropriations for hurricane damage, I have been provided with a copy of what will be the President's request for the new supplemental.

I note that it does include a lot of the agencies of Government about which this Senator has spoken that have desperate needs as a result of two hurricanes hitting back to back in Florida. I noticed there is nothing in here for the agricultural losses, including crop losses as well as equipment losses, of which the Florida commissioner of agriculture has written to the White House, to OMB, and said those losses are $2 billion. What would the advice of the chairman of the committee to this Florida Senator be of how we want to address that, since the President is not requesting in his new supplemental any money for agricultural losses?

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I appreciate the inquiry of the Senator from Florida. It is my understanding that the Department of Agriculture has existing authority under current law to provide assistance for agricultural purposes in areas where people have suffered disasters. It provides opportunities for haying and grazing on conservation lands. There are a wide range of emergency activities that can be undertaken under existing law.

When we reach a point at which there is a determination of exact dollar amounts of damage incurred by citrus growers or others who have been hurt by the storms in Florida, that may be a possible reason for an additional supplemental to be submitted whose benefits were not described in the submission that was received today. This is considered an emergency for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and others who are on the frontline of recovery, providing shelter, providing food, emergency items to protect life, debris removal, particularly areas where the debris poses a danger to life and limb.

This is the kind of supplemental, as I understand it, the President has submitted. We hope to be able to approve that and call it up. The Appropriations Committee is meeting this afternoon. Senator Stevens, chairman of the committee, wants to take action on it as soon as possible. The House has to act on it as well. It may very well be that we will have a vehicle on which to go to conference with the House this week.

I am hopeful we can keep the President's request clean and approve the request, get the money to the agencies that need the funds, and look to these other issues as they mature in time, in the sense that there has been time to assess the damages and we know what they are and who is entitled to the benefits and what kind of benefits there are in agriculture.

But there is no doubt in my mind there will be a need for sensitive and generous assistance for agricultural producers which do not have any other benefits. We do have crop insurance. There are other things available to farmers under current law, and they will be able to receive these and be provided with deserved and well-needed benefits.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, if the distinguished Senator will yield for a further question.

Mr. COCHRAN. I am happy to yield to my friend.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Indeed, I understand what the Senator is referring to. There are section 32 discretionary funds that would be, for example, available for Florida citrus growers. But it comes nowhere close to the estimated amount of losses in these two hurricanes for the citrus crop and equipment which is going to exceed $½ billion, just in itself. That is not even to speak of all the other kinds of crops-vegetables, sod, timber, milk that was dumped as a result of the dairies, all kinds of vegetables, tropical fruit, clams, oysters, poultry. Nurseries, Florida's top cash crop, has suffered $½ billion in losses.

My question is, there is buzzing out here an amendment that is being put together by midwestern Senators, Republican and Democratic, to take care of their agricultural problems. Yet they do not address the full need of Florida which has suffered back-to-back hurricane losses that have affected its agriculture.

What would be the advice of the Senator from Mississippi to the Florida Senators, when others are coming forth, and yet Florida's agricultural needs, after two disastrous hurricanes, are not being met?

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, my advice to all Senators, including my good friend from Florida, is to try to work with the Appropriations Committee leadership. Senator Stevens is chairing a meeting marking up individual appropriations bills this afternoon. The committee will be considering the request for supplemental appropriations submitted by the President that we just talked about. At that time, when we are considering the supplemental for disaster assistance, would be the time, in my view, when we could consider other hurricane damage that the Senator is discussing now. In my mind that would be a more appropriate vehicle for the Senators who are talking about midwestern agricultural needs as well.

I hope this annual appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security won't get held up with a debate over disaster assistance because of drought or other problems in other parts of the country. It is hard to say yes, let's have some funds included in the bill for those purposes, and then say no to those in our part of the country where we do know the needs are real. They are just as expensive, maybe much more so in reality, than the Midwestern problems.

I am hopeful that we can protect the integrity of the appropriations process and the integrity of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. Let's move this to completion, go to conference with the House, and, in an orderly, coherent way, fund the needs of the Department of Homeland Security to protect us from terrorist threats, other natural disasters such as the ones that are being addressed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Then in a separate action, let's consider disaster assistance for hurricane victims and drought victims and others in agriculture who have otherwise suffered serious losses this year.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Did this Senator misunderstand the distinguished Senator from Mississippi in that the President's request for this hurricane relief that has happened on those two hurricanes was going to be or not going to be attached as an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill?

Mr. COCHRAN. I don't think that is a decision that has been made.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. I see.

Mr. COCHRAN. My expectation is that the committee leadership, in consultation with the leaders of the Senate, will make that decision at a later time. Today they are trying to mark up individual appropriations bills, and in due course they will take up the supplemental as well.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Then I would say to the distinguished Senator from Mississippi, I was given to believe that, in fact, was a decision that was made, that this hurricane relief was going to be attached to this Homeland Security bill. I got that impression from the majority leader, Senator Frist. If that decision has not been made then, fine.

Mr. COCHRAN. It may have been made and I just haven't heard about it. The Senator from Florida may be more up to date than I am. But I knew it was an option that was being considered and being discussed. I was not aware that the decision had definitely been made to do that.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Then this Senator certainly would not have to encourage the quickening of the interests in all of this hurricane disaster assistance relief as this Senator speaks with the Senator from Mississippi, because right now Hurricane Ivan, a category 5 hurricane, is bearing down on the Mississippi coast. It could well be that we are looking at an additional hurricane emergency disaster relief supplemental that would directly affect the State represented by the distinguished Senator who is the chairman of the committee.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, the Senator is absolutely correct. It poses a real danger, not only to the people in that area but also to property. It is clear that the disaster relief fund of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which we replenished just a few days ago to the tune of $2 billion, could run out of money again. I know the tendencies of this Congress to be that where there are needs like that, we will act to address them. At a time when that relief fund or any other account is depleted and hurricane victims need the attention of these agencies and the benefits to which they are entitled, we will act. I believe we will act promptly and with dispatch and with generosity to the fullest extent allowed under the law.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, is FEMA appropriated under the Appropriations subcommittee the Senator chairs?

Mr. COCHRAN. It is one of the agencies under the Department of Homeland Security, and it is covered in this annual appropriations bill.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Then this Senator simply makes a recommendation that we should never be in an emergency posture like we were last week, where FEMA is not carrying the adequate reserves. On Thursday, they ran out of money and were, in fact, not spending the money that was desperately needed in the previous 5 days for hurricane relief. This Senator is merely making the recommendation that, as we look to FEMA appropriations in the future, there should be a cushion of reserves in FEMA because this country can face all kinds of disasters, as we know, and this year FEMA's budget was too lean to be able to respond.

Mr. COCHRAN. The Senator makes a point we should consider. I agree with that. It is awfully difficult for us to know the future or to be able to predict it and the needs of every agency of the Government, even FEMA. But we do the best we can and we will continue to work hard. Any advice or suggestions the Senators might have for the appropriate level of funding on an annual basis would be welcome.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, the amount just referred to as an urgent supplemental requested by the President of $3 billion is the money that is requested by the President for Florida's two hurricanes that just hit us. It does not include any amount for agricultural losses. The $3.1 billion includes Department of Defense losses, NASA losses, Small Business Administration losses. FEMA itself is $2 billion of that, with all of these ongoing expenses of the back-to-back hurricanes.

What is missing from the President's request is the agricultural losses, which are substantial, from these two hurricanes. For example, the citrus crop alone is over $½ billion in losses. The nursery industry, which is a huge industry in Florida, has losses of $½ billion.

Now, the question is, How do we address this? I was expecting that the President was going to include the agricultural
losses in his request. He has not. So how do we address this, since the needs are obviously there?

Presently, there are discussions going on between my office and the sponsors of this amendment. There is a little bit in this amendment for Florida agricultural losses from the two hurricanes, but it is somewhere in the range of $150 million to $300 million. That is a drop in the bucket compared to what the elected Florida agriculture commissioner has totaled up the losses at, which is $2 billion.

It is my hope that we are going to be able on this amendment-if we proceed with this amendment, I will certainly support it because, as all of these Senators from the Midwest, both Republican and Democrat, say, disaster doesn't know anything about partisan politics. Disaster knows something about hitting people where it hurts them, and that is one of the reasons you have the Federal Government to protect people and to respond in times of disaster.

So I am going to help these Senators with their amendment. What I am hoping is that through our discussions we can expand this so it can be acceptable and address the needs of Florida agriculture after these back-to-back hurricanes. If those discussions are not fruitful, then it is my intention that I will offer an amendment to this bill for the disaster to Florida agriculture. That will be somewhere in the range of about a billion dollars in losses, which will not even get anywhere close to the estimated $2 billion, but it will be a step in the right direction.

Now, this is, as you know, "no fooling" time.

We have just been hit by two hurricanes. There is a third on the way. And until 2 days ago, that third one was headed for Florida. As a matter of fact, until a day ago, that third one was headed for Florida, and that centerline now on the projected path is shifting to the West, and that centerline is headed straight for the State of the Senator from Mississippi.

We know there is an error because in hurricane path projection, it can either go to the right or to the left. In the projected path, it can go all the way over into the panhandle of Florida, or it can go all the way to the left, as far as New Orleans. It is about a day out. It is churning in the Gulf of Mexico, moving in a northward direction.

What I am saying is if it continues on its present path to Mississippi or to Alabama or to Louisiana, there are going to be other Senators who are going to be in here trying to help their people. This Senator is going to help them when that happens because that is the right thing to do. Now it is the right thing to do to help the people of Florida.

I yield the floor, Mr. President.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

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

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

AMENDMENT NO. 3652

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I send amendment 3652 to the desk.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the pending amendment will be set aside.

Without objection, it is so ordered.

The clerk will report.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

The Senator from Florida [Mr. Nelson], for himself and Mr. Graham of Florida, proposes an amendment numbered 3652.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

The amendment is as follows:

(Purpose: To provide supplemental disaster relief assistance for agricultural losses in the State of Florida resulting from Hurricanes Charley and Frances)

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

TITLE __-EMERGENCY AGRICULTURAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE

SEC. __. CROP LOSSES.

In addition to amounts otherwise made available under this Act, there is appropriated $560,000,000, to remain available until expended, for the Commodity Credit Corporation Fund for crop losses in excess of 25 percent of the expected production of a crop (including nursery stock, citrus, dairy, timber, vegetables, tropical fruit, clams and other shellfish, tropical fish, poultry, sugar, hay, equines, wildflower seed, sod, and honeybees and losses sustained by packing houses) in the State of Florida resulting from Hurricane Charley or Frances: Provided, That any producer of crops and livestock in the State of Florida that has suffered at least 25 percent loss to a crop covered by this section, 25 percent loss to livestock, and damage to building structure in 2004, resulting from Hurricane Charley or Frances, shall be eligible for emergency crop loss assistance, emergency livestock feed assistance under the Emergency Livestock Feed Assistance Act of 1988 (7 U.S.C. 1471 et seq.), and loans and loan guarantees under subtitle C of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1961 et seq.).

SEC. __. WATERSHED AND FLOOD PREVENTION OPERATIONS.

In addition to amounts otherwise made available under this Act, there is appropriated $30,000,000, to remain available until expended, for the emergency watershed protection program established under section 403 of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2203) and related watershed and flood prevention operations, an additional amount to repair damage to the waterways and watersheds in the State of Florida resulting from Hurricane Charley or Frances.

SEC. __. EMERGENCY CONSERVATION PROGRAM.

In addition to amounts otherwise made available under this Act, there is appropriated $60,000,000, to remain available until expended, for the emergency conservation program established under title IV of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.), an additional amount to repair damage to farmland (including nurseries and structures) in the State of Florida resulting from Hurricane Charley or Frances.

SEC. __. AGRICULTURAL CREDIT INSURANCE FUND PROGRAM ACCOUNT.

In addition to amounts otherwise made available under this Act, there is appropriated $25,000,000, to remain available until expended, for the Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund program account for the cost of emergency insured loans for costs in the State of Florida resulting from Hurricane Charley or Frances.

SEC. __. EMERGENCY GRANTS TO ASSIST LOW-INCOME MIGRANT AND SEASONAL FARMWORKERS.

In addition to amounts otherwise made available under this Act, there is appropriated $10,000,000, to remain available until expended, for emergency grants to assist low-income migrant and seasonal farmworkers under section 2281 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5177a): Provided, That the emergency services to be provided may include such types of assistance as the Secretary of Agriculture determines to be necessary and appropriate (including repair of existing farmworker housing and construction of new farmworker housing units, including housing that may be used by H-2A workers) to replace housing damaged as a result of Hurricane Charley or Frances.

SEC. __. RURAL HOUSING FOR DOMESTIC FARM LABOR.

In addition to amounts otherwise made available under this Act, there is appropriated $10,000,000, to remain available until expended, for rural housing for domestic farm labor for the cost of repair and replacement of uninsured losses resulting from natural disasters such as Hurricanes Charley and Frances.

SEC. __. STATE AND PRIVATE FORESTRY.

In addition to amounts otherwise made available under this Act, there is appropriated $5,000,000, to remain available until expended, of which $2,500,000 shall be made available for urban and community forestry and of which $2,500,000 shall be made available for wildland-urban interface fire suppression efforts resulting from fuel loading from damaged or destroyed tree stands in the State of Florida resulting from Hurricane Charley or Frances.

SEC. __. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.

The amounts appropriated in this title are designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 402 of S. Con. Res. 95 (108th Congress), as made applicable to the House of Representatives by H. Res. 649 (108th Congress) and applicable to the Senate by section 14007 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2005 (Public Law 108-287; 118 Stat. 1014).

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, we have had two major hurricanes in Florida that have done a great deal of damage to our agricultural industry in Florida. Our agricultural industry is a $62 billion industry. We have just passed a disaster relief bill for drought for several Midwestern States which was a $3 billion disaster relief bill.

Naturally, where we have an existing disaster that has occurred over the course of the last 6 weeks, we have a lot of farmers hurting, and the well has run dry in the Department of Agriculture funds. Naturally, the Federal Government will respond, which we do in times of disaster, and this Senator and Senator Graham want to make sure we have the funds.

We have bipartisan unanimity in our House delegation, along with Senator Graham and me, on what we are requesting in this particular amendment I have sent to the desk. This is requesting $700 million of disaster relief for agricultural disaster. The figure may be more.

The distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee and I will enter into a colloquy in which I can be assured this matter is going to be addressed in this bill when it goes to conference and that the funds are going to be needed.

I engage in a colloquy with the chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

We are told the administration has existing funds to address the massive damage done to Florida agriculture by Hurricanes Charley and Frances, and, indeed, Secretary Veneman has authorized $300 million in section 32 funds which are certainly welcome and appreciated. However, I can state that back in Florida we are also told that already the U.S. Department of Agriculture is running out of relief funds. I ask the distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee if he will work with me to ensure additional emergency appropriations for USDA disaster relief can be provided to address this crisis in Florida?

I yield to the Senator.

Mr. STEVENS. We will provide the needed disaster relief for Florida agriculture as soon as possible. This relief will come in the form of appropriations for the U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster relief programs. These funds will be used to help Florida citrus farmers as well as other Florida farmers. If the funds are not provided before we address Hurricane Ivan, we will address this issue when we do address Ivan in the conference on this bill, the Homeland Security bill.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I thank the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and I appreciate his cooperation.

I ask the chairman, with his commitment in the Senate, am I in a position to guarantee the agricultural industry of my State that we will provide additional USDA disaster relief or other disaster funds to meet this need in supplemental appropriations in the conference report on this bill, the Homeland Security appropriations bill?

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, yes, that is my commitment to the Senator from Florida. We fully intend to take up the Hurricane Ivan funds as an amendment to this bill in conference when the supplemental request is received.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, around this place, a man's word is his bond, and that is good enough for me.

I thank the Senator. Our people are hurting. The President has requested, in addition, a $3.1 billion relief package for FEMA and other agencies of Government other than the agriculture relief. He did not request that. That is the reason for bringing this to a head at this late hour.

AMENDMENT NO. 3652 WITHDRAWN

Therefore, I withdraw my amendment.