Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I would, again, just reiterate the fact that this grant program is not doing the job that it was designed to do. It is not even doing things that are related to the stated mission. It is a waste of taxpayer dollars, and for that, it is not something that we should continue funding.

It has lost its purpose. It has lost its mission, and it just simply is not necessary to continue funding. When we talk about the issues happening in Puerto Rico or other parts of the world, we have FEMA and we have other avenues to deal with serious problems like what happened in Puerto Rico and other places in our country, and those means are working effectively.

But to simply waste funds on a grant program that directly is involved in activities unrelated to their own mission statement, is not something that we should be involved in. As a result, this amendment has been endorsed by a number of organizations, such as: the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Heritage Action, Citizens Against Government Waste, Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Free Market America, and a host of organizations who are concerned about the direction our country is going financially and are supportive of stopping the waste here.

So I ask my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source