Cord Byrd: “I fully support the statement made by the chairman of the committee. If I had my way about it, I would change this…”

“I fully support the statement made by the chairman of the committee. If I had my way about it, I would change this conference report in a few particulars, at least. I am only one. We have been down this road, now, twice. We spent many hours, several days, on the first conference report. Mr. President, on May 25 of this year, the Senate adopted the conference report to H.R. 1158, the FEMA supplemental appropriation and rescission bill by a vote of 61 to 38. At that time, I spoke in support of the conference agreement even though it did not contain all of the provisions that were included in the Senate bill. In particular, a number of Members on this side of the aisle felt that the conference agreement did not include a sufficient number of the programs that were funded under the Daschle-Dole joint leadership amendment. Nevertheless, I urged the President to sign the conference report on H.R. 1158 because it was a result of long and difficult negotiations with the other body and because it contained many important items, including an appropriation of $6.7 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] disaster relief effort.”