Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 2006

EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT FOR DEFENSE, THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR, AND HURRICANE RECOVERY, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - March 16, 2006)

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Mr. HALL. Mr. Chairman, this amendment to title II would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to give priority to States affected by Hurricane Katrina when redistributing unobligated Federal matching funds.

Texas is serving 6,000 children of Katrina evacuees with child care, despite a waiting list of 34,000 Texas children for child care services.

Failure to pass this amendment will put Texas in the position where its only option for continuing to serve the children of Katrina evacuees is with funds meant for Texas children. The Katrina kids would either be cut off or be allowed to cut the line in front of Texas kids who have been waiting up to 2 years to receive child care.

This Congress authorized $200 million in additional child care development funds for fiscal year 2006. Because these funds were made available in the middle of the fiscal year, not all States will be able to identify the necessary matching funds.

What I am asking is that any balances in the CCDF Federal matching funds be made available to the States whose child care caseloads have increased because of these hurricanes.

Members, this issue is but one example of the problematic Federal response to the hurricanes that struck the gulf coast last fall. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck, Texas was given a $75 million national emergency grant to provide employment and training services to victims of that storm who had taken up residence in our State.

When Hurricane Rita hit Texas 1 month later, rather than receiving an additional NEG grant to take care of our own people, we were told to not only use that same $75 million to serve the victims of both storms, but to provide our own citizens a more limited range of services than the Katrina evacuees.

This Congress eventually stepped in to allow parity of services, which we appreciate. Texas has enrolled more than 35,000 hurricane victims in NEG training programs and employment, but that money is projected to run out in July, and all of Texas's supplemental requests have been denied because the Department of Labor has run out of NEG funds.

The problem Texas faces goes beyond child care. Many of the Katrina evacuees who remain in Texas are potentially eligible for TANF and/or food stamps, both of which have education and training components associated.

This has put a tremendous strain on our resources for both programs. Congress previously allowed Texas to tap TANF funds to provide short-term non-recurring benefits to Katrina evacuees, but Texas and other States also need to be allowed to use Federal TANF contingency funds to provide outgoing employment and training services so that we can continue to move these recipients into meaningful employment.

Mr. Chairman, we also need for unspent funds in these areas to be reallocated to where the demand for these services is greatest. Unless Texas receives additional resources, Texas cannot continue the specialized workforce and support services to hurricane victims unless it diverts funds that were intended and balanced to serve its own citizens.

When Hurricane Katrina struck, Texans immediately stepped forward and mounted an unprecedented effort, involving both the public and private sector. Texas taxpayers have been left actually holding the bag to the tune of nearly $2 billion. What kind of message does that send to other States who may find themselves adjacent to the natural disaster, or to the States who, God forbid, may be the victims of that disaster.

I find it hard to believe that the level of compassion extended to these victims will be the same when they know that the Federal Government's commitments are not good when they know that most of what they provide for the refugees will take away from their local resources and the services they are supposed to provide for their own people.

Mr. Chairman, I move adoption of this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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