Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief and Puerto Rico Disaster Tax Relief Act, 2020

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I am in its current form.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition to this bill. Long before I was privileged to come to this House, I was Secretary of State in Oklahoma at the time of the Oklahoma City bombing, and I was tasked by the Governor to work with my friend, our colleague Mr. Lucas, to work with the Congress to see that we received timely assistance for a disaster that was clearly not of our own making. We got that assistance, and I am forever grateful to this body and the people in it that worked with us at that particular time.

Madam Speaker, since I arrived in Congress, I never forgot the help that we received from the Congress of the United States. So I routinely voted for almost every supplemental that related to disaster relief. I was one of 49 Republicans who voted for Sandy relief, and I have no doubt that our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico are in dire need and certainly need help at this particular time.

I was very proud, as I know many Members were in the last Congress, to vote for over $40 billion of relief to Puerto Rico. It needed that money. There was no question about it.

Madam Speaker, we are moving prematurely here. That money, that $40 billion, roughly half has yet to be expended. It is available for immediate use right now.

We still have $42 billion in the Disaster Relief Fund. That money is available for immediate use right now.

There is an ongoing FEMA investigation to determine the precise needs of Puerto Rico. That has yet to be completed and reported to Congress. We should wait for that disaster relief, not because it may tell us that we need less, but it might actually tell us that we need more. We should not act without appropriate information.

So, Madam Speaker, I think the appropriate thing to do is to send this back to the committee and wait for the information to move. If we move now, precipitously, it is almost certain that the United States Senate will not pick up this relief, and the President will probably not sign this bill if it got to his desk.

If we wait for the appropriate information, use the available funds that we have right now to help people in Puerto Rico, we have a much better chance of getting our fellow Americans the help they need, when they need it, in the right amounts, and in the right way.

There is no doubt in my mind that this Congress will respond appropriately to an emergency. I have seen us do it time and time again on a bipartisan basis. I know we will do it again at the appropriate time.

So Congress will respond, if necessary. Frankly, Madam Speaker, I simply move that we recommit the current legislation to the Appropriations Committee, wait on the information, and then act in the interests of our fellow Americans.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

A recorded vote was ordered.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source