House+Bill+Number+2407+(Isabelle+C.+and+Lindsey+V.+Period+7)

**House Bill 2407: National Hurricane Research Initiative Act**  ** media type="file" key="House Bill 2407 (IGC and LEV).mp3" What is this bill called? **     ** The bill is called National Hurricane Research Initiative Act of 2007. Who sponsored the bill? This bill was sponsored by Alcee Hastings, a member of the democratic party, of the 23rd district of Florida. This bill has 42 total sponsors. (28 Democrats and 14 Republicans)** **Bill Number with house designation: H.R.-2407. How This Bill is Going To Help: **
 *  <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Create grants for hurricane research to help prevent future disaster.**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Develop a national hurricane research model.**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Make requests for proposals to undertake the regular research with a budget that has a strict limit.**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Make standards for coastal buildings and infrastructures to lessen the damage, when there is a hurricane. **

<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(9, 16, 170);">Summary of the bill: The main purpose of this bill is to provide funding for hurricane research. The sponsors would like to have government or non-government entities focus on improving the severe tropical storm forecasting abilities, improving durable and resilient infrastructure, and lessening impacts on coastal populations, coast  ** <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**built environment, and the natural coast environment. They would also like to give grants to scientists for hurricane research. The research would regard storm internal dynamics, predicting high winds, tornadoes and storm surge, and improving measurements of hurricanes and tropical storms through specified technologies.** <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">  **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(14, 9, 174);">A Brief History of this Bill: On Monday, August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc upon New Orleans, Louisiana. This monstrous hurricane left 80% of New Orleans, a well-known city on the Gulf Coast, in great distress. Three years after this devastating hurricane swept through New Orleans, hospitals, schools, libraries, and bus lines are still not able to function normally. Rebuilding remains an issue, despite 110 billion dollars in federal money that has been given to New Orleans more that once. Katrina has killed a record 1,600 people (And more),destroyed 200,000 Gulf Coast homes,and displaced about a million people. Before Hurricane Katrina there were twenty-three hospitals open in the New Orleans parish there are now only thirteen open. Another frightening statistic is, before Katrina there were 276 public schools open in New Orleans, now in 2008 there are only 79 public schools open in New Orleans. When viewing the statistics of some of the damage Hurricane Katrina has done, it is easy to see why the nation should take steps to prevent further, irreparable damage.Hurricanes have been bombarding the United States since 1776. Since then there have been an estimated 21,170 deaths in the U.S. Not only Katrina but other hurricanes that have struck the gulf coast such as Brenda, Esther, Hilda, Betsy, Camille, Bob, Elena,Florence, Andrew, Hermine, Bertha, Matthew, Cindy, Gustav, Ike and many other that have take precious lives and left cities barren.The money the U.S. has had to spend to compensate for the damage done by these hurricanes well exceeds a trillion dollars. Hurricanes are a costly problem the United States has to deal with between the months of June and November, every year. ** <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(5, 7, 163);">Who did Hurricane Katrina affect? Hurricane Katrina affected many, many people. Of course the people that were most severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina were the people living in the Gulf Coast area. New Orleans, however, was not the only city to be severely traumatized by this hurricane. Many towns and cities were affected, like Gulf Port, Mississippi, which to this day is still not functioning as a normal city. Other cities affected by Katrina include Bogalusa, LA, Baton Rouge, LA, Bayou La Batre, LA, and many, many more. The damage done by Katrina is still as bad in some places today, as it was on August 26, 2005. A lot of the people living in New Orleans are still depending on FEMA workers for necessities. Many people are still suffering the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

<span style="color: rgb(0, 20, 255);">Our Podcast: ** media type="file" key="House Bill 2407 (IGC and LEV).mp3" <span style="color: rgb(0, 34, 255);"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pictures: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 10, 255); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">  [|This picture was taken in Biloxi, Mississippi after a hurricane. This picture reflects the devastation caused by Hurricane Wilma.]

[|This is yet another picture depicting the horrors of Hurricane Katrina.] [|This was a picture taken after Hurricane Katrina.]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="color: rgb(0, 10, 255); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bibliography: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Hurricane Katrina-Livability Statistics .” __About.Com:U.S. Politics__. 3 Dec. 2008 < ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|**http://uspolitics.about.com/**] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">‌od/‌katrina/‌l/‌bl_katrina_stats.htm>  **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"New Orleans,Louisiana's history with tropical systems." **[|**http://www.tableausoftware.com/files/imagecache/vis_examples/files/gallery/pdi_hurricane_trends_550x445v2.png**]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">   Please note that all pictures shown here are taken from Flickr, which is a website that impliments the Creative Commons policy. The following is our picture source: __<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Flickr __. 6 Jan. 2009 <http://www.flickr.com/‌search/‌?q=hurricane+devastation&page=2>.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Congressional Legislation .” __The Dirksen Congressional Center__ . 1 Dec. 2008 < ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|**http://www.capwiz.com/**] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">‌cl/‌issues/‌bills/‌?billnum=H.R.2407&congress=110>.  **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(20, 0, 0);">“CJ Experience:Hurricane Katrina .” __MSNBC__ . 4 Dec. 2008 [[ ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|**http://www.msnbc.msn.com/**] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 16, 255); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**‌id/‌9076525/ * “U.S. Hurricanes.” __Infoplease__ . 8 Dec. 2008 <http://www.infoplease.com/‌ipa/‌A0001443.html>. ***<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> **Pictures:**