[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 118 (Tuesday, September 20, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H8106]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REBUILDING THE RIGHT WAY

  (Mr. DeLAY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. DeLAY. Madam Speaker, last week President Bush spoke to the 
Nation from Jackson Square, New Orleans about his plans for the relief, 
recovery, and rebuilding of the gulf coast region and residents.
  ``There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans,'' he said. 
And there is no way to imagine the necessary recovery effort without 
the leadership and support of the Federal Government. Every dime that 
has been appropriated and every dime that will be appropriated from the 
Federal Treasury to the people of the gulf coast has come from the 
votes of the House of Representatives, and we are honored to have that 
opportunity.
  And with this opportunity, Madam Speaker, comes a great 
responsibility to make sure that the money comes from and goes to the 
right places. Committees are already at work developing oversight plans 
for the Hurricane Katrina relief money, as are inspector general 
offices across the Federal Government.
  Funds will be needed to rescue certain communities in Louisiana and 
Mississippi and we will have a moral and physical obligation to ensure 
it gets spent on the right priorities.
  But just as important as our duty to ensure the money goes to the 
right places is our duty to ensure the money comes from the right 
places. Even before the levees were fixed and the flood waters started 
to recede, many voices were calling for massive tax increases to pay 
for the recovery effort.
  Of course, most of these voices were calling for massive tax 
increases long before Katrina ever showed up on the Doppler radar, some 
since Ronald Reagan first asked Congress to lower them. The so-called 
Katrina tax hikes are not about Katrina, they are about tax hikes, and 
will only serve to balloon the oversized, underresponsive energy 
management system that broke down 3 weeks ago in the wake of the 
hurricane.
  The gulf coast region is today without an economy, without jobs or 
businesses or investment. Raising taxes will not help create any of 
those things, but will instead guarantee that the region's economic 
troubles spread to the rest of the country. We cannot allow that, and 
the President has already said he will not.
  The challenge, then, to both sides of the aisle, is to find a way to 
pay for the recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans and the rest of the 
gulf coast without the tax hikes or without wasteful spending that we 
cannot afford.

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