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Issues

Gulf Coast Hurricanes

Operation Offset
RSC Budget Options 2005 (9/21/05) word version
RSC Budget Options 2005 (9/21/05) pdf version
The RSC released a report at a press conference to provide options for reducing federal spending as part of an RSC effort entitled "Operation Offset" in light recent Hurricane Katrina federal appropriations.

Congressional Response to Hurricane Katrina
The RSC maintains a running document of the congressional response to Hurricane Katrina. View the updated version

Hurricane Katrina Relief: FEMA Debit Card Waste
Click here to read how at least two Katrina evacuees spent federal assistance to buy expensive handbags.

RSC Policy Brief on FEMA's Response Policy and the Stafford Act
The RSC has created a policy brief that reviews FEMA's federal disaster response policy and the specific provisions and financial assistance available under the Stafford Act, under which FEMA operates in Presidentially declared major disaster areas. View the report in PDF format.

Various RSC Members issued statements about Congress' ongoing response to Hurricane Katrina.

RSC Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN), regarding the need to bring fiscal discipline to the Katrina relief effort.(word doc)
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), regarding the need to offset spending for Katrina relief. (word doc)
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), regarding the need to cut spending elsewhere in the federal budget in order to pay for Katrina relief. (word doc)
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), regarding the need to keep "pork" off of the spending bills for Katrina relief. (word doc)
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), regarding the need to keep "pork" off of the spending bills for Katrina relief. (pdf)

Conservative efforts to apply fiscal discipline to disaster relief spending were highlighted by:

RSC Members praised President Bush's decision to temporarily waive the Davis-Bacon Act, allowing the hurricane recovery effort to move forward quickly and in a more cost-effective manner. One day before this waiver, 35 RSC Members, led by Reps. Tom Feeney (R-FL), Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), sent a letter to the President requesting that he temporarily waive Davis-Bacon.

Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) wrote the following op-ed in The Wall Street Journal about how "red tape trumped common sense" in the recovery effort in his home state. (pdf)

Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) will introduce the Gas Tax Relief Act, which would suspend the federal gas tax (18.4 cents per gallon) for one month. Click here to learn more: (word doc)

Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) and nine other House Members sent the following letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), urging him to include in any future hurricane relief package language that would grant construction entities limited immunity from liability when they provide volunteer services or equipment in response to a declared disaster. (pdf)