Don't Compound the Disastrous Federal Response by Ignoring Another Disaster -- Protect the Children
Mr. Speaker, let me set the stage of this discussion. When it comes to Hurricane Katrina, its impact and aftermath, especially on the poor, disadvantaged and the children, our most vulnerable population, let me sum it up. We do not know what we do not know.
Before us today is the TANF Emergency Response and Recovery Act. It is a marker, modest at best, meant to buy some time. I hope that is what it is.
We certainly stand with Representatives McCery and Jefferson, two friends and colleagues who are at ground zero at this tragedy. We want to be as helpful as possible. I know that Mr. Jefferson is working on a comprehensive program for what is necessary in his district, and I think that will come forward as we go down the road a little bit.
It is going to be overwhelming, but in the process, we cannot act like we have done enough. The American people have had their fill of that kind of false rhetoric since this tragedy first roared on shore. As ranking member of the Human Resources Subcommittee, as a medical doctor and child psychiatrist, let me say we had better use the precious few months we are buying today to find out what we do not know and then address the real needs of real people. Band-Aids alone will not heal this wound.
We have more questions than answers, and we must act actively and aggressively to find out what we need to comfort the afflicted, heal the sick and mend the tattered bodies and minds.
First, we ought to add the word "temporary" to the title of this legislation. Here is why.
The legislation extends TANF, Temporary Aid for Needy Families, for 3 months. The 7th of December, it goes away. We are not sure we will even have a complete casualty count in the next 90 days.
This bill increases TANF funding for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama by 20 percent in the next fiscal year. The truth is, we do not know what the real cost will be, and 20 percent may well become the proverbial drop in the bucket.
This is a time when people and local governments expect leadership out of the Congress. Arbitrarily increasing funding by 20 percent had better be a sign of our initial commitment, not a cap on our already inadequate leadership.
We are going to completely reimburse neighboring States that provide short-term TANF assistance. Not only is that the least we can do, we should not tell States in this legislation that the meter is running and will run out in 3 months. What about Arkansas, all the people that went up there? There is no mention in here about them. We do not need any more confusion and missed opportunities than we already have.
This legislation waives some TANF requirements and penalties. Let me ask everyone something: Who in the world thinks this is the time to add more bureaucracy? We ought to be waiving every requirement and penalty for the indefinite future. We do not even know where the people are yet; this aid bill could end up hurting, not helping, people who need America more than ever.
We ought to add another word to this legislation, "incomplete."
There may be as many as 10,000 foster kids somewhere in the disaster region. Words like "displaced," "abandoned," and "alone" come to mind, and that ought to mobilize the conscience of the Nation. We do not know if these kids are safe, we do not know where they are, and we do not know if they are getting the services they need. We do know they have witnessed unspeakable horrors.
As a child psychiatrist, I know something about what these children are going through.
We ought to have a separate piece of legislation before us that focuses on these children. They will need grief counseling. They will need food, shelter, clothing and love. They will need guardians, and we do not even know today where they are.
The sad fact is that the current child welfare program dramatically limits services, including mental health, that these children can receive once they are located. Does anyone think we need another bureaucracy for that?
Early estimates from the Congressional Budget Office tell us that a half million workers will likely qualify for unemployment compensation as a result of the hurricane. The Federal program was short-sighted and underfunded before. What will we tell these people when their benefits run out, their communities have been washed away, what, go look for a job?
This is not a time to wash away the Federal response. Benefits should be there as long as they need to be, period. How long is that? The answer to that is how long it will take to raise and restore these communities. Within 6 weeks, something like 11,000 people are due to lose their unemployment benefits. Let us not compound last week's disastrous Federal response by ignoring another human disaster which we know is on the horizon. Those 11,000 people are out there right now getting their last check in the near future.
Mr. Speaker, we do not know what we do not know, but there is something we had better face up to. The poor, the disadvantaged, and children deserve an America of equal measure to the rest of the population.
For 10 years, the burden of care and compassion has been shifted away from the Federal Government by the Republican majority who wanted to create an ownership society by disowning those who needed us most. Programs like TANF and a host of other Federal programs that address human needs were cut, blocked, and shifted by Republicans who believed it was someone else's responsibility.
For 10 years, the burden of care and compassion has been shifted from the Federal Government by the Republican majority who wanted to create an ownership society by disowning those who need it most. And is owning something more valuable than going to work every day and playing by the rules?
For 10 years, we have aimed to shift the lifeline for all Americans on the local institutions. Therefore, today there are different TANF and unemployment and foster care programs in each one of the 50 States and they provide varying levels of support that are too often inadequate.
I heard from the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) that children brought from Louisiana wind up in Arkansas needing health care because they were in an institution down there, and Medicaid in Louisiana says we will not pay for them when they are in Arkansas. So a Congressman has to intercede on the basis that he has to move the bureaucracy in the middle of this mess. That is what you get when you get 50 programs, all different.
America's poor should be entitled to support no matter where they go in this country. They are an American. They are not a Mississippian or an Alabaman or a Louisianan. They are Americans, and we have got to get back to the principle that these should be national programs that reach the entire country.
We do not know where the next tragedy will be, but for us to stand here and figure we are going to make these little minor adjustments here today, and we are going to vote for it, we will all be for this, but there is a lot more work that needs to be done out there.
Revision date: September 12, 2005
