On the recordJune 7, 2012
I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, my home State is still recovering from billions of dollars in damage after the floods of 2008, which were the worst disaster in our State's history and one of the worst disasters in our Nation's history. Unfortunately, today we have communities that have been awarded funds through the FEMA Public Assistance program that are afraid that over a year after the funds were awarded to replace buildings, and local funds have been spent, FEMA may be required to take back that funding at no fault of the community. That's what those folks are afraid of. We shouldn't leave our local communities holding the bag on a failed project, destroyed and decaying buildings, and a loss of local taxpayer funds. I don't believe that FEMA should come into one of our communities and take back disaster recovery funding over a year after it's already been awarded and after our communities have already spent a large amount of their taxpayers' money with the understanding that the project was moving forward. Communities recovering from disasters right now, as I know the chairman's has, are also struggling in the worst recession since the Great Depression. The last thing they need is to have even more uncertainty thrown at them by losing disaster recovery assistance. Disaster recovery must be a collaboration.…
