Barney Frank: “I want to say, as I said before, we are running here a national program. And if it becomes 50 separate State programs or…”

“I want to say, as I said before, we are running here a national program. And if it becomes 50 separate State programs or a couple of thousand separate county programs, you lose the insurance principle. And it is also the case, and I understand that there are programs into which Massachusetts pays more than it gets back. Under Medicaid, we get a lower percentage of reimbursement than other States do. We have public transportation and we benefit. But we don't have much that is subsidized agriculturally. I think the notion that every State can have a balance sheet destroys, the Articles of Confederation embody that principle, but not the Constitution. You cannot run a national program based on need, based on response to situations on a nationwide basis if you have this kind of a balance thing. So I agree, we should be pushing FEMA to do the right thing; but if we begin to pick and choose based on one State, you know, we will have a situation where every State will be looking to make money and none will be paying in, and pretty soon there won't be anything left.”