According to the Congressional Budget Office, less than 30% of the $19.1 billion would actually be spent during Fiscal Year 2019. The rest will be spent in Fiscal Years 2020 through 2029.

Additionally, the bill failed to contain a single dollar in offsets. Offsets are a Washington term for reductions in spending in one area to compensate for increased spending elsewhere. Consequently, H.R. 2157 would increase our national debt by nearly $24 billion over the next ‪ten years after‬ you include additional costs due to interest.

It is also worth noting that several billion dollars in this package is dedicated to environmental mitigation projects aimed at preventing future disasters. Mitigation work in our coastal communities is a worthy goal, but one which should be achieved through the normal budget and appropriations process and with state and local governments playing a sizable role, not through a disaster relief package that is not subject to the budget caps.

Funding for emergency disaster relief is crucial, and I am glad that many people in South Carolina are going to get some much needed assistance, but I am sorry that Congress chose to do so via a bloated spending package like this one.

Without a real plan to get our budget deficits under control, we cannot continue to borrow money from future generations to pay for the problems we face today.