Jerry Lewis: “Mr. Chairman, I rise with a good deal of sympathy for the amendment presented by my colleague, the gentleman from…”

“Mr. Chairman, I rise with a good deal of sympathy for the amendment presented by my colleague, the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Obey]. But I would suggest to him that there are a number of questions that I still have in my head that cause me to resist this amendment. I can remember our discussions time and time again about horrendous costs that the country is facing relative to disaster circumstances. In the time I have been chairman of this committee, FEMA has received some $10 billion. One of the areas that is difficult, that we do not have a handle on, does deal with wind damage. One way or another we have to try to do the right things. None of these things seems to be perfect, but we have to try to do the right thing in terms of wind mitigation. Mr. Chairman, as I look at the gentleman's amendment, I know his purpose is directed at this wind simulation center, but really he just affects one of the accounts within FEMA by reducing that, but that does not prevent them from going forward with the wind tunnel.”