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. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, a couple of weeks ago, or several weeks ago, I think in February, the President of the United States sent over two supplemental bills, one for Katrina and one for our defense. Two bills. Because even the President recognized that these are two different issues, a $68 billion defense bill; a $20 billion Katrina bill.

Unfortunately, when this bill came to this body for consideration, it was combined, not giving Members the opportunity to determine what they think is the best policy, both from a defense standpoint and a domestic standpoint.

I am concerned about the fact that these emergency supplemental bills have really become appropriation bills, and the word ``emergency,'' I think, has somewhat slipped from that process. We should be able to come to this floor, and my bill allows Members to be able to give a vote for Katrina or a vote for our defense in an appropriate way that they feel is good for the American taxpayer.

One of the concerns I have, Mr. Chairman, is that in this 109th Congress, if we pass this bill today, with no offsets, by the way, and a previous speaker talked about there was no offsets for that amendment, in fact, there are no offsets in this bill, in the 109th Congress we will have spent as much money on emergency supplemental spending as we have spent in the previous five Congresses.

Mr. Chairman, I would say to you that I don't think that is good for the American people. What I think we ought to do, though, is have policy that does address the merits of what our efforts are in Iraq and Afghanistan and the merits of how we are spending the American taxpayers' money on Katrina relief. In fact, we have already approved in this body $100 billion worth of emergency spending in other relief for Katrina victims.

What is at issue here is the question of whether or not a lot of the issues that are in this supplemental should actually have been in this supplemental. But more importantly, it should not be allowed for piling on and adding things to these supplemental bills, which, in fact, become a free-for-all.

These are two different issues. How we spend the money defending the American people in our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan as we execute the war on terrorism and how we deal with the catastrophic events that have happened in Katrina are two separate issues. And I would encourage my colleagues to give the American people the benefit of their wisdom and judgment and have a vote on each one of these issues.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

There has been a lot of discussion about what this bill does and what it does not do. What it does do is not take away Katrina funding; but what it says is let us break this bill into two pieces the way that the President of the United States sent this bill over to us, giving an opportunity for Members to express their opinions about our current defense policy, giving Members of Congress the ability to talk about and express their opinions about how they feel about Katrina policy and how it is going today.

One of the things that this amendment does, Members would be able to come back for debate on Katrina and have a separate vote at that particular time.

What we need to understand is this is no small sum of money. This is $92 billion as of the last count; and with the amendments, it is probably going to be more. We also know that $92 billion is in excess of 10 percent of our discretionary spending for 2006.

So it makes good sense for the American soldiers, the young men and women that are defending our Nation, that are executing the war on terrorism to have a separate vote. It makes good sense for the people in the devastated areas because of the hurricanes that we have had, for us to have deliberative talks and discussions about what is good policy for Katrina.

But let's don't leave the third set of people out that this body is charged to represent, and that is the American people. We need to make sure when we are making policy in this building and in this Chamber that it is good for the people in America. The American people are looking to us; and quite honestly, the people back in the 19th Congressional District of Texas are concerned about our spending. They question how much is an emergency and what is an emergency.

Quite honestly, Mr. Chairman, I think that combining these bills today is not good policy, and I urge my colleagues to come down and give a positive vote, vote for this amendment, vote for our soldiers, vote for the people in Katrina, but also vote for the American people.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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