madam chairman , my amendment would strike all of the taxpayer funded relief provided in the bill to the countries affected by the indian ocean tsunami . 
after reviewing information from the center on philanthropy at indiana university detailing the level of private american contributions to the tsunami relief , i am not sure we need to spend extra taxpayer dollars for that purpose . 
already some 130 private organizations are providing tsunami relief . 
several private companies are also providing relief through their local offices in the region . 
according to the report , some $ 800 million has already been provided by these organizations in cash . 
in addition , another $ 101 million has been provided in kind donations . 
that brings the total to $ 1 billion already , close to $ 1 billion , and that total does not include all the person-to-person aid that is not accounted for in the study . 
since the disaster many americans have looked into their hearts and reached into their wallets in an effort to help alleviate the suffering in thailand , indonesia , sri lanka , and other affected nations . 
one of these companies , as a matter of fact , a company called ch2m hill , was one of the first on the scene to provide critical services to victims ever since . 
they partnered with other countries to provide a clean drinking water purification system to people in indonesia . 
the quality of the water is equivalent to bottled water and is currently being provided throughout the country , including to the u.n . 
compound and more than 10 refugee camps . 
the system is currently purifying water at the rate of 600 gallons per minute , producing 864 , 000 gallons of purified water each day , helping nearly a quarter of a million people each day . 
i am proud of the efforts of ch2m hill . 
i am proud of all of the americans who have given so much to alleviate the suffering . 
their efforts and indeed all of the efforts are to be commended . 
they help demonstrate that the strength of america 's compassion is best measured by the efforts of individual citizens and private organizations and companies , not by the number of government programs we create or the amount of federal appropriations we dole out . 
given this era of tight budgets and the need to provide for disasters here at home like the hurricanes that ravaged florida , wildfires that burned through the west , tornados that hit middle america , we simply can not ask americans to be all things to all people . 
people have already donated what they can . 
we should not exact further tax dollars from them for this purpose . 
madam chairman , i do not approach this in a light or frivolous way . 
i believe that the issues are significant and serious . 
i believe that , in fact , if more money is needed , we need to do it as a result of a study and careful examination of exactly what needs are still out there . 
recent reports have indicated that in fact ngos are saying that there is more money than they can even deal with . 
some of the ngos have indicated that people are running into each other essentially . 
too many people , too much money flooding the country at the present time . 
if more money is needed , i suggest it be provided in a later appropriation under a regular rule . 
i do not believe that any longer we can consider it to be `` an emergency '' and i certainly do not think that it qualifies for a categorization under this supplemental . 
i have no illusions about the possibility of the passage of this amendment . 
i know it will probably fail and probably fail pretty dramatically . 
i recognize that entirely . 
but i do feel it is important to at least bring to the attention of my colleagues and to the nation that i think a great deal has been done . 
i am proud of every single american who has donated . 
it does come from their heart . 
that is the way we should provide for these things . 
that is not the way this bill intends to do it . 
