On the recordDecember 28, 2012
first, I wish to say I appreciate the true concern my colleague from Indiana and those who have put this amendment together have shown. He is not just giving us the back of his hand or saying: You do not need it or wait 3 months or whatever. Unfortunately, though, it would just stop dead in its tracks the recovery efforts so desperately needed. You cannot plan a recovery on a 3-month basis. The bottom line is, if you want to build a tunnel, you cannot say: I will build one-fifth of the tunnel now, and we will see if there is more money later. If you need to build a berm of 6 feet, you cannot say: We will build it 2 feet and then see if we can build another 4 feet later. You just cannot do that. Because of the way we all know FEMA and these other agencies work, you have to spend the money first and then they reimburse you. If they are not sure there is going to be money at the end of the road--no more after March 31; maybe Congress will, maybe Congress will not--you are going to get a lot of homeowners, small businesses, and governments not going ahead with the desperate repairs that we in New York need and the whole national economy--since we are about 10 percent of the national economy--needs. I strongly urge the amendment--good intentioned, though, as it is--be defeated.
