so rita was the blue. and katrina was the yellow. and this was done before ike. and i'm going to put ike up there because it really ran smack in galveston. >> that would be interesting modern art. it's just scary that it represents hurricane, hurricane hugo came through south carolina and it was very devastating. i appreciate the work of the chairman of this committee. i've never met anybody in the entire congress more dedicated to a cause than of this subcommittee. i'm just trying to stay up with you. south carolina is certainly in harm's way. i want to thank all the folks at state, local, federal level who help our fellow citizens in disaster. in myrtle beach we had a huge fire. the fire did a lot of damage to myrtle beach. it's not just hurricanes. the red cross was there so hurricanes are what we're talking about. so coastal communities can be hit by many different ways. ron osborn, the director of the emergency management division office of the general could not be here but he prepared a report about hurricane preparedness and i'd like to submit it to the re

me and let me correct myself when i pointed out earlier, senator, the blue is actually the route of rita which is one of the second largest in katrina was the yellow, all i of course should know these patterns better than anyone, so rita was the blue and katrina was yellow and this was done before ike and i'm going to put ike up there because it ran smack into galveston and i am sure that you have had major storms in wartime but senator let me recognize you at this time. >> that would be interesting modern art, that is scary that it represents hurricanes. hurricane hugo came through south carolina and was very devastating so i appreciate the work of the chairman of this committee and i've never met anybody in the entire congress more dedicated to the cause than you are to this subcommittee. i am just trying in to stay up with you but south carolina is certainly in harm's way and i want to thank all the folks of the level who help our fellow citizens with disaster. in myrtle beach we had a huge fire be the fire did a lot of damage to myrtle beach and it's not just hurricanes, the red cros

but i am very impressed with what several of our universities have done on the heels of katrina and rita then using technology that was there and build a strategic partner so let's explore the opportunity because there may be real expertise now they're mr. fugate, i've seen in at the university of lafayette and perhaps senator paris has a suggestion as well. i like to get to my line of questioning mr. fugate, what are your top three priorities. if you could for this committee because we like to work with and we are going to push, we're going to work with you but push to get the very best systems we can, so what are your top three priorities as you are stepping in to an agency with that has really been of the front-line in many ways these last few years? had to use you're top three priorities and i am certain that you discussed this with the secretary and the highest levels of this administration, so would you outline that for us now? >> yes, ma'am, they are rather broad and easy to communicate and require a lot of moving pieces and their simple -- my first and greatest priority is to inc

who the storms depicted there by a significant amount in terms of size of damage and then hurricane ritawhich ranks second and most of the storms in terms of damage and out of line to show you the next craft which is even more startling are the storm since 1851 to the present. so when we in the gulf coast are dropped threats it is real, it is frightening, and is important for this committee and of committees of this congress to continue to focus as best we can on the shore a threat of hurricanes that are getting more and more predictable. we know and can be better focused on where they're going to hit and when they are heading unlike earthquakes although our science is getting much better on earthquakes and fires as wow, but we have gotten pretty good at predicting where the storms will hit. there is very little we can do i think immediately to stop them but we mostly can prepare our people better for this rent than they are facing. it is important for us to understand our capacity to deal with israel and on going and in some people's minds ever strengthening france and that is what this

local levies in the south louisiana failed again, a failed with katrina, a failed with rita, gustav, ike, as the said mr. ritter knows because he is from florida of south florida is concerned about their water management issues and whether the dikes and levees will hold that is the subject of another hearing. was continuing to be a cumbersome process despite many improvements which i well mentioned we are still relying mr. fugate to much nine trailers to jump-start recovery and we will be pressing hard on new housing and shelter options broken to new to say to provide these communities with $5 million in the community long-distance is probably not what charleston or savannah or miami or new orleans or atlanta or batteries are in a number of committees that can do much with $5 million and that is all the law allows them to borrow. the administrator 55 from fema will discuss the 2008 response and the agency's work on an alert system evacuation plans and from his perspective if we are better situated in it 2009 season opens. major general from the northern command will outline the depar

hurricane rita, 2005, people in my congressional district are still living with blue plastic tarps on their roofs because of the inadequate response. that is why this bill is so important, because it allows for predisaster mitigation, it allows the hospital to get a generator so when they lose their power they're able to take care of the patients that are in the emergency room. that is a portion of predisaster mitigation. and i think it's imperative that we be proactive because it takes fema too long to respond to disasters which drives up the cost of recovery. some people in my district still say fema is the disaster. we talked earlier on other amendments about the fact that the next terrorist attack may occur in new york city. that may be so, but mother nature, as we say in texas, has a mat on for hurricane alley because we keep getting hammered every year with hurricanes. and one way to help is to ratchet up the amount of money available in areas in the gulf coast and other parts of the country that have the likelihood of being hit by a major disaster, where recovery takes a long t

mccaul volume peaked at 7,000 the day that rita hit. after 2005 we were even better prepared for 2008. going into the hurricane season of 2008, we have a partially integrated telephony, statewide disaster plan, centralized disaster database, and 24 hours a day seven day a week average. 211 louisiana answer more than 117,000 calls between hurricane gustav hitting on august 31st of september 16th of 2008. in the peak of that, we were assisted by the 211 system in california which was invaluable in expanding our capacity during it in a day window when hurricane ike hit texas in september the texas 211 insert 157,000 calls, absolutely incredible response. inland the aftermath of a hurricane ike caused flooding and wind damage throughout the midwest. and the 211 in the missouri, iowa, indiana and ohio played significant roles in their recovery efforts. the 2009 preparation as well under way and i am pleased to report to that we have complete integrated telephony the office to the louisiana. most importantly we have an extended an enhanced re

the call volume peaked at 7,358 the day that rita hit. after 2005 we were even better prepared for 2008. going into the hurricane season in 2008 we had a partially integrated telephony, statewide disaster plan, centralized the sastre database and 24 hour day 70 a week coverage. 211 louisiana answered more than 170,000 calls between gustav hitting august 31st and a december 16th 2008. in the peak of that we were assisted by the 211 system of california which was invaluable expanding capacity and a today window when ike hit texas and the timber texas 211 answered 157,000 calls an absolutely incredible response. inland, the aftermath of hurricane ike caused flooding and wind damage throughout the midwest. the 211 in missouri and iowa, indiana and ohio place significant roles in the recovery effort. lagat one tero nine preparation is well under way and i'm pleased to report we have complete integrated telephony for about the state of louisiana. most importantly we have an extended enhanced relationship with louisianan state government. i am p

the call volume peaked at 7,358 the day that rita hit. after 2005 we were even better prepared for 2008. going into the hurricane season in 2008, we had a partially-integrated telephony, a statewide disaster plan, a centralized disaster database and 24 hour a day, 7 day a week coverage. 211 louisiana answered more than 117,000 calls between gustav hitting on august 31st and september 16th of 2008. in the peak of that, we were assisted by the 211 system in california which was invaluable in expanding our capacity. in an eight-day window when ike hit texas in september, the texas 211 answered 157,000 calls, an absolutely incredible response. inland the aftermath of hurricane ike caused unprecedented flooding, as you're well aware, and wind damage throughout the midwest. the 211s in missouri, iowa, indiana, and ohio played significant roles in their recovery efforts. the 2009 preparation is well underway, and i'm pleased to report to you that we have complete inte dpraited telephoneny throughout the state of louisiana. most importantly, we h

at the highest this was 758, the day that hurricane rita landed. after 2005 we were prepared for 2008. we had a statewide disaster plan and the central database, and 24 hour coverage. we answered more than 117,000 phone calls between hurricane dean gustav -- hurricane gustav hitting and [unintelligible] this was indelible in expanding our capacity. when hurricane i came to the state of texas, in taxes they answered 150,000 phone calls. in the aftermath, there was flooding, and wind damage through the midwest. in missouri and indiana, we played significant roles in the recovery. the 2009 preparation is underway and we have complete integrated telephony and we have an enhanced relationship with the louisiana state government. i am pleased to say that we have the red cross for months of planning that are under way. statewide, we have begun training response volunteers. but there are still the liabilities. we are beyond the current capacity, we are in need of critical elements for disaster response. generators, remote control ability, telephone relatio

office, including bill jentee, scott gifford, keith hunt, dick hyde, cindy irwin, kathryn bartlett, rita mullins, tim perry, sal and john. their longstanding service embodies what leadership is about. our mayors often serve as the voice of our local communities and is the closest contact for people on government issues. i thank them for their dealings with my office on federal issues. i've enjoyed working with each and every one of them and wish them the best of success. they assisted our office in betting serving our communities and all illinois families. i ask unanimous consent to enter into the recordhis list of past presidents and mayors. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. bean: and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? mr. moran: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. moran: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, for weeks this body has

if hurricane rita hit houston, it was very interesting as someone may want to talk about what could have happened to the price of oil and gas if both of these places and almost all of the offshore operations, they would have been shut down. this did not happen that this would be an interesting project. what is your responsibility to keeping ports open and how did you discuss this? can you talk about this? >> i will give you an example, of what we did last year. we were working closely with the coast guard, and there was a request for an amphibious ship and galveston was devastated by ike. the u.s.s. nassau was deployed. we have ships and you unload vessels that can respond and the navy was on board and they worked with the locals to open this up at the request of fema. >> do you have any of these ships on the gulf coast? >> on the east coast they would respond. >> and they are unable to get there in time? >> if we see the request we will move them and as we move them, we are looking at the path of the storm, to get them outside the path. >> one last question, about community disasters an

bright spot during a difficult time in our state and responding to the 2005 hurricanes, katrina and rita. prior to landfall of katrina, the office had to close. our united way, northeast louisiana, monroe, began taking all calls directed from new orleans. overnight, we expanded from a four-person office center in monroe to a 65-per 211. we had additional support debt was outstanding -- that was outstanding from centers across america. there were hundreds of local volunteers that responded. as a result of that, in monroe, 211 responded to more than 111,000 calls in two months. the volume peaked at 7000, 358 -- seven dozen 358. after 2005, -- 7358 respondents. we were even more prepare for 2008. we have a partially it to credit telephony, a statewide disaster plan, a central disaster database, and 24 hours out reached -- average. -- outreach. we answered calls between the 21st and 16th of september, 2008. at peak of that, we were assisted by the 211 system in california, which was invaluable in expanding our capacity. in an eight-day window, the texas 211 answered 157,000 calls, an incredi

the democrats are pushing through the house, or did pushed through, did not allow the republicans to rita. and put down amendments at 3:00 a.m. -- they are hiding something. the no will raise taxes. . it will raise electric bills and gas and everything is. they want to hide that because they force it through to the senate. now the senate has the democratic majority. now we have a democrat president. he will force it through. it will become law. all the businesses will go overseas. that will lose jobs. it would just destroy the frail economy we have now. host: among his comments, david they're just talk about the stimulus legislation. in this interview with christina romer she talks about the stimulus legislation. she says the stimulus money was being distributed in almost exactly the rate forecasted by the office of management and budget. she says it should make a material contribution to growth in the fourth quarter it this year. california is next up on the republican line. caller: hi, they're so many people in this country other working people starving and having a tough time. why are

of those storms depicted there by a significant amount in terms of size of damage and hurricane it rita which ranks second among those storms in terms of damage and i would like to show you the next graph it is even more startling which are the storms since 1851, led to the president. when we in the gulf coast talk about the threat to combat it is real, it is frightening and it is important to this committee and all committees of this congress to continue to focus as best we can on the threat of hurricanes that is getting more and more predictable. we can be better focused on where they will hit and when they are hitting of like earthquakes although our science is getting much better on

they failed in katrina, they failed in rita, they failed in gust aff and ike and as the administrator knows because he is from florida, the people of south florida are very concerned about their water management issues and whether their dikes and levees and water will hold and that's the subject of another hearing. recovery has been frustrating for loggle lo governments despite many impriveyfplgts which i will mention in a moment. i believe we're still relying mr. fuge gate too much on trailers in order to jump start recoveries and we're going to be pressing hard on new housing and shelter options from this committee. i will continue to say that providing these communities with $5 million in community loan assistance is probably not what charleston or savena or miami or new orleans or atlanta or baton rouge or any number of communities they can't do much with $5 million and that's a all the law allows them to borrow. so administrator few gate from fema will discuss the 2008 response tand agency's work on alert and warning systems evacuation plans and from his perspective if we're bett

you can hear live on c-span rita. a real to track report says foreclosure filings fell in may. but they remain an elevated levels. it is the third month in a row that foreclosure filings exited 300,000. in a normal market would be less than 100,000 per month. senate republicans introduced legislation today to force the treasury department to divest its stakes in several industries by july 2010. under the proposal the federal government would be prohibited from taking new ownership stakes in private industry, forbid influencing management decisions, and be required to submit a plan on how will and its interest in fannie mae and freddie mac. senators john cornyn and spoon are expected to hold a news conference later. even though the use of charter flights does not violate senate ethics rules as long as paid for by the members office, some senators been more than others. office account records show that senators chuck schumer and john cornyn are the biggest spenders, but are not the only ones to use charter flights. in the first half of the fiscal year, three others spent more tha

those are some of the latest headlines on c-span rita. "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome our guests to c-span, bob schieffer. guest: thank you. host: how you view where we are at at this moment in time? guest: i can ever recall a time when the president has faced more serious issues. you look at north korea and the threat that poses right now. you look at iran and the the middle east, then afghanistan, pakistan. i still think that the border is still the most dangerous place in the world. that is not to mention iraq or what is going on in this country. then you have the financial crisis we have been going through in this country. if there is any good news i think we may have reached a bottom. nobody knows for sure. you have these enormous programs that have been launched. the stimulus package, the help to general motors, the help to the banks, all of this. we are at the very beginning of solving these problems. it is a very serious time here. i cannot recall the time when there have been this many different problems that a president confronted whe

tragic because by definition these are folks who were flooded by one of our hurricanes, katrina or rita or gustav or ike. that is why they are ripping out old drywall and putting in this new stuff, so by definition virtually every one of those folks were hard hit by a hurricane or just recovering or finally have put their house back together and then they discovered this and they have to start all over. and their house is a loss, sometimes complete loss yet again. so it's doubly tragic for folks in that situation. i am certainly continuing to work with senator nelson, senator landrieu and others on legislation and funding, which has thus cpsc studying this issue and has it on a more accelerated timetable to study three things in particular. number when the relationship between the drywall and health sometimes. so what's the bottom line on health, number one. number two, the relationship between the drywall and electrical and fire safety issues. and number three, the tracing of the origin and distribution of the drywall. so i know that's going on. the big issue is timing. even -- even wi

and food-born salmonella and health threats of natural dezaires such as what we saw with katrina and rita the epa, the coast guard, the indian health service, just to name a few. despite their vital role, the commissioned core faces a work shortage. in the last year alone, the number of physicians serving as public health service officers declined by 5%. the dental officer core has lost one fourth of its workforce in the last six years. the pharmacy and nursing corps face similar workforce shortages. so given this need, the creation of this public health sciences track has been strongly endorsed by the commissioned officers association of the u.s. public health service. and this committee, senator kennedy has received a letter from former surgeon general c. everett coop urging us to include this provision in the health reform package. i introduce this bill, or these provisions as a free-standing bill earlier this year, several months ago. students in the public health see sciences track will receive a tuition stipend. they're accepted as commissioned corps officers with a two-year service

i would just rita. some others have shown the same concern. -- a i will just read it. some are concerned about drugs coming in from eastern europe and the baltic. the new move over to the mideast and gets a little shaky. we have had that one case. senator mikulski of that -- had that prescription bottle from iraq of all places. it is a very real threat. my modification -- but since i missed the deadline on the amendments -- but again i thought we would do this under the coverage section. that my deadline on that would be next week. it simply says, this act shall become effective only if the secretary certifies to the congress that the implementation of it will pose no additional risk to the public's health and safety and result in a signal the direction of the cost of coverage products to the american consumer. a significant reduction in the cost of covered products to the american consumer. it's that section a that is absolutely essential if i'm going to support this amendment, although i know exactly what the senator from arizona is trying to do. i respect that. i do

hours have been spent helping gulf coast communities recover and rebuild after hurricanes katrina and rita. that's a four million -- that's four million hours of service made possible by the organizations and the individuals who choose to participate in the americorps programs. this resolution recognizes one week where we salute current and former americorps members for their important work. it also allows us to thank all community partners who make it possible for americorps members to serve. i want to take this opportunity to thank my fellow co-chairs of the national service caucus, representatives matsui, ehlers, and price. i ask my colleagues to support this and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. tonko: does the gentleman have further speakers? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. platts: i yield the distinguished gentleman from georgia mr. broun as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves the balance of his time and the gentlem

there's a nontop flight from nor rita to detroit and the flight leaving the state of michigan. are dramatically different environments. we have science. we have knowledge >> and so you're looking at potentially changing the regulations on rest requirements to reflect these different flying experiences; would that be a fair thing. >> yes >> is that something you have recommended it before. >> we have recommended that and we want to close a loophole which enables a pilot to continue to fly his eight hours, for example, which is the legal amount during the day and then continue on in a part 91 or a ferry and there's no passenger in a character which they move it to a maintenance site. we believe that needs to be changed >> all right. then the second thing i was thinking about from just commonsense is that the pilots for the regional carriers are flying these shorter distances and they are flying at lower t altitudes it seems harder when you're down close; is that right. >> certainly you're exposed to more convective weather although i would note almost humorously every airplane i

but i am very impressive with what several of our universities have done on the heels of katrina and rita and using technology that was there and building some strategic partners so let's explore the opportunity because there may be some expertise out there, mr. fugate, i know at the university of lafayette 'cause i've seen it perhaps senator burris has a suggestion as well. i'd like to get to my line of questioning, if i could, senator, and we'll come back. i wanted to ask first, mr. fugate, what are your top three priorities? i know you have many. but if you could for this committee because we'd like to work with you, we're going to push. we're going to work with you but push to get the very best systems we can. so what are your top three priorities as you're stepping in to an agency that has, you know, really been at the front line in many ways these last few years? how do you see your top three priorities and i'm certain that you've discussed this with the secretary and with the highest levels of believe administration. so would you outline that for us now? >> yes, ma'am. they're rath

but i am very impressed with what several of the universities have done on the heels of katrina and rita and using technology that was their cash building strategic partners so let's explore the opportunity because there may be real expertise out there, mr. fugate, i know what the endeavor city of lafayette because i have seen it. perhaps senator burris has a suggestion as well. i would like to get my line of questioning if i could. i wanted to ask the first mr. fugate what are your top three priorities? i know that you have many but if you could for this committee because we would like to work with you we are going to work with you, but push to get the very best systems we can so what are your top three priorities as you are stepping into an agency that has been at the front-line in many ways these last few years how do you see your top three priorities? and uncertain that you have discussed this with the secretary and highest levels of this administration so would you outline that for us now? >> yes, ma'am, they are rather broad, easy to communicate and require a lot of moving pieces a

we are going to rita little and then we are going to ask questions. i want you to be thinking of your questions right now. there are stephen this prizes for those who ask questions. really, chromatically appropriate prizes and you want to win a prize, you know you do. so, i know there is someone lactating. excellent. i am going to read an essay called is best.