George Miller: “I believe we should privatize the disaster system. We cannot have the 'Disaster of the Month' here draining the…”

“I believe we should privatize the disaster system. We cannot have the 'Disaster of the Month' here draining the Treasury. And I would have hoped that we would have done that with this California aid bill. The gentleman from Illinois, Congressman Durbin, had a proposal in to do that and then we would have a rainy day fund and an earthquake fund or hurricane fund so that we would build that money up so that we could pay it out. But that was not done, so now as we are halfway through taking care of people who were devastated in the earthquake, people who still cannot enter their houses or businesses or the universities because of the earthquake damage, all of a sudden we have decided it is no longer a national emergency and it is going to have to be paid for and the way to pay for it is to cut summer jobs for children, to cut drug-free schools and to cut the weatherization program to pay for the California aid. And at the same time, the California Governor wants to give the same amount of money back to the taxpayers of California for a tax cut.”