David Price: “Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the disaster relief and summer jobs supplemental appropriations bill, which includes…”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the disaster relief and summer jobs supplemental appropriations bill, which includes $5.1 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund. The administration has requested this amount in emergency funding to pay for recovery from catastrophic events and to be able to respond to disasters and emergencies through the balance of the fiscal year. This bill is about making sure that FEMA keeps its promises to devastated communities that are getting back on their feet as well as to those who may face disasters in the months to come. In addition to ongoing recovery costs associated with an active hurricane season and extraordinary flooding in the Midwest in 2008, FEMA is still required to pay for some very expensive outstanding costs related to Katrina, such as the devastated Louisiana schools and Charity Hospital. Because we are still dealing with these monumental recovery efforts, the Disaster Relief Fund is being depleted at a rate of nearly $500 million per month this fiscal year. This has nearly doubled the noncatastrophic 5-year average that FEMA bases its estimates on. At that rate, OMB projects FEMA will be completely out of disaster relief funds by the end of March.”