Disaster Relief And Summer Jobs Act Of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. I thank the ranking member for yielding.

I rise, Mr. Speaker, to voice my disappointment with this bill. First, the sheer cost of the disaster relief section of this bill has largely resulted from the administration's own reluctance to be forthright on true disaster costs. When the administration knew full well that they were looking at an immense shortfall for disaster relief costs for fiscal year 2010, they all but stuck their heads in the sand, refused to get off the dime and submit an official request or budget amendment, and that's after continued inquiries and even congressional direction--congressional direction--to be more forthcoming with known costs.

To add insult to injury, FEMA's inability to accurately assess the costs of certain damages have led to several large arbitration rulings and settlements, rulings in which FEMA was admonished for having no sound basis for its estimates. FEMA's ineptitude has resulted in an additional $1.2 billion in costs to the taxpayers. Ineptitude.

These failures amount to an expensive and now hurried bill. It goes without saying that the administration and FEMA must do better in estimating and budgeting for the real costs of disasters. We have been on this broken path for too long.

Secondly, given the failings of the administration and FEMA, and considering this supplemental does not follow a singular catastrophic event, I see no reason why the administration and the Democrat majority have not worked harder to offset this spending. This concern is especially relevant when billions of dollars in unobligated money is lying around--sloshing--in the so-called stimulus bill, a point that Chairman Lewis has made repeatedly here today.

Why are we further burdening the American people with additional debt when there are monies that can and should be used to pay for the costs of real emergencies? Sadly, the majority hasn't even notionally consulted the minority or, for that matter, the committee on finding ways to pay for this and is choosing, instead, to just ram this bill through the House with only an hour of debate.

I would like to think that had this bill been handled properly with at least some minority input, we could have collaborated to produce a more fiscally disciplined bill and a bill that included some tough and badly needed oversight on how the administration and FEMA is budgeting for disaster relief funding. Needless to say, the majority seems hell-bent on spending taxpayer money without even giving lip service to an offset.

Mr. Speaker, at this rate, we are simply passing an impossible financial emergency to our children and our grandchildren. To say that I am disappointed at this bill's cost and lack of oversight and discipline is a gross understatement. The administration and this Democrat majority must do better.

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