Jerry Lewis: “I rise with great reluctance to oppose the amendment of my colleague from Indiana. I oppose it largely for two reasons.…”

“I rise with great reluctance to oppose the amendment of my colleague from Indiana. I oppose it largely for two reasons. First, this is an urgent bill designed to provide assistance to the victims of the disaster in southern California. To suggest that, when we face such a disaster, one can quickly with much policy forethought effectively offset a sizable number of dollars without having the appropriate hearings, the analysis by the various committees involved, and time to deliberate and perfect, is a bewildering thought to me. To just arbitrarily suggest that we take $400 million out of CDBG's to our local communities, should give us all pause to reconsider. This could very well lead to cuts that could have a significant impact upon towns that I know nothing about. I would be very, very hesitant to just arbitrarily say $400 million is the appropriate figure. I strongly urge the House to be very careful about an amendment like this.”