Temporary Increase in Borrowing Authority for National Flood Insurance Program

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, today we're doing the important thing, the critical thing. I wish today that this had been what we'd voted on in the previous session, to recharge the flood insurance that needs to be there so that men and women in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and the like will not question whether or not their country can provide them with the resources that are expected to be there in the time of a natural disaster like that.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to say that January 15 is critical; and as the previous speaker said, we do need to prenegotiate with the Senate. We need to get the pork out. None of that pork we're talking about is in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut. In fact, it's as far away as Alaska. The pork that we will not vote on today is, in fact, the pork that was in this bill from the Senate. My hope is that we will see on January 15 a negotiated and clean bill that only deals with the men and women and families on the eastern seaboard that need to be taken care of.

I think that it's the President's responsibility and our responsibility and the Senate's responsibility when we do emergency supplementals to make them only about the emergency. I believe today we are buying a little bit of time; but I think for people on the eastern seaboard who are suffering, that time is running out and all of our leaders need to make sure that the next vote, the vote on January 15, as the previous speaker said, will be a vote that will be prenegotiated, that will run through the Senate, and will deal only with the people suffering on the eastern seaboard.

Mr. KING of New York. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ISSA. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. KING of New York. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I think it's important to point out that the House bill never contained any of those extraneous provisions. When the bill came over here, our leadership agreed that all that was taken out so that there was nothing about any other State other than those directly affected by Sandy.

Mr. ISSA. I reclaim my time to say the gentleman is absolutely right.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. GARRETT. I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from California.

Mr. ISSA. Had we been able to pass what we intended to be the House bill and send it back to the Senate and the Senate would have then taken that up, although they had left town, we could have done this in the previous Congress.

The gentleman from New York has been a champion to make sure that's clearly understood. I want to be an equal champion that, in fact, whether it's Louisiana or California, when the next earthquake occurs or now our friends and colleagues from the eastern seaboard actually as far south as where we stand, we do need to make sure--we owe them that. And I want to thank the gentleman from New York for, in fact, working so hard to make sure that we do get to a clean bill.

With that, I thank the gentleman.

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