Date: 2010-12-21
Speaker: MARIO DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This bill reauthorizes the predisaster mitigation program for the next 3 years. as the gentlewoman from Washington. D.C.. has just stated. Im pleased to be a cosponsor of this legislation. along with Chairman OBERSTAR. Ranking Member MICA. and Chairwoman NORTON. who is on the committee that I am the ranking member of. The predisaster mitigation program was created by the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 as a pilot program to study the effects and the effectiveness of mitigation for those grants given to communities before a disaster may strike. Prior to creation of the predisaster mitigation program. hazard mitigation primarily occurred after disaster through FEMAS Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. We know that every disaster costs us a lot of moneyand. obviously. more than money. In many times. even human life. It damages homes. businesses. and infrastructure. And. again. potentially loss of life. Mitigation measures have been shown. Madam Speaker. to be very effective in mitigating the damage that occurs during a storm. and frankly. also in saving lives. which is. we would all agree. even more important. In fact. the investments that we make in mitigation actually saves taxpayer dollars. I think that deserves being repeated: It actually saves the taxpayer money. Both the CBO. the Congressional Budget Office. and the National Institute of Building Sciences have determined that for every dollar invested in mitigation. $3 are actually saved in actual future losses. In addition. H.R. 1746. as amended. includes a clear prohibition on earmarks. Now. the bottom line is. mitigation works. Its been proven to work. It saves lives. it limits future damages. and reduces Federal disaster costs. In other words. it saves the taxpayer money. The predisaster mitigation program is an effective program that advances these goals that I just mentioned. So I support the passage of this legislation. and I urge my colleagues to do the same. Madam Speaker. I would at this time. since I dont believe there are any further speakers. just mention two things. First. I want to once again thank Chairwoman NORTON. It has been a privilege. an honor and a pleasure to be her ranking member. She has really. really been a great champion on issues of disaster mitigation. While she represents Washington. DC. except for that big snowstorm. it is an area you would hope would have no hurricanes or earthquakes. She has been a huge champion. She has visited areas. She has gone down to south Florida and has visited the hurricane center and has held hearings down there. So she has been a great champion. I would just tell you. on a personal note. that she has been wonderful to work with. I didnt know we were going to be on the floor together again. Madam Speaker. but as I said the last time. I will no longer be on the T&I Committee. I will now go to the Appropriations Committee. I would be remiss if I didnt mention. though. what a privilege it has been to work with my chairwoman. Also. one of the true gentlemen in this process and one of the people I have grown to respect and admire is the chairman of the full committee.