Political Quotes

“I would just take a minute to say that this is an important bill. The President initially requested about $2 billion for disaster relief for people devastated in California and various other States, and then the incredible flooding of the Dakotas and Minnesota occurred in the interim. All of these people, not only in those States I have mentioned, but all told in some 35 States, have suffered the ill effects of terrible weather and the tremendous adversity of nature. Unfortunately, in recent years, the American taxpayer has become the insurer of last resort. So it seems that year after year we have to come up with these supplemental appropriations bills to deal with this devastation. We are happy to do that. We want to make sure that we try to repair some of the damage. There is no way on God's green Earth we will be able to repair all of the damage but, at the same time, we owe the taxpayer the responsibility to make sure that the money is spent wisely; that it is not wasted; that it is simply not just thrown at the problem. In addition to the disaster relief, President Clinton, of course, has detailed troops to Bosnia and to Haiti and other places throughout the world and those expeditions have exceeded their budget and have exceeded the money previously appropriated to the Defense Department, and so we have to pay for those ventures.”