A Call to Service
Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 10:05:59 AM PDT
While no description of my deepest imagination, can ever fully comprehend what the Americans caught in this catastrophe are going through, I am trying to start a dialogue and generate activity to find viable options to ease the burden our fellow Americans, its government, and our country face, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
This outline is the beginning conversation I will be looking for implementation in the coming weeks.
There is no American who has not been deeply touched - and troubled - by the devastation that has changed the Gulf Coast, and the entire Nation forever. We now see a full military mobilization to bring the needed rescue effort deep into the heart of New Orleans and throughout the entire Gulf Coast area. Congress reconvened early and passed an emergency supplement bill and the Navy has mobilized hospital ships and other fleet units to provide needed relief.
I call upon our elected leaders to immediately suspend the implementation of the recently passed Bankruptcy Bill. We have hundreds of thousands of Americans who are now in dire financial distress who will all suffer under the provisions of this bill through no fault of their own. Fellow Americans need and deserve our support. I ask the leaders of both parties to rescind this legislation as an order of priority - now.
The confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts should be delayed until after the situation has stabilized in the Gulf Coast. We can ill afford a divisive, partisan process, while we are trying to unite behind the recovery of the Gulf Coast.
I will personally present a plan to our Town Council in my home of Corning, New York for the adoption of two to three families from the Gulf Coast area. I believe that in partnership with City Governments, private relief organizations in our area can rent housing, provide clothing, food, and furniture for up to a year while giving these New Orleaneans a community to live in and schooling for their children. It is my belief that every American community can do the same.
We have, as a nation, seen that in a true national emergency there are some things that only the United States military can respond to. It is only the full force of the Active and Reserve, Guard forces that have the equipment, organization discipline, chain of command, communications, and sustainability to ensure the safety, supply, and recovery of hard hit areas. Local, state and even federal civilian agencies simply do not have the forces needed to resolve the kind of problems that we have all witnessed as a nation over the past four days. Therefore, I ask that both Houses of Congress, acting under the direction of the White House, set aside the decisions of the recent Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) pending a full review of our nations needs in light of this Hurricane disaster. Some of the very facilities that are today making the difference between life and death in New Orleans are slated to be closed.
In the next week or two it will become increasingly important to begin the cleanup effort of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to set the stage for a long term reconstruction effort. The cleanup effort will require a substantial amount of manual labor to clear debris from both public and private property. What cannot be removed with mechanical methods will require backbreaking manual labor.
What will become pivotal as the cleanup effort phase begins in earnest will be the availability of large numbers of volunteers dedicated to removing debris town by town, region by region. The more rapid the cleanup effort concludes the sooner the affected regions will be able to rebuild and reestablish functioning businesses and generate revenue to get people back to work. A delayed or lengthy cleanup will negatively impact public health, safety and economic recovery.
As we all now know, many people want to help this recovery process but find the only vehicle to do so is through financial contributions to relief organizations like the Red Cross. When it comes to volunteering time (more than a couple of days), many people opt out because of their need to support a family or cannot take time off from work without incurring income loss. Today, amidst the ongoing recovery, it is now time for those with new solutions to move forward. Therefore, I propose the immediate establishment of the Civilian Recovery Corps (CRC).
This Corps should be created immediately with a national call for service, by White House and Congressional legislative support. I believe that a National leader like General Colin Powell or General Wesley Clark should be "drafted" to head this national recovery effort. The CRC would be organized, implemented, and initially led by components of the Active, Reserve and Guard forces. Military bases located in proximity to the impacted areas such as Pensacola Naval Air Station and Fort Polk, Louisiana could be utilized as initial training and assembly points. The organization could mirror tradition Navy "SeaBee" construction "battalions" and could draw upon the leadership of retired military officer and non-commissioned officers as well as skilled workers from the National AFL-CIO/SEIU Union and non- Union labor pool.
Corps members would be available for organizational formation and the issuance of needs equipment.. The labor pool could be divided into broad categories such as skilled trade laborers (electrical, heavy equipment operators, electricians etc) and support personnel (food service, logistics etc.) I believe that wage and employment guarantees that match prevailing wage requirements for a term of one year should be put in place to both provide for a stable work force and to relieve the pressure on our currently over extended military forces who are providing the critical and much needed initial response. This would not only provide an immediate source of recovery labor but would also positively impact the significant loss of jobs that accompanies this National disaster.
I propose, in effect, a depression era Works Project Administration (WPA) effort that combines the best of America to solve this reconstruction crisis. We have the resources, we can build the organization and we can and must rebuild New Orleans- with improved technology, design and engineering, and turn the Crescent City into a world model of a 21st Century, American success story.
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