Emergency Aid To Survivors Of The Haiti Earthquake Act

Floor Speech

* Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I offer my strong support to S. 2949, a bipartisan measure to extend temporary aid to help the thousands of Americans who are evacuating Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that occurred on January 12, 2010.

* This is the worst disaster to hit Haiti in over two centuries, with an estimated 150,000 deaths, three million adversely affected, and severe damage to roads, ports, hospitals, and homes.

* Nearly 14,000 American citizens have been evacuated from Haiti, with 40 percent of them receiving temporary repatriation assistance.

* The Department of Health and Human Services Repatriation program provides assistance, such as travel expenses, medical care, temporary lodging and food assistance, to U.S. citizens repatriating to the United States in the wake of a natural disaster or other hardship. Americans receiving this assistance must reimburse the government costs incurred on their behalf, unless repayment is deemed to be infeasible due to the recipient's overall lack of financial resources.

* This important legislation would raise the annual funding limit on the U.S. Repatriation Program, from $1 million to $25 million, for Fiscal 2010.

* Thank you to my colleagues for acting swiftly to move this bill and provide assistance to all Americans in need of help returning to their homes from Haiti.

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