Hal Rogers: “I rise in opposition. The amendment would increase funding for the emergency management performance grants by $40…”

“I rise in opposition. The amendment would increase funding for the emergency management performance grants by $40 million and $10.3 million for SAFECOM, and the offset would be, guess what, the poor old Under Secretary for Management. We have tried to dip into that well today 15 times, and every time we have said no because it would stop the Department's operations. The committee already has in the bill $186 million for these grants. That is $16 million more than the President asked of us, and it is $2.8 million more than what we have in it right now. So, you know, we have done well by this grant program. I cannot imagine somebody complaining about it. Then you are taking the money out of the Under Secretary for Management, and that would either zero out or substantially decrease funding for absolutely critical programs that are designed to bring these 22 agencies into a single program, and so I would strongly oppose this amendment.”