Steven Kuykendall: “I wish to raise two issues relating to the disaster assistance bill we are about to consider. I think that the attempt…”

“I wish to raise two issues relating to the disaster assistance bill we are about to consider. I think that the attempt to streamline costs and place higher priority on predisaster mitigation are commendable goals. One of the provisions within the bill would allow the President to contribute funds to governmental entities to repair public facilities, or to private nonprofit facilities that are damaged but only if certain stringent conditions are first met by the owners of these private facilities. (The Transportation Committee amended this provision to essentially eliminate the conditions for the recovery of federal funds by these private nonprofit entities.) My concern is with the amendment. Specifically, the original terms of the Stafford Act already limit the types of nonprofit entities that may receive disaster relief to those providing "essential" services. Again, this is a narrowly defined term. If the amendment is intended to get essential services back on line first, and they worry about who picks up the tab later, it seems to me that the Stafford Act already accomplishes this. Now, we have established essential services and critical services without clearly articulating the distinction. My second concern, however, is far more serious. And that is that there are plenty of private, for-profit entities that provide essential services.”