José E. Serrano: “Mr. Speaker, the issue is one promise on top of another promise. The promise that New York will get half of the dollars…”

“Mr. Speaker, the issue is one promise on top of another promise. The promise that New York will get half of the dollars has been broken already. That is a fact. We are not here to create a problem, but that is a fact. Now we are being told wait until next spring. Next spring we are being told that we will move dollars from other parts of the budget to accommodate New York. That means that next March, April or May we are going to take money out of the agriculture budget, out of the Department of Defense, the State Department, the Department of Justice, the INS to move over to New York? If that is the situation New York finds itself in next spring, I can assure my colleagues, in that scenario we lose that fight. We cannot win a fight where we have to bid with other parts of the Nation for help. America was hit. New York was the scene of that hit. The President came forward, the Congress, the Speaker, the leadership, and said we will take care of New York. It is sad that we are here opposing this rule because it will not allow an amendment that simply says to enforce the law that is already on the books.”