[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 163 (Saturday, December 17, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H12056]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             FUNDING FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS AFTER HURRICANES

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, we have all appreciated the 
great charitable spirit of Americans as they welcomed into their homes 
and into their neighborhoods and into their States the victims of 
Hurricane Katrina and Rita and Wilma. But this appropriations bill that 
is making its way through the House and the Senate is crucial for 
survival of many of our school districts around the Nation.
  Let me cite my colleagues a particular figure for Houston Independent 
School District. We are now paying $186,000 a day for the additional 
Katrina students who are in our school districts. We welcome them, but 
we cannot pay this burden alone. This is costing our school district an 
additional $30 million, and so far, we have been reimbursed by the 
Federal Government $164,000. My friends, $30 million, $186,000 a day, 
and all we have received is $164,000. In addition, we have got $300 
million on hold, that the school district has not received.
  We need this appropriations bill to be fully funded. We need the tax 
cuts to be put aside. We need FEMA to be able to do its job for those 
who are still waiting, languishing in shelters and needing homes, 
languishing in tents and needing trailers. We need this system to work 
on behalf of the working people of America and those who are in need.
  Americans have opened their hearts and pocketbooks to those in need. 
The Federal Government, the greatest safety net that all of the people 
have, needs to do its job and do it now.

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