On the recordMay 8, 1997
I do not agree on principle that emergency assistance to provide relief to those affected by natural disasters should have to be offset in any way. It was for this reason that at the budget summit in 1990, I strongly recommended, and that Act included, a section specifically exempting emergencies from the need for offsets. That section of the Act has worked very well and has not been abused, in my judgment, since its enactment. The suffering of hundreds of thousands of people in hundreds of communities throughout the Nation are awaiting the financial resources that will be made available to them upon the enactment of this legislation. We should provide that relief to them pursuant to the emergency section of the Budget Enforcement Act and thereby not require offsets of this emergency spending.
Source
govinfo.gov
