Norman Mineta: “I rise in opposition to the son of Penny-Kasich. As with their original amendment from last November to H.R. 3400…”

“I rise in opposition to the son of Penny-Kasich. As with their original amendment from last November to H.R. 3400, Reinventing Government, this amendment is short-sighted, undermines the emergency process of the Budget Act and includes major policy changes that have not received proper scrutiny. There are a number of reasons to vote against Penny-Kasich. First of all, the Penny-Kasich cuts are too deep and are not equitable. Many of these, such as eliminating $150 million for the dislocated worker assistance program, are ill-conceived and unfair. Second, it represents an impractical attempt at rewriting the Federal budget. We have never before required offsetting cuts when making a supplemental appropriation for a disaster. Never--not for Andrew, not for Iniki, not for the Midwest floods, not for Hugo, not for Loma Prieta--never. To now require that we go through that exercise before providing assistance in this one case would be highly unfair and discriminatory. The budget we adopt after long and tortuous debate is a planning document. Disasters cannot be planned and we know that at the time we adopt the budget. We know that major disasters might happen which would require us, in the urgency of that situation, to spend additional dollars on disaster relief.”