Mary Landrieu

Do you have any estimates of what it costs to put projects like that on hold?

But after the fiscal year, no. We would have to go back into immediate needs funding to be able to continue providing individual assistance.

Okay, you understand that in the continuing resolution that we are operating on, there is only $2.6 billion for disasters for 2012? Is that number sufficient, to your understanding to date?

Is there any chance that the number that we are working on now will go down?

When do you think those estimates will come in?

I just want, again for the record, to be very clear to start with the number that you just gave, Administrator, that it was $7.3 billion that FEMA used last fiscal year; is that correct?

Okay, but you just testified that you need at least $2 billion----

Are there any other questions before we close this panel out?

Okay, thank you for correcting that.

I wish to speak for up to 15 minutes, and I may extend my time as the debate goes. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

It is a shame and a tragedy, and I personally am going to get involved to help you with your situation and any others similarly situated.

Mr. Rentrop, we are so sorry for what has happened here, and Senator Snowe and I are going to do everything we can to not only fix your situation as quickly as we can do but to make sure this never happens again to legitimate contractors…

I think this Committee should look very, very, very carefully at this.

I think we are on the road to getting that fixed.

I think that is very, very important because in this climate of slashing budgets and saying there is a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse everywhere, which there is in some pockets, but you have got to be careful identifying it or you end up…

I know we are very focused, as we should be, on the disasters that are occurring as we speak, but the lessons learned and the applications of what we forced or tried to do after Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Coast can be very, very…

The other problem with budgeting, Senator Brown, if I might say, in advance is sometimes events happen that no matter how well you planned just absolutely blow the roof off of any estimates and that is what happened in Katrina.

I have been resistant to budget any more out of Homeland Security because if I do that, it takes away grants from your states that help you to protect yourself against future disasters.

We need to plan. We need to do it better.

I am looking forward to cosponsoring a bill this week with Senator Snowe requiring the President's budget to include at a minimum a request for disaster funding based on the 10-year average on spending on disasters.

I am pleased to support the nominations of both Mr. McConnell and Ms. Wodder.

I think you are exactly the right Secretary for the challenges before this Nation.

We should not be eliminating them.

This subcommittee rallied in a bipartisan way because that program was zeroed out.

Are you committed to increasing 5 percent so that at least Teach for America has an opportunity to compete for decent enough money to get them back on track?