Date: 2013-01-14
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

I believe that we should have done this last week. But I know that my colleagues will be reading the Constitution tomorrow. so let me read from article I. section 8: The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes. duties. imposts and excises. to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. My God. my God. can we provide for the general welfare of those Hurricane Sandy survivors who are not victims but have lost loved ones and. in fact. are the second mostcostly hurricane in Americas history. Katrina. Sandy. and Hurricane Ike. I speak from what I know. I beg of this Congress to vote for the New Jersey amendment for $33 billion and. as well. the others. and let us be able to look back on their needs and go back to the table to help them if they are in need. The Constitution asks us to do that. Madam Speaker. I rise today to support H.R. 219. "the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013." this bill is designed to speed up disaster relief granted through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) it amends Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to Expedite hazard mitigation projects by streamlining the environmental review and requires the President to establish an expedited review for environmental and historic requirements for rebuilding damage infrastructure. Further. the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act will give local governments greater flexibility to consolidate or rebuild facilities by allowing FEMA to issue fixed price grants on the basis of damaged estimates instead of a traditional entitlement guarantee to cover all cost increases over time. Last month. the Administration requested $60.4 billion in federal aid to provide financial assistance to homeowners and businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy. In the 112th Congress. on December 28. 2012. the Senate passed a $61 billion comprehensive aid package for the victims and communities by a vote of 6232. I am pleased that this body was able to pass H.R. 41. $9.7 billion bill which temporarily increased the borrowing authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for carrying out the National Flood Insurance Program. Now that the President has signed H.R. 41. victims of Superstorm Sandy are finally able to receive some muchneeded relief from the federal government. However. the relief that H.R. 41 granted was limited in scope and insufficient to address the entirety of the situation faced by residents of the affected areas. The House must finish the job. Again the measure before us today does not appropriate additional funds. but it does attempt to address the backlog. This bill would: Cut debris removal costs dramatically by utilizing reforms from a successful 2006 Debris Removal Pilot program that enable operations to be conducted in a more costeffective manner and incentivize the completion of projects ontime and under budget. Save money. as demonstrated by a 2006 pilot program. by authorizing FEMA to make limited repairs to existing housing structures when those repairs cost less than a lease payment for traditional FEMA trailers. Adjudicate claim disputes quicker and avoid cost overruns. the bill establishes a limited dispute resolution pilot. Require FEMA to review and update factors for individual assistance disaster declarations to make them less subjective. Provides for disaster declarations for tribal communities. Direct FEMA to submit recommendations to Congress for the development of national strategy to reduce future costs. loss of life. and injuries associated with extreme disaster events. Since this historic storm devastated the east coast in late October. the people impacted by the storm. particularly those in the TriState area of New Jersey. New York. and Connecticut. have been waiting patiently for the federal government to act as they continue to engage in efforts to rebuild their communities. However. the time for patience has long since expired. and these Americans can no longer wait for Congress to act to provide comprehensive relief. For families without a home. and for businesses without a storefront or customers. this situation has been an ongoing nightmare. These families and businesses have been waiting for Congress to join them in their struggle to pick up the pieces and put their communities back together. The proposal before us is our opportunity to step up and help to restore these suffering communities. that is the role of the federal government. Every state in this country is. at any given moment in time. at risk for experiencing a devastating and costly natural or manmade disaster. When state and local governments face overwhelming challenges that are too big and too expensive to ever hope to resolve in isolation. the federal government should be there to quickly assist them in their recovery. That is what makes us strong as a nation. that we can come together when necessary to prevent the pieces of our country from crumbling individually.