[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11398]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    DO NOT FOCUS TOO HEAVILY ON FEMA

  (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, all of the talk in the media these 
last few days has been about the fraud in the FEMA individual and 
housing assistance program.
  Now, I am not saying that those who perpetrated the fraud should not 
be dealt with appropriately, or that FEMA and the Red Cross do not have 
to clean up their act.
  But, folks, this is a disaster the likes of which we have never seen. 
What would you have had them do in such an emergency, apply miles and 
miles of red tape and risk not giving service to those who need it 
quickly?
  Colleagues, do not let this be a smoke screen that would cause us to 
lose sight of the contracting and the purchasing waste, fraud and abuse 
that the big corporations have perpetrated on our government and all of 
us, while businesses in the Gulf Region went bust for lack of work.
  It is always the little guy who bears the blame while the big ones 
get away. Our relevant committees in this Congress need to turn our 
focus to the Halliburtons of the world. When we look at the waste, the 
fraud, and abuse of these giants, that $1 billion will look like chump 
change.

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