Neal Smith: “I support this bill wholeheartedly. The purpose of government is to help so that people, combined through the instrument…”

“I support this bill wholeheartedly. The purpose of government is to help so that people, combined through the instrument of government, can do what individuals cannot do. This emergency supplemental bill is as good an example of the reason and the purpose of government as anything we could have. Government is for the purpose of permitting people to combine together under a rule of law, not only to protect ourselves from threats from abroad, but also to help people from serious threats to their well being at home. Now we have a debate about triggering the emergency designation in this bill. It said we should have reserves, instead of having a special emergency designation. I want to point out that we had a reserve for SBA disaster loans. From 1977 to 1990, we had reserves for all the Federal loan accounts in the form of revolving loan funds. Ninety-six percent of the loans made from SBA's Disaster Loan Fund were being repaid. Those repayments went back into the SBA Disaster Loan revolving fund. However, under the Budget Act of 1990, that revolving loan fund was eliminated.”