James M. Jeffords: “I am pleased to support S.1768, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations of 1998, to help bring much needed relief to…”

“I am pleased to support S.1768, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations of 1998, to help bring much needed relief to citizens in not only the Northeast, but other areas of the country who have suffered from natural disaster. Mr. President, for two days straight, freezing rain, snow and sleet battered the Champlain Valley of Vermont, upstate New York, parts of New Hampshire and Maine and the Province of Quebec. Tens of thousands of trees buckled and shattered under the stress and weight of several inches of ice that coated their branches. Power lines were ripped down by falling branches and the weight of the ice--leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity for days and even weeks. Roads were covered with ice and rivers swelled and overflowed from heavy rain. The crippling ice storm brought activity in the area to a grinding halt. Just a few days after the storm, Senator Leahy and I visited the hardest hit areas of Vermont. The storm's damage was the worst I have ever seen.”