To temporarily increase the borrowing authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for carrying out the National Flood Insurance Program.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 219) to improve and streamline disaster assistance for Hurricane Sandy, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 219.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to thank Chairman Shuster of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for his leadership on this legislation. His knowledge and years of experience on these issues have been critical to crafting this legislation and bringing it before the House for consideration today. I also want to thank Ranking Member Norton, Ranking Member Rahall, and former Chairman Mica for all of their work and support for these reforms.

H.R. 219, the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013, will save money and help devastated communities rebuild much faster than under current programs. However, in order to help those communities impacted by Sandy, the FEMA Administrator has made it very clear that these reforms must be signed into law by March 1. Many of these reforms were already passed by the House in September as part of H.R. 2903. There is also widespread and bipartisan support for these reforms in the Senate. In addition, this bill has strong support from key stakeholders and experts, representing emergency managers, State and local officials, and tribal communities. We know these reforms work. Chairman Shuster laid the groundwork in 2006 when his post-Katrina reform act authorized FEMA to conduct a number of recovery pilot programs.

The results are very clear.

In each case, costs were dramatically reduced, projects were completed faster, and their process was much more efficient. For example, without making permanent the debris removal pilot program the taxpayer could end up paying six times the cost for debris removal, and it will take much longer. The individuals and households pilot program incorporated in this bill would reduce costs by a similar amount and make temporary housing available faster.

In hearing after hearing before our committee, experts, FEMA, and the Office of the Inspector General have all testified communities will be rebuilt faster and taxpayers will save hundreds of millions of dollars with this bill. We know the current process is broken, and we finally know how to fix it, but we have to change the law by March or it will be too late to apply those lessons to the Sandy recovery. It has been nearly 8 years since Hurricane Katrina, and there are still projects that are unresolved. We don't want to have the same mistakes happen with Hurricane Sandy. These reforms will help address those programs, streamline the process, allow communities to rebuild faster and smarter, and save money.

The provisions of H.R. 219 are proven and commonsense reforms that have bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues to support the passage of

Madam Speaker, I wish to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, the new chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mr. Shuster.

Madam Speaker, I would just remind the gentleman from New Jersey that this bill was passed in September by this House and has been sitting in the Senate since September. Even though the President's own appointee, Director Fugate, has been asking for this bill, it has been sitting. So we're looking forward to a bipartisan solution that gets done before March so we can actually help out the Sandy relief fund.

I would just like to point to a couple quick facts. The New Orleans Youth Study Center project, as an example, as you'll see from this chart, Katrina was in 2005. Here's what the Governor's office has put together. This one project isn't going to be done until 2016. After 182 meetings and 7 years of bureaucratic red tape, this one project won't be done until 2016; and that's if all goes well, that's when Louisiana hopes to finish this. That's 11 years after Hurricane Katrina. The single biggest factor in cost increases is time, and these delays will almost double the project from $15 million to $28 million. FEMA has spent almost $5 million on a temporary facility alone.

There are literally thousands of projects like this across the gulf coast, and there will be thousands more of budget-busting projects in New York and New Jersey if we don't get these reforms signed into law.

At this time, Madam Speaker, I'd like to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Palazzo).

Madam Speaker, the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act will speed up recovery efforts and reduce costs. I want to just touch on one important piece of this legislation. It will allow greater flexibility to reduce rebuilding time and lower costs. This gives the local governments greater flexibility to consolidate or rebuild facilities by allowing FEMA to issue fixed grants on the basis of damage estimates, instead of a traditional reimbursement program.

Why that's important--in my area, in the Central Valley of California, we had huge flooding; and as any emergency, you're not prepared. You didn't anticipate it, especially where we have such a huge shortage of water in the Central Valley.

When the flooding hit, there was a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding among local, State and Federal Government, who pays for what, a lot of delays and waiting. With these cost estimates up front, we basically just say spend the money on those estimates, and the FEMA money is there immediately.

So we not only help to reduce costs; but most importantly, when you've got a devastated community, what you need is speed of recovery.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, just in closing, I want to talk about one final example, and it deals with the debris removal. Our bill dealing with debris removal will change, literally saving hundreds of millions of dollars.

Without the change in law, FEMA was able to get a 30-day pilot program. This is with Sandy, had a 30-day pilot program, where in New Jersey, utilizing the pilot program, they removed debris for $19 per cubic yard. In Long Island, using the Army Corps of Engineers, it was $129 per yard. That is a huge significant savings, one that, in the debris removal part of this, the 30-day pilot, it's time for it to move along and become part of law. We need to do this now.

This bill has broad support from a number of different areas, including the National League of Cities, the United States Conference of Mayors, the Association of State Floodplain Managers, the International Association of Emergency Managers, the Disaster Recovery Contractors Association, the National Association of Counties, the United South and Eastern Tribes Incorporation, just to name a few.

With that, Madam Speaker, I would ask for a favorable vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to thank Mr. Shuster, Mr. Rahall, and my good friend Mr. Denham for their very important work to bring this matter to the floor so soon after the recess. I'm sure everyone appreciates it, and I certainly associate myself with the remarks of Mr. Denham. He and I worked on the very passages he quoted.

I, therefore, rise in support of H.R. 219, the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013. This bipartisan measure consists of reforms to expedite the recovery process for those communities that received disaster declarations for

Hurricane Sandy as well as for future Presidentially declared disasters. I do believe this may be the first time that some of these reforms with any significant event have been tested because many of the provisions included in the bill are matters that we have long worked for and that were incorporated into similar legislation in past Congresses. Several of the provisions will streamline the rebuilding process to provide jobs in the region and to achieve full recovery. The measure is also supported by the International Association of Emergency Managers, the Association of State Floodplain Managers, the National League of Cities, and more.

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Congress enacted two pilot programs: one for debris removal and another allowing FEMA to make limited repairs instead of lease payments to provide housing when cheaper than using temporary trailers. Both pilot programs were successful and resulted in savings for the Federal Government. Local governments and emergency management professionals have discussed the need to make the debris removal program permanent in order to expedite debris recovery. The housing program will be especially useful in large urban areas, such as in New York City, where temporary trailers simply are not an option. This bill would codify both expired pilot programs, providing additional tools for FEMA to help communities recover.

This measure would also authorize FEMA to use fixed grants based on cost estimates at the request of the local community--another favorite we have been pressing for years. Although Congress authorized FEMA to use cost estimating 12 years ago, which is the way the insurance industry does it, for example, FEMA has not done so. The new authorization includes incentives for the local communities to use cost estimating by allowing them to rebuild according to today's needs and by eliminating long delays in the recovery process caused by cost disputes. Moreover, this provision explicitly authorizes FEMA and the applicant to mutually agree on a professionally licensed expert to prepare a cost estimate to be relied upon by FEMA instead of using an adversarial process in which both hire their own cost estimators, paid for by the Federal Government, and then get into a dispute as to which one is the best to use. This process alone will eliminate one of the most inefficient uses of Federal funds I have ever heard of in which FEMA pays for the State's experts to submit competing estimates of the costs of repair to the government's experts. No more of that. No more waste from that.

Finally, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held an oversight hearing last month on the preparedness, response to, and recovery from Hurricane Sandy. At that hearing, I questioned FEMA Administrator Fugate about the need to expedite the dispute resolution process. I am pleased to state that this bill includes a 3-year dispute resolution pilot program for FEMA to draft procedures in order to expedite project closure and to decrease recovery costs caused by project delays.

Madam Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

First, let me say I appreciate the gentleman's remarks and comparing what we are going through here to what we all went through. He and I were both on the committee after Hurricane Katrina. I can tell you, we never expected to see anything like it, particularly in this part of the country. I certainly agree that this is the time to finally get these reforms done. This is the time to get it done, when we've got a huge Katrina-like event and we've got everybody's attention and we're going to save millions upon millions of dollars. I thank the gentleman.

I'm pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I just want to say that I'm pleased to see that the gentleman from Mississippi has done what we have always done when any part of our country faced a disaster, we all closed in, and we really closed in like nothing you've ever seen with Mississippi and Louisiana, and nobody from the east coast rose to have any problem with moving in.

The reforms this bill now contains, the reforms of Chairman Denham and me, and before Chairman Denham came to the Congress, reforms that had been in our bill for some time; and it is true that these have not come out, and we have got a lever now to get them out. And when we get them out, they're going to help Mississippi and Louisiana, and they have more of this than the east coast has ever had. And it's going to help all the unforeseen places that now we are seeing experience precisely what only certain parts of the country before had had to endure.

I'm pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

I yield the gentlewoman 30 more seconds.

I want to agree with the chairman of the subcommittee about cost estimates and how it saves money and how it is one of the many lessons learned that I think will be acted out in this bill.

Madam Speaker, this bill is a downpayment. We all understand this. We understand that the devastation done in four States, I believe it is, was of a magnitude of what we experienced for the first time at the gulf coast.

We are going to come around, and we're going to do what we're supposed to do at times like this. But when we have a major event like this, it does not pay to simply go along doing things the way we have always done them.

This is when things get corrected. This bill is a good step toward correcting what our committee and our subcommittee have tried to do for years now. I appreciate all the effort of my friends and colleagues on the other side and, of course, Mr. Rahall and our friends who have also, in a bipartisan fashion, pushed for these changes and now have an opportunity to see how they work in a laboratory that is a very big one indeed, one far larger than we expected, but one from which we will also learn what is yet still to be learned about these major disasters.

Madam Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I am pleased to yield back the remainder of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I'm pleased that today on this floor, though it may be a little late, that we'll finally act on a piece of legislation that's vital to the Superstorm Sandy disaster relief legislation to increase the borrowing authority by FEMA on behalf of the National Flood Insurance Program.

By increasing financing by $9.7 billion, this bill will enable the provisions of a central relief of 120,000 flood victims who have waited for far too long for the payment on the claims.

I support today's bill as an important step for recovery from Superstorm Sandy. When taken as a whole, the House's actions today, I believe, still are slow--67, 68 days have gone by--and I know we've got some commitments, but we're moving forward, and I'm hopeful that we will get the full entitlement that the individuals from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut vitally need. Some of the programs, of course, that need essential funding include the Army Corps of Engineers, who worked to protect New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut shorelines in coastal communities, and the Small Business Administration so they can provide loans to help small businesses.

But let me, before I yield back my time, take some special time to thank Mr. Garrett. I want to thank every member of the New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey delegation for working collectively together to try to make sure that our people--because this is an issue that affects the American people--that our people receive the kind of aid that they need. I particularly want to say to my friends Mr. Grimm and Mr. King of New York, and I've seen several times that they've sat and worked together collectively with our Governor, whom I also want to give a special thank-you to, Governor Mario Cuomo, and Governor Chris Christie from New Jersey, for working cooperatively, not as a Democrat or a Republican, but working as an elected official to come together to the aid of people who need aid, aid from a terrible storm.

And so I'm hopeful as we move forward--we do the $9 billion today, and do what we need to do by January 15--that we get certain things done and finally the people of this region receive the kind of aid that they need.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from New York, Mrs. Carolyn Maloney.

Madam Speaker, I'd like to now yield 1 minute to a young man who has been a leader in this from New Jersey, the Honorable Frank Pallone.

Madam Speaker, I apparently missed it earlier; I want to thank Mr. Garrett especially for his request earlier to make sure that we included on this bill every Member from the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut delegations as sponsors of this bill, and every member of the committee. I want to thank the ranking member, Ms. Waters, for agreeing to be an original cosponsor on this bill. It shows that we're all working at this together. And I want to thank Mr. Garrett for his cooperation in allowing everybody from this delegation, both Democrats and Republicans, to be a part of this bill.

Now I'd like to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished whip of the Democratic Conference, the individual who walked with me in Breezy Point and up and down Rockaway Beach, the Honorable Steny Hoyer.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the ranking member and the fighter for small businesses throughout America, the honorable Nydia Velazquez.

(Ms. VELAZQUEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

I yield the gentlewoman an additional 20 seconds.

I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished ranking member from the Appropriations Committee and a hard fighter, the one and only Nita Lowey.

At this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Bill Pascrell.

At this time, I yield 1 minute to the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Honorable Eliot Engel from the great State of New York.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).

(Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Chair, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

(Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York on the Judiciary Committee, the Honorable Jerry Nadler.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey, the Honorable Mr. Sires.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney, for his initial floor debate.

Madam Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

I yield 30 seconds to the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

I have one additional speaker.

I yield 1 minute to the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, a fighter for the people, the gentlelady from the great State of California, the Honorable Maxine Waters.

I yield myself the remaining time.

It's 70 days. It is unprecedented that this region has not been treated like the other regions when they were in need of help. It's 70 days. Now we are going with this bill today, and what we are receiving is a promissory note, a promissory note that on January 15 we will be able to say to the people from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who were victimized by this storm that their United States Congress-- their House of Representatives--is going to be by their side.

So we have a promissory note. I will be concerned until we have the votes that are necessary for the people of this region and until the promissory note has been put into the bank and stamped with sufficient funds. The people have been suffering. They have suffered long enough. They need to hear from their government that their government is with them just as it has been with everybody else in this country.

I, for one, wherever the disaster may be, want to say that we've got the support. To this Congress, let's make sure we put forward this promissory note because I don't think a Democrat or a Republican can go back home after January 15 and say that the promissory check has bounced. We have to come back collectively and say to the people who are suffering that they, in fact, have been helped by their government, by their people.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding me this time.

In the days following Superstorm Sandy, many of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle reached out to me, and I think they did the same to others throughout the quad-State region, expressing their sympathies and their concern. While they weren't able to see firsthand the devastation, everyone had a sense, I think, of that devastation by the footage they all saw on television and over the Internet. It was pretty powerful in itself.

Everyone, I think, was astonished at the magnitude. We're not used to having such disasters in New York City; and everyone was shocked to see the extent of the damage, homes literally wiped away, businesses destroyed, flood waters consuming people's living rooms and completely overturning their lives. And the damage wasn't just in one city or one town or, for that matter, one State. From Breezy Point, Queens, to Edgewater in my district in the Bronx, from Manhattan to Brooklyn to Staten Island to Westchester to Long Island, from the coasts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, all of the way over to Connecticut, so many people's lives were wrecked by this powerful storm.

While words are kind and they are very much appreciated, action behind those words is even more appreciated. Today, finally, I believe we'll have the opportunity to see action. Seventy-nine days later, and far too much politics in between, this Congress is doing what the people of these communities need and what the American people demand-- taking action.

I'm thankful to this Congress. I'm thankful that it's finally taking action to help the people of my district and the millions of other people hit hard by this enormous storm. I want to thank all of my colleagues from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania for our shared commitment to getting this done and never letting partisanship surrounding this debate divide us. I want to say a special thanks to Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and Ranking Member Nita Lowey, along with their staffs, who have driven this process from day one. I want to thank you both.

This bill will provide direct assistance to communities devastated by Superstorm Sandy. It will help restore and replace damaged or destroyed infrastructure, and it'll put in place cost-saving measures to prevent further damage when--when, and not if--future storms occur.

I would just urge any of my colleagues, Democrat or Republican, who

are considering voting against either the Frelinghuysen amendment or the overall bill to just for a moment put yourself in one of your colleague's shoes. I don't wish Superstorm Sandy or anything like it on any of my colleagues anywhere in the United States; but the one thing you need to know is that if this happens that your country will be there for you. There's the physical damage, but also the mental damage that people are experiencing because they think the country has forgotten them. Don't forget these people. Do the right thing. Vote for this bill.

In the days after Hurricane Sandy, I was moved by the words of sympathy and concern I received from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

While many were not able to see the destruction firsthand, everyone could see the devastating images and footage on TV, in newspapers, and over the Internet.

Everyone was astonished by the magnitude of the damage.

Everyone was shocked to see the extensive damage to--homes wiped away, businesses destroyed, flood waters consuming people's living rooms, and lives completely overturned.

And the damage wasn't just in one town or one state. From Breezy Point, Queens to Edgewater in the Bronx; from Manhattan, Brooklyn to Staten Island, Westchester to Long Island; from the coasts of New Jersey to Connecticut; so many people's lives were wrecked by this powerful storm.

While kind words are one thing, actions backing up those words are another.

And today, finally, we have the opportunity to act.

79 days later, and after far too much politics, Congress is doing what the people of these communities need--and what the American people demand: taking action.

I am thankful this Congress is finally taking action to help the people of my district and all the millions of people hit hard by this hurricane.

I want to thank all of my colleagues from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania for our shared commitment to getting this done and never letting partisanship surrounding this debate divide us. A special thanks to Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and Ranking Member Nita Lowey, along with their staff, who have driven this process from Day One.

This bill will provide direct assistance to the communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy. It will help restore and replace damaged or destroyed infrastructure; and it will put in place cost-saving measures to prevent further damage when, not if, future storms occur.

This is a good bill, and it deserves full bipartisan support of the entire House.

I would urge any Democrat or Republican who is thinking about voting against any portion of this aid package to reconsider. For a moment, please put yourself in our shoes--the shoes of every family, every American who lost or suffered as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

I do not wish what happened in my State on anyone, but the reality is the devastation that occurred in my backyard, throughout my district, across my State and to my constituents could happen anywhere at any time. If it does, you will want us, as a Congress, to stand together, to put aside politics and help your constituents, hard-working Americans, get back on their feet.

Today, let's stand with our fellow Americans who are rebuilding by voting for the underlying bill and the Frelinghuysen amendment. Together, the passage of these two measures will ensure the U.S. Congress is providing real help--and not just lip service--to all those hurt by this devastating hurricane.

I thank the gentleman very much, and I thank the proponent of this legislation. It is obviously needed.

I come from the gulf region. We lost thousands and thousands and thousands from hurricanes. Hurricane Ike saw this Congress give us $3 billion. I stand here today to remind you that a police officer died, a 13-year-old died from debris falling on her, and a mother saw her two children drawn from her hands and drowned in Hurricane Sandy. It is long overdue.

I stand here as someone who has been a beneficiary, who has cried with those

who have lost. I demand that this money be passed today, but more importantly, I demand that we pass the total amount of money right now, today. Let's help the American people. Let's help those impacted by Sandy. Let's help my fellow Americans.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to support H.R. 41, ``To Temporarily Increase The Borrowing Authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Carrying Out National Flood Insurance Program.''

I urge this new 113th Congress to start the New Year off right by acting swiftly in support of legislation to fund disaster relief assistance for the victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Since this historic storm devastated the east coast in late October, the people impacted by the storm, particularly those in the Tri-State 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.

68 days have passed since the storm surged onto the shores of Atlantic City, New Jersey. It has been a long 67 days for families without a home, and for businesses without a storefront or customers. For 67 days, these neighborhoods have struggled to pick up the pieces and put their communities back together, and Congress must step in-- immediately--to lend a helping hand.

As the representative for the 18th District in Texas, I know the massive and protracted destruction that storms like this can cause both to property and, more importantly, to the lives of citizens who are left to rebuild their lives and restore all that they have lost.

After the initial disaster response and search and rescue phases, we must begin to rebuild, a process that calls for a long-term commitment from officials in state, local, and federal government.

We can all recall Hurricane Ike in 2008, which heavily impacted many constituents in my district. At least 74 people lost their lives in the State of Texas, with 28 in Harris County and 17 in Galveston. Over 200,000 homes in the Houston-Galveston region were left damaged or destroyed as a result of Ike.

Congress appropriated $3 billion to Texas to help finance the infrastructure and housing recovery, which included individual and household assistance, disaster unemployment assistance, public assistance grants to state and local government and nonprofit organizations to pay for debris removal, emergency protective measures and road repairs, and low-interest disaster loans provided by the Small Business Administration.

My visits to the affected areas fundamentally evidenced the need for long-term recovery and to get people back on their feet. My constituents and others in the affected areas needed and greatly appreciated the federal assistance they received, and so now that Americans in other parts of our nation need our help, we must move in a bipartisan fashion to provide it.

As a nation, we continue to mourn the loss of at least 125 people in the United States and a total of 253 people due to Superstorm Sandy (60 in New York, 48 New York City; 34 in New Jersey; 16 in Pennsylvania, 7 in West Virginia).

As devastating as Hurricane Ike was, the damage to property it caused (an estimated $29.5 billion) the costs associated with Superstorm Sandy are expected to be significantly higher. While we do not yet know the final numbers, the total amount of property damage resulting from Superstorm Sandy exceeds $62 billion. In terms of dollars of property destruction, this ranks Superstorm Sandy second only to Hurricane Katrina ($128 billion, adjusted for inflation)(note: Hurricane Ike ranks 3rd).

Food, shelter and clothing are basic necessities, and right now far too many people are without access to them during these holidays and in brutally cold weather. With more cold weather in sight, things are not going to get any easier for residents of those communities.

Economic conditions in many affected communities are stagnant; stalled because the federal government has yet to provide funding. It took 10 days for Congress to approve roughly $50 billion in aid for Katrina, but Congress has not provided aid for those affected by Sandy for more than two months.

We need to restore a sense of calm and stability in the lives of people affected by Superstorm Sandy. We need to ensure that small businesses in the affected areas are able to rebound as expeditiously as possible so that they can get the local economies moving again.

I am encouraged that relief for Superstorm Sandy has received bipartisan support, but now we must follow through with action. We know that disasters affect all of us at one point or another, and we must come together as one nation to give people access to relief that, realistically, only the federal government can provide. However, this should have been done no less than 5 days after the horrible Hurricane Sandy--now we are only during half way--let's vote today on the full 60 billion dollars in relief today. Let's not watch people died and people are suffering after hurricane! We can not wait until January 15, 2013-- now is the time to help the people suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Madam Chair, there is no doubt that Hurricane Sandy rendered unspeakable damage to lives and property on our East Coast. It truly represents one of the great natural disasters of recent history. For millions of our fellow citizens, the devastation has been unfathomable. We are a compassionate nation, and that is why the House of Representatives is taking up its second Hurricane Sandy relief bill.

Sadly, Hurricane Sandy isn't the only disaster we face as a nation. The tragic reality is that our nation is broke. We have amassed more debt in the last four years than was accumulated from President George Washington through President Bill Clinton. Our spending trajectory is unsustainable by any account. Our swelling $16.4 trillion debt threatens our national security, our economic well-being and our children's very future. If we don't quit spending money we don't have, it is they who will become the next victims--think Greece. It is past time to re-examine the proper role of the federal government in providing disaster relief and how that relief is financed.

In the wake of a tragedy like Hurricane Sandy, all agree, no matter what, that disaster victims must receive basic necessities like food, water, power, medicine and law enforcement. This is undebatable. Yet as we continue to borrow more than 30 cents on the dollar, much of it from the Chinese, can and should the federal government continue to fund the restoration of private homes, businesses and automobiles? When wealthy states like New York and Connecticut spent $4.7 million on streetscapes and $30 million a year in taxpayer funds to rent new office space while state-rented office space stood vacant, can and should the federal government continue to pay to rebuild their infrastructure?

According to a recent report by the Heritage Foundation, the yearly average for disaster declarations has grown from 28 during the Reagan administration to 90 during the Clinton administration, 130 during the George W. Bush administration, and 153 during the Obama administration. This isn't just nature at work. This is a move toward ``nationalizing'' disaster, consequently lowering the threshold of what is considered truly disastrous. This has allowed states and localities to abdicate more and more of their responsibilities to a federal government that owns a printing press for money and has no balanced budget requirements. Also, spending restraint is usually the first thing to go in the heat of a crisis--especially when someone else is picking up the tab.

Case in point: The Sandy relief bill passed by the Democratic- controlled Senate in the 112th Congress--the same Senate that has refused to pass a budget in the last three years--includes $150 million for fisheries as far away as Alaska, $8 million to purchase cars for the Homeland Security and Justice Departments, $58.8 million to replant trees that were damaged on private land, $135 million to improve weather forecasting, and $10.78 billion largely for future construction improvements to public transportation not even related to Hurricane Sandy. In fact, 64 percent of the so-called ``emergency'' funding in this bill will not be spent until 2015 or later. We must always be vigilant to ensure the Obama administration's cynical motto, ``never let a serious crisis go to waste,'' is not allowed to rule the day.

Given our spending-driven debt crisis, changes must be made. Like many members of Congress, when disaster has befallen my district or state, I have worked to help ensure funding was provided through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. However, I have consistently fought for disaster funds to either be in the budget or offset through the rescission of lower-priority spending. A nation on the road to bankruptcy must prioritize its spending. There should be no more ``emergency'' disaster funding without offsetting cuts to lower priority spending.

Next, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) must be functionally and significantly reformed. I have long been critical of this ineffective, inefficient and indisputably costly experiment in government-provided flood insurance. The program operates with non- actuarial rates, encouraging unsustainable development and running up $21 billion in debt with zero hope of repayment. A reauthorization bill passed last year began eliminating outdated subsidies, but Sandy hit before many of these provisions could take effect. Certainly, we have a contractual obligation to pay the NFIP claims of people whose lives were turned upside down by this terrible storm. Yet we also have an obligation to ensure hard-working taxpayers aren't always stuck bailing out failed government programs. The Financial Services Committee, which I chair, will take up legislation to get the government out of the subsidized insurance business and transition us to a private, stable insurance system that can keep the promises it makes without borrowing tens of billions of dollars that we do not have.

America is not just operating on borrowed money--we're operating on borrowed time. Today, it is not a question of if bond markets will turn on us, but when. Unless we change our out-of-control spending ways, we will be the first generation in American history to leave the next generation with less freedom, fewer opportunities and a lower standard of living. We have no greater moral responsibility than to preserve the blessings of liberty and opportunity for future generations. A compassionate nation will not allow a great physical tragedy of today to ever become an even greater fiscal tragedy for our children tomorrow.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding. I congratulate her on assuming the ranking position on the Appropriations Committee and how good it is for our country and for the people affected by Superstorm Sandy that Congresswoman Lowey, now Ranking Member Lowey, is in the position she is to fight for their needs as the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.

Thank you for your leadership, and thank you, Mr. Rogers, for yours as well.

This should be a day that we shed all of our disagreement about political differences and the rest and come together to prayerfully meet the needs of the people of our country.

Whether it's California with the earthquakes, drought, fire, floods, whatever; whether it's Iowa with the floods; Joplin, Missouri, was so affected; of course the challenge of Katrina is emblazoned in our mind; and Hurricane Ike on the heels of that, all across our country we have experienced natural disasters which have had a direct impact on the lives of the American people.

I really do believe that for all of the purposes that people send us to Congress or elect us to public office, whether it is a county executive or a Member of Congress, they expect us to do what is right for them when they are most in need of our help. Many things we can do for ourselves; but some things are just beyond the most determined, resourceful operational person to do, and that is when a natural disaster strikes.

So while we have had our conversations about what should be in the bill and how the bill should be bifurcated, or in this case trifurcated and the rest of it, let us hope when we have this bill today, it will sweep away some of the concerns that people have about whether this assistance is going to actually show up. Seventy-nine days. It's been 79 days since Hurricane Sandy struck the region. It's been a one-two punch. Last year it was Irene that struck much of the same area, and some of the people haven't really fully recovered from that, whether it was a small business owner or homeowner, whatever. And now Sandy hit with just tremendous force.

Others have talked about how do you mitigate for such a thing; how do we address issues that relate to climate change. We'll save that conversation for another day, but recognize it is important in this discussion. How do you mitigate for rebuilding, and that's important in terms of the resources that we're putting to bear on this problem.

So let us today try to extract from the minds and the hearts and souls of the people who are affected any thought that the assistance will not be there. They know there's a lot of making up they have to do to restore the lives and businesses and homes that they had before. They should also know that when we say let us pray for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, we're not just saying a prayer and saying that should be a substitute for us honoring our commitment as a country to our people, but that our prayers are accompanied by our best intentions and our best actions--actions, not just words--for them.

This is one of the longest delays in congressional action in response to a major natural disaster in recent history. For many of us who have seen or can confirm the aftermath of a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, whatever, we know that every single day is too long to wait. Hope can never come fast enough. We cannot let another moment, hour, day go by without giving the biggest possible vote of confidence and hope to the people of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and some, I understand, in Pennsylvania.

So we've had our say. We've made our points known. The justification has been established. The documentation of need is clear. The bipartisan support of the Governor of New Jersey, the Governor of New York, the Governor of Connecticut and others stand ready to implement these resources with the most integrity, the most effectiveness, certainly the most speed. Witness the actions of the mayor of New York. I smile when I say that because mayors just like to get a job done, and Governors, too.

So let us, as these executives and county executives and the rest weigh in, let us do our part to honor the social compact that we have with the American people that the Federal Government will be there in time of natural disasters, that this is an emergency and we recognize it as such, and that we honor the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the people affected by it.

I hope that we can have an overwhelming bipartisan vote, because from a practical standpoint, I think ideally, our sense of idealism, that would be the right thing to do. But as a practical matter, you just never know what Mother Nature may have in store for you in your region, and you would certainly want the embrace of the entire Nation around you and your area for your constituents, for your communities, for our country.

So I urge a very strong bipartisan vote. I thank our colleagues on both sides of the aisle for making this vote today possible. Again, I urge an ``aye'' vote.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Thank you for the opportunity to the chairman and the ranking member.

I want to make it very clear what this amendment is and what this amendment is not.

This amendment is not about delay. This amendment is not about offering a poison pill to the underlying bill. This amendment is not about preventing money from going where it is very desperately needed. I want that to happen. I want these folks who need this money to get it.

I live in an area that is hurricane-prone. I have lived through hurricanes myself. I have lived through floods myself. I have waded through chest-high water full of snakes and human waste to get into my own business. I've been able to take advantage of and to use, to rebuild a small business, a small business disaster loan. I want the money to go where it needs to go.

I'm here for one reason and one reason only today, Madam Chair, and that is to talk about how we can pay for it. That's it.

There was a time when we didn't have to have this conversation. There was a time back during Hurricane Hugo in the late 1980s where we didn't have to talk about how to pay for disaster assistance because the deficit was only $3 trillion. But we've so badly mismanaged our money after that, that by the time we got to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, that we actually did start talking about offsetting and paying for disaster relief and paid for and offset about 40 percent of it.

But we didn't learn. We didn't learn from those mistakes, and we've continued to mismanage our money and to run up our deficit to such a point now where it's $16 trillion today, and it is incumbent upon us to have the discussion about whether or not we have the money to do this and whether or not it's important enough to us to pay for it.

I wish very much that we weren't here today, I wish very much that we could pass this and easily borrow the money without any questions whatsoever, but we've wasted that opportunity. We've mismanaged our own finances to the point where we are now no longer capable of taking care of our own.

Think about that for a second. In the United States of America, we do not have enough money to take care of our own citizens who need it. There's no rainy day fund. There's no savings. What ability we had to borrow money we blew through several years ago with trillion dollar deficits. We don't have enough money saved up to take care of our own people, and that's wrong. It's absolutely wrong.

It is important to me that this money goes to the folks who need it very badly. It's so important to me that I think we should pay for it. I think we should be willing, as a body, to come together and say, Look, there are things that we do not need this year, things that we can do without this year so that the people in New York and New Jersey and Connecticut and the other States who so badly need the money can have it, without us having to go hat-in-hand to other nations of this world and say, Would you please lend us money so that we can take care of our folks who need it so badly?

I hope the amendment passes. I hope the amendment passes so that I can vote for the bill. I want this money to go where it is so desperately needed. But the time has come and gone in this Nation when we can walk in here one day and spend $9 billion or $17 billion or $60 billion and not think about who's paying for it.

This is important money. It's important to you, it's important to me, and it's important to everyone in here. But it's important enough for us to pay for it ourselves. For that reason, I encourage passage of this amendment and passage ultimately of the underlying bill.

With that, I would yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Madam Chair, I would like to yield 45 seconds to the gentlelady from Wyoming (Mrs. Lummis).

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

In closing, Madam Chair, I would just say I don't like across-the-board cuts any more than anybody else does. I offered other alternatives. They were ruled out of order.

But I would put it to my colleagues, just tell me what you're willing to do without. Are we willing and able to do without anything so that these people can get this money this year? That's the question that I want to debate. That's what I'm looking for for my colleagues across the aisle. Are there no savings, are there no reductions that we could put in place this year so these folks get this money?

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.