RawStory: Advance: Senate Democrats issue relief plan for Katrina

REID: THE SECURITY AND SAFETY OF THE GULF COAST RESIDENTS MUST COME FIRST

WASHINGTON, DC -- Democratic Leader Harry Reid today called on Senator Frist to address the needs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina and to set aside action on the estate tax. Reid said action now on the estate tax this week would be inappropriate and insensitive to the victims and to the American people and called on Frist to address a number of legislative actions that the Senate should take in the coming days to provide immediate relief to the victims of this national crisis.

Reid also released a letter signed by himself and Senator Max Baucus, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, calling on Frist to set aside the estate tax vote.

Senator Reid's prepared remarks are below. Attached is a copy of the letter that Senators Harry Reid and Max Baucus sent to Senator Frist today calling on him to delay a vote on the estate tax. Attached is also a set of proposed legislative ideas that Senator Reid outlined today as actions that the Senate should take immediately to address the needs of the Hurricane victims.

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Prepared Remarks of Democratic Leader Harry Reid:

Our nation took a blow in the last week. Hurricane Katrina destroyed lives up and down the Gulf Coast. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims. Our nation grieves with them and will stand by their side during the long road to recovery. We can, we must and we will do everything we can to make sure this never happens again.

It is clear this did not go as they should have. The government has known for sometime that this threat was very real. FEMA had a plan for this disaster, but they didn't execute it and they didn't get the necessary resources in place. We need to find out why and make sure it never happens again. We need to quickly appoint a commission to look into this matter. We had one after 9/11, and we need one now.

When the Senate reconvenes on Tuesday, the security and safety of the Gulf Coast residents must be our first order of business. These families are counting on us. They are suffering, and they have no where else to turn. We owe it to them to make their survival our top priority, and we should give them nothing less.

There are things for the Senate to work on tomorrow. There are dozens of legislative steps we can take this week - - steps that would meet the urgent health care, housing and economic needs of the millions of Americans affected by this tragedy. My colleagues and I are prepared to move forward on this critical work, but the Republican leader Senator Frist has insisted we will move forward on the estate tax.

Today Senate Baucus and I have sent a letter to the Republican leader asking him to reconsider. With all that is going on in the aftermath of Katrina, the repeal of the estate tax should be the last thing on the Senate's agenda. Regardless of how you feel about the issue, we should all be able to agree the victims of Katrina should come first.

The estate tax affects a very small minority of people in this country. Less than two percent of estates pay any tax at all. Compare that with our Gulf Coast, where hundreds of thousands of families have been torn apart and seen their dreams destroyed. Moving to the estate tax would be a travesty on top of a tragedy.

We can do better. Let's change the future.

KATRINA RELIEF PLAN FOR SENATE ACTION THIS WEEK

Although the Congress last week appropriated $10.5 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Defense Department, it is clear much more will be needed given the enormity of this disaster. While government authorities and others assess the scope of the problem and decide how much additional funding will be needed to address specific problems, there are a number of legislative items the Senate can and should promptly approve that can help Katrina's victims. After the Senate has completed action on this emergency legislation, we hope the Senate will quickly provide significant new funding, and consider other substantive proposals that could help address short- and medium-term needs. These proposals must be followed by a much broader, long-term effort to rebuild and rehabilitate the Gulf Coast region and substantially improve efforts to prevent, mitigate and respond to future disasters.

The following are just some examples of proposals that Senate Democrats believe deserve immediate Senate action this week:

Ensuring health care for all displaced victims

* Immediate access to Medicaid for displaced victims.
* No need to prove residency or assets
* No copayments
* No penalties for failing to sign up for Medicare Part B in time.

To ensure access to medical care, we should ensure immediate access to Medicaid for displaced victims. Paperwork requirements should be streamlined and asset requirements waived to ensure that victims, many of whom have no legal documents in their possession, can enroll in the program with little red tape. Residency requirements for participation should not apply to these victims to allow them to obtain health care services around the country. In addition, copayments should be waived for these people as they struggle to meet other needs as well. The Federal government should bear the full cost of these changes, and ensure that no affected state suffers a reduction in Federal Medicaid funding (their "match rate") for other populations. This proposal is based on a similar successful initiative after the September 11 disaster.

We also should provide compensation to health care providers who provide a disproportionate share of the care for these victims.

Displaced victims should not be penalized for late enrollment in Medicare Part B because they have become newly-eligible or have lost coverage from another plan during this time. Similarly, everyone from the affected states should have an additional year to enroll in the new Medicare drug benefit and its low income subsidies. The automatic transition of dual eligible beneficiaries from Medicaid to Medicare drug coverage should be delayed in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, with the Federal government bearing the full cost of those people continuing Medicaid drug coverage.

Getting victims housing

* Emergency housing vouchers for displaced victims
* Expedited application procedures with no red tape.
* No tenant contributions until they find work.
* Tax incentives for private families to take in victims.
* Identify federal facilities that can house victims.
* Relief for homeowners facing threat of foreclosure

FEMA has said that up to 1 million people may need housing assistance. The Senate therefore should immediately authorize the Department of Housing and Urban Development to create and distribute temporary emergency housing vouchers to victims, without many of the restrictions that apply under the existing Section 8 low-income voucher program. For example, victims should not have to document their income levels, and tenant contributions should be waived until they find work. HUD also should be authorized to increase existing limits on allowable rents given the likelihood that rents in Gulf Coast areas will increase substantially for the foreseeable future. HUD needs to take over primary responsibility for distributing vouchers since many of the region's local housing authorities are not functioning at full capacity, if at all.

Given the scarcity of rental housing, we will need to rely on private individuals and families to provide free room and board to victims. To encourage this, we should immediately approve a tax subsidy for those who provide such assistance to Katrina's victims.

To help identify locations to house victims, the Administration should be required, within 10 days, to release an inventory of federal civilian and defense facilities that can be used to provide emergency housing, or as locations for the construction or deployment of temporary housing units.

We should increase aid to owners of damaged homes by waiving current law caps on home repair assistance (now $5200) and home replacement assistance (now $10,200). In addition, we should waive a requirement that individuals leave their home to qualify for home repair assistance, a rule that threatens to exacerbate an already massive demand for shelter in the region.

We should reestablish the Temporary Mortgage and Rental Program, which has been used in the past, including after the September 11 disaster, to provide assistance to homeowners and renters facing financial hardship. This could be important for many victims who otherwise could lose their homes through foreclosure.

Getting victims to family members and friends

Many of Katrina's victims have little or no access to transportation. Although FEMA has legal authority to address this, the agency seems overwhelmed and has proven unable on its own to meet the compelling needs of countless numbers of stranded victims. We therefore need to make this a White House priority and direct the President to lead a broad effort to quickly ensure that displaced victims can get to family, friends and others who can provide them with room and board.

Getting students into school

Many of Katrina's victims are children who need to enroll in a new school. To encourage schools to accept these victims, and alleviate some of the resulting burdens, we should provide funding to school districts that accept displaced children. This funding could be used to hire additional teachers, teachers' aides, or counselors, or to provide temporary expansions of classrooms. A similar program should be provided for institutions of higher education that admit displaced students.

Bringing victims' families together and placing them with other families

The government should establish a toll free "800" number and web site through which victims could access a national victim database and information about available assistance. Displaced individuals could register and provide contact information, so that separated family members and friends could find each other. The database also would allow volunteers to sign up if they are willing to provide free shelter to victims.

Getting victims cash to meet other basic needs

To ensure that victims can get cash for their basic needs, we should strengthen and expand the Disaster Unemployment Insurance Program and automatically extend any expiring UI benefits that victims are receiving. We also should give the President authority to increase the $26,200 statutory cap on cash assistance through the Individuals and Households Program, and should waive the 25 percent matching requirement for States in the Gulf region. In addition, victims should be allowed to withdraw funds from individual retirement accounts (IRA's) penalty-free, with extra contributions permitted later.

Providing financial relief to victims and National Guard

Katrina's victims, and National Guard involved in disaster operations, should not be obligated to make payments to the Federal government in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. There should be a short term moratorium on obligations such as:

n Student loans
n Individual and corporate income taxes
n Small business loans

In addition, disaster victims filing for bankruptcy should be treated differently under the bankruptcy code in recognition of their particular hardship.

Ensuring victims have access to food

We should ensure that the many victims of Katrina who are struggling to obtain food have access to food stamps through a streamlined application process. States should be provided relief from the additional costs associated with administering the food stamp program for victims.

Restoring order

We should provide law enforcement funding where needed to help protect innocent citizens from crime and to ensure that there are places in which to imprison dangerous criminals. In addition, we should authorize federal courts to convene outside of their ordinary location in the event of an emergency, such as the massive flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Helping victims get jobs

Private employers should be given an incentive to hire displaced victims by temporarily qualifying them for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which can reduce an employer's tax liability by up to $2400 per qualified new worker. In addition, the Federal government should establish a temporary preference for hiring displaced victims who are qualified for jobs.

Moreover, many displaced workers now lack the documents they need to secure employment under Federal law, such as passports and birth certificates. This law should be relaxed temporarily so that victims can legally obtain work without such documents, so long as they can provide a valid Social Security number.

Supporting the National Guard

We should ensure that Guard units serving in the Gulf Coast effort be considered to have been mobilized under Title 32 (they are currently mobilized through the states). This would qualify them for federal benefits and ensure that their service counts as active duty for the purposes of retirement, health care, and other benefits. It also would make them eligible for the Family Separation Allowance if separated from their families for more than 30 days, and could provide relief from creditors and foreclosures.

Requiring accountability

We should require the President to submit regular reports to the Congress on the status of recovery efforts, the number of victims who remain without decent housing, jobs, etc., and any additional resources or action needed to address the crisis.

September 5, 2005

The Honorable William H. Frist
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. Leader:

Hurricane Katrina has left a trail of death and destruction along the Gulf Coast. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are coming to grips with the loss of loved ones, displaced lives and the destruction of their homes. For days, Americans have watched scenes of disaster victims struggling to survive without food, water and hope.

Across this country, American citizens are mobilizing as part of a massive effort to help speed the relief and recovery from this disaster. We applaud your action on September 1st that allowed the Senate to approve $10.5 billion of emergency assistance for the Gulf region, but the Federal government's role in this recovery effort is far from finished.

On behalf of the Senate Democratic caucus, we hope that the Senate's schedule during the week of September 6 will be adjusted appropriately to allow the Senate to focus on the work this body should be doing to address the needs of the communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Certainly the Senate cannot ignore other urgent legislative matters; however, our caucus strongly believes it would be a serious mistake to divert the Senate's attention away from the current emergency at this time.

In particular, the Democratic caucus believes it would be inappropriate to consider repeal of the estate tax immediately upon our return to legislative business. While Senate Democrats hold a wide range of views on estate tax reform, there is broad agreement that the disaster in the Gulf region requires our full attention and immediate action.

We believe that it would send the wrong message to the American people for the Senate's first item of business upon returning from recess to be the repeal of the estate tax. It would be insensitive to focus the Senate's attention on those with so much when so many of our citizens have lost everything. The crisis in the Gulf Region is the top concern of the American people and it should be the top priority of the United States Senate.

There are a number of legislative actions that the Senate can and should take to provide continued relief and assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and to all Americans who are now feeling its effects. For example, the Senate could take action this week on legislation that would provide hurricane victims with immediate access to health care, housing, food and other basic necessities, and transportation out of the disaster area.

We urge you to set aside the estate tax debate and take up these solutions in our first days back. The Senate not only has the power to do so, we have a moral obligation to the victims, their families, and all Americans.
Sincerely,

HARRY REID MAX BAUCUS