Bill Nelson: “we are considering a must-pass piece of legislation, the Homeland Security bill. Because of that, it is an appropriate…”

“we are considering a must-pass piece of legislation, the Homeland Security bill. Because of that, it is an appropriate vehicle to amend to pass other must-pass appropriations. The appropriation I am speaking of is hurricane relief for the battered State of Florida and, in some cases, parts of Georgia, as well, but particularly the State of Florida because of not only one hurricane but two hurricanes. Hopefully, the good Lord is not going to make it three hurricanes. Hurricane Ivan is on a track, as of the latest advisory from 11 this morning from the National Hurricane Center, to come across Jamaica, up over the western side of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico, which is almost the identical track Hurricane Charley took 4 weeks ago. Let us hope if it continues on that track that it continues on into the Gulf and does not take a right turn, which is what Hurricane Charley did, hitting the coast of Florida at Ground Zero, which was Punta Gorda, FL, with winds of 145 miles an hour coming straight off of the Gulf of Mexico and right up Charlotte Harbor. We cannot do anything about that because that is the forces of Mother Nature, but what we can do is respond as a Federal Government in times of natural disaster emergency. We started that process last night when we passed a $2 billion supplemental appropriation. That is not nearly enough for the first hurricane, let alone the second hurricane.”