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Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006

Date: March 15, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Defense


EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT FOR DEFENSE, THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR, AND HURRICANE RECOVERY, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - March 15, 2006)

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chairman, what I understand now is the two amendments were combined into one, for which I am very grateful.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment would strike the funding for the international broadcasting operations of Radio Free Europe section of this bill. I am sure there are many folks who can tell us the merits and great purpose of Radio Free Europe and our broadcasting overseas, but we can debate the merits of Radio Free Europe another time.

It was my understanding that this war supplemental was supposed to be purely for emergency spending for the war. Providing essential equipment for our troops is one thing. Additional funding for additional international broadcasting is another.

Mr. Chairman, many conservatives were disappointed that additional Katrina funding was added to this bill since the moneys approved last fall have not been spent totally. In fact, Mr. Chairman, of the $67.5 billion directly appropriated to Katrina and Rita relief, only $22.5 billion have been spent. Why are we allocating additional hard-earned tax dollars, when over half of the additional funding is yet to be spent?

Furthermore, the Katrina spending approved did not have proper safeguards. I read article after article reporting stories of fraud and abuse of relief funds. The reason we read and hear these stories on the nightly news is because we did not move carefully enough the first time. Let's not make that mistake again with additional Katrina funding or other extraneous funding added that is not emergency funding for the war in Iraq.

I urge Members to support my amendment and remove this funding, so we can debate the merits of the program in its proper setting.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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