September 2, 2005

Statement of Congressman Gregory W. Meeks in Support
of the $10.5 Billion Aid Package for Hurricane Katrina Victims

Calls Emergency Bill "Down Payment on What Congress Must Do to Help Rebuild Gulf Coast"

(WASHINGTON, DC) September 2, 2005 - Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (NY-6) offered the following statement for the record related to the congressional debate on the emergency aid bill for victims of Hurricane Katrina: "Four years ago this month, the City in which the district I represent is located fell victim to a major catastrophe now infamously known as 9/11. When that happened we received the world's sympathy, and we expected and received the support of the federal government to help us rebuild. Last December, the world came to the aid of Southeast Asian nations when the Indian Ocean tsunami heaped death and devastation on Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other Asian nations. The world responded and the U.S. government stepped up to the plate with immediate and massive aid.

"Once again, disaster has struck, this time in the form of Hurricane Katrina. Again, thousands of people have lost their lives and ten times that number have lost their homes and livelihood. Hundreds of thousands of square miles of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama lay in total ruin. Most of New Orleans, the Crescent City, is under water. The world has offered its sympathy and support. Congress is stepping up to the plate - this time for more than a million Americans who have been displaced and evacuated. Congress is meeting its responsibility by providing the federal government with $10.5 billion in initial emergency aid. Certainly more will be needed, and more will be provided. This urgent aid package is a down payment on what Congress must do to help rebuild the affected Gulf Coast regions.

"Additionally, I urge my fellow members of Congress to work with their local communities on neighborhood efforts to provide support for the relief efforts. We Americans have many differences among us - differences in race, religion, politics, partisanship, and ideology. But, we Americans also have two decisive commonalities that supercede those differences: We are all Americans and we are all human beings. As it was four years ago in my City of New York, so it must be today in our Gulf Coast states. Let us respond today as we did then with overwhelming compassion and immediate, massive support for fellow members of our Americans in our human family."

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