John Mica: “I thank the gentleman for yielding, and hopefully I can shed a little light on some of the commentary in this debate.…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and hopefully I can shed a little light on some of the commentary in this debate. First of all, the Congress always has and always will respond to disasters, and it is important in the Northeast superstorm that we do so, and we do so responsibly. Anyone who says that we did not act responsibly, the Republicans didn't act or our leadership, is wrong. First of all, let me recount. After the disaster, our committee, Transportation and Infrastructure, which oversees FEMA, we went to New York. We met with officials. We assessed the damage. We came back and we did a hearing and hauled in FEMA personnel. We asked specifically, Is there enough funding available to provide disaster relief? The answer was yes. There was $6 billion in the continuing resolution that Congress had passed and another $1 billion left from the previous year, a total of $7 billion. The question at that time is how much would be spent. They said approximately $3 billion, leaving $4 billion, that would take us--in the disaster relief fund account--till February. We worked with the Senate and others in trying to look at reforms, because the last word from Mayor Bloomberg and the President of the Staten Island borough when I left them was, Can you help me get money from Hurricane Irene, which they still couldn't get reimbursed because of the bureaucracy and red tape from current FEMA policy.…”