Political Quotes

“my distinguished colleague Senator Akaka and I are introducing legislation today to reauthorize the National Dam Safety and Security Program. The goal of this program, administered by FEMA, has been to advance dam safety in the United States and prevent loss of life and property damage from dam failures at both the Federal and State programmatic levels. Over the last several months we have seen in both my home State of Missouri and my colleague's State of Hawaii, how critically important proper regulation, inspection and safety training is for maintaining our Nation's dams. The National Dam Safety Program Act provides much needed assistance to State dam safety programs, which are responsible for regulating 95 percent of the 80,000 dams in the U.S. The States receive training assistance for their dam safety engineers and State grant assistance based on the number of dams in the State. The National Dam Safety Program, currently administered by FEMA within DHS, expires in September 30, 2006 and needs to be reauthorized. I am proud to introduce this legislation along with my colleague Senator Akaka in order to strengthen the protection of our citizens and critical infrastructure from dam failures through the Dam Safety and Security Program.”