Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2019
Floor Speech
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Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, once again, I rise to support this bill.
On October 10, 2018, my district took a direct hit from Hurricane Michael, one of the most powerful storms to make landfall in U.S. history. It slammed into the Florida Panhandle, drove through much of the Southeast leaving a path of destruction all the way up to Virginia. In Georgia, many producers suffered nearly 100 percent crop losses. Hurricane Michael killed more than 2 million chickens and devastated the Georgia cotton crop, which was nearing peak harvest, and was on track to be the best crop in years. This was the third straight year hurricane damage has caused significant losses to the pecan, peanut, cotton, vegetable, landscaping, and agritourism industries.
The Carolinas also suffered billions in damages a month earlier, from Hurricane Florence. Californians had another devastating fire season, including both the largest and deadliest fires on record. In Hawaii, volcanic activity caused pineapple farmers nearly $30M in damages. Americans in the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa were also hit by violent cyclones.
To meet these needs, this House passed and sent to the Senate an emergency supplemental appropriations bill on January 16, 2019 that allocated $14.17 billion in emergency spending to help families and communities recover from these hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters. For agriculture, it provided $3 billion for crop losses, $150 million for the Rural Community Facilities Program; $480 million for the Emergency Forest Restoration Program; $125 million for the Emergency Watershed Program. It provided $600 million in desperately needed funds to help with Puerto Rico's continued recovery from Hurricane Maria in 2017. Thanks to my fellow Georgian, Austin Scott, and the House leadership on a bi-partisan basis for quickly getting this bill passed.
But as we passed it, the Trump Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a Statement of Administration Policy, saying ``The FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund (DRF)--a significant mechanism through which the Federal Government conducts response efforts for major disasters and emergencies--has sufficient balances to address all immediate threats to life and property resulting from these recent disasters.''
Meaning: no additional funds were required for disasters.
I strongly disagree, farmers and communities in all the impacted States and territories disagree, and even the USDA disagrees.
The emergency supplemental appropriations bill was stalled in the Senate for 4 long months with no action and no relief for Americans who are suffering. When it finally passed in the Senate on May 23, 2019, I returned to Washington during recess to ask for unanimous consent for the House to pass the updated disaster bill. Unfortunately, it was blocked.
I cannot understand why anyone would play politics when communities coast to coast and the territories remain in catastrophic hard times. America's farmers are living through the worst economic crisis in almost 30 years, driven by low commodity prices, trade war pressures, and natural disasters. Those impacted have had their patience stretched thin, and cannot wait any longer for the disaster assistance they were promised. Right now due to disaster losses, they cannot pay federal operational loans from last year; nor can they get new loans to plant and operate this year.
Planting season is now. We are already in the growing season, when conditions permit normal plant growth. If we miss this window, it will have long lasting effects on agricultural production including food, fiber, building materials, and fuel that will increase costs for American consumers all over this country.
We have entered the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began on June 1, 2019.
Today I am once again supporting an emergency supplemental bill as more disasters have hit since the last bill passed, the latest being the terrible floods in the Midwest and the tornadoes that ripped through Georgia and Alabama. This expanded supplemental bill will provide for the needs of those who suffered in those disasters.
I will add an additional $5 billion and brings the appropriations total to $19.1 billion, which would cover all disasters, and get the much needed funds to those who were so severely devastated by Hurricane Michael. It will help communities rebuild, assist farmers and rural communities, provide critical health care, nutritional assistance, and social services for disaster victims, and repair damaged federal facilities.
I urge my House and Senate colleagues to support this bill to finally bring relief to our long-suffering communities.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2157, the Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2019.
This bill is a comprehensive emergency disaster supplemental bill I to help meet the urgent needs of American communities still struggling to recover from recent hurricanes, typhoons, wildfires, floods and other natural disasters.
This bill would have been signed into law much earlier, had it not been thwarted by Republican House Members from the 21st Congressional District of Texas and from the 4th Congressional District of Kentucky who deprived the bill of the unanimous consent needed for passage.
This robust disaster package includes $17.2 billion in long overdue emergency spending for disaster-stricken communities across our nation and territories.
It builds on the legislation that passed the House in January-- including an additional $3 billion to address the urgent needs of those living in the Midwest (Nebraska, Missouri, South Dakota, Iowa and Kansas) and South (Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas) who have been devastated by flooding and tornadoes in recent months.
This bill also provides some additional disaster assistance to communities continuing to recover from Hurricane Harvey.
House Democrats are standing up and acting to help communities across the United States and in Puerto Rico, Texas, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa recover and heal from devastating disasters--these communities should not be held hostage because of this administration's benign neglect toward Puerto Rico.
Senate Republicans should come to their senses and join Democrats in advancing this bill and speeding relief to millions of Americans.
Included in this legislation is critical funding for:
Infrastructure and community development to rebuild our transportation systems and repair housing, businesses and public infrastructure;
Farmers and rural communities to bolster the farmer safety net and restore disaster-damaged lands;
Social services, mental health, education and dislocated worker initiatives to invest in the well-being of children, workers and families in disaster-struck areas--including providing critical nutrition and Medicaid assistance for Puerto Rico and U.S. territories;
DOD and Veterans Affairs to repair and rebuild hurricane-damaged bases and facilities; and
Disaster resiliency to mitigate damage and costs from future disasters which are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change.
American families hit by natural disasters deserve to know that (their government will stand with them throughout the road to recovery.
Democrats are committed to delivering this assistance to our fellow Americans as they work to rebuild their lives and their communities.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2157, the ``Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2019,'' provides much needed and long overdue relief to Americans in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Texans who are still suffering from the ravages of Hurricanes Maria, Irma, and Harvey as well as provide relief to victims of Hurricane Michael which struck Alabama, Florida, and Georgia in October 2018 and to the victims of the Midwestern floods.
Hurricane Harvey ranks as the second-most costly hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since 1900, causing more than $125 billion in damage.
Our residents need more money for single-family home repairs, whether it is disaster recovery or general housing dollars and I will continue to strive on behalf of the neighborhoods and on behalf of hard-working homeowners who deserve these funds, so they can continue on with their lives and return to their homes.
Victims of natural disasters are entitled to know who to contact when issues related to FEMA arise and to be assured that their questions are answered, and complaints addressed.
Allocating funding for measures such as Electricity Delivery for necessary expenses related to the consequences of Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, Irma, and Super Typhoon Yutu, is vital to negate the effects of these catastrophic events from significantly worsening.
Hospitals, first-responders, and a number of other vital institutions that help our communities recover from the after-effects of natural disasters need access to electricity.
Moreover, with the severity of natural disasters and the ranging of their locations, we must be proactive in our preparation for recovery.
Alternatively, water is the most essential resource known to man.
A human can go for more than three weeks without food--Mahatma Gandhi survived 21 days of complete starvation--but water is a different story.
At least 60 percent of the adult body is made of it and every living cell in the body needs it to keep functioning.
Under extreme conditions an adult can lose 1 to 1.5 liters of sweat per hour and if that lost water is not replaced, the total volume of body fluid can fall quickly and, most dangerously, blood volume may drop.
We do not have the luxury of ignoring hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, mudslides, tornados or other natural disasters.
With these events it is not a question of ``if'', but ``when.''
For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2157.
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