WASHINGTON, D.C. - Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman John Lewis (D-GA), delivered the following statement today at a Subcommittee hearing on the Immediate Need for Charitable Assistance in the Gulf Coast Region:
“Today, the Subcommittee on Oversight will look a little more closely at the Gulf Coast region, not to debate offshore drilling, but to learn more about the unmet human needs and the needs of the wildlife and environment.
“Our sole focus is on helping the people and the wildlife in the region and ensuring that charities are doing the same. We will review what charities have done, and what is still left to do. The charitable sector enjoys a special tax status for moments such as these.
“My questions are simple. What are charities seeing? How are they responding? What challenges stand in the way of feeding and sheltering those in the region?
“It is not easy for our neighbors to ask others for help when they have always been able to do it on their own. It is heartbreaking that some people are being turned away when they are in need of food. Our neighbors on the Gulf Coast need to know that we don’t just see the television images of the spewing oil well, or the oil soaked birds and beaches, but that we see the human faces of this tragedy. They need to know that we hear their pleas, and we want to help.
“I thank our witnesses for the work they have done. I look forward to hearing from them today."
