[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20726]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               ACCOUNTABILITY IN FEDERAL DISASTER RELIEF

  (Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, like so many of my constituents, I have been 
extremely saddened by the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. 
To date I have supported the $10.5 billion in aid and voted for several 
bills to help ease the strain of this difficult time.
  It is understandable that some have questioned my vote against the 
$51.8 billion relief supplemental. I believe taxpayer money should be 
spent wisely. My concern is that huge sums of money are being spent 
with little assurance the money is really helping those in need. Some 
estimate the Federal Government will be asked to spend as much as $200 
billion on relief. But my support depends on tight controls and 
accountability measures. That is why I voted the way I did.
  It is also why I have co-sponsored legislation to create a chief 
financial officer for the Federal Government's Hurricane Katrina relief 
efforts. Without this level of oversight and accountability, we will 
waste precious tax dollars, and every dollar wasted is a dollar that is 
not going to assist a displaced family in need. We also need to examine 
what the role of Federal Government should be in disaster relief. I 
will continue to support measured, commonsense solutions, but I will 
not support out-of-control Federal spending without proper oversight. 
We will not help the people affected by this storm by wasting 
taxpayers' money.

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