King: We Must Take Fiscal Responsibility

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Washington, DC- Congressman Steve King released the following statement after voting against final passage of H.R. 152, the Sandy Relief Appropriations Act. King voted for the Mulvaney amendment because of the included offsets, but ultimately voted against the final bill.

"During the 2011 debt ceiling debate, House Republicans were able to force spending caps as part of a first step towards fiscal sanity," said King. "Today, the House threw aside those spending caps, along with all sense of fiscal responsibility. Furthermore, a number of good, common sense, fiscally conservative amendments were prevented from even receiving a vote, thus preventing the House from being allowed to work its will on this important legislation.

I support getting funding out to communities in need as the result of Hurricane Sandy. Just two weeks ago I supported immediately-necessary supplemental funding to ensure that policy holders in the National Flood Insurance Plan would continue to receive legitimate insurance payments for their damaged property. However, the legislation considered today did not meet the standard for responsible disaster relief. Long-term spending should instead be addressed when Congress picks up the appropriations process again in the coming weeks. It is unconscionable to use this tragic storm as an excuse to throw aside our budget restraints, pile on spending measures unrelated to disaster relief, the majority of which will not even be spent out for years, and continue to pile debt on our children."