Michael Burgess says he wants Harvey relief aid to avoid mistakes of past disaster funding

Rep. Michael Burgess said Thursday that he wants to avoid past mistakes when it comes to federal aid for Tropical Storm Harvey.

“I want to be certain that the help gets where it’s needed, when it’s needed. But we do have a responsibility to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollar and that’s a concurrent responsibility,” Mr. Burgess, Texas Republican, said on CNN.

Mr. Burgess and other lawmakers have faced criticism recently for their votes against relief funding for Superstorm Sandy back in 2012. They claim that the bill was full of other expenses that had nothing to do with aiding victims of the storm.

“There were funds available, but never spent. [The Department of Homeland Security] ended up taking back several billion from FEMA that were never able to be spent,” Mr. Burgess said.

“You’re going to see after that first wave, you’re going to see data collected, and they’ll be evidence presented and as far as the cost and recovery. I think that will be better known in two to three months time,” he said.