Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise to discuss and explain the matter we just took action on. It is relative to wildfires. All across the Western United States, historic wildfires continue to grow both more frequent and more severe. Every year, in recent years, entire communities have been destroyed by wildfires in a matter of hours. We have seen this in California, New Mexico, and Colorado. Families are forced to flee with only the belongings they could quickly pack into their vehicles. Last year, I visited the incident command center in Quincy, CA, to see firsthand the real-time response to the devastating Dixie fire. Separately, I met with local leaders in Santa Rosa, CA, to hear about problems with recovery from previous catastrophic wildfires. So my bill--the bill we just took action on, the FEMA Improvement, Reform, and Efficiency Act or the FIRE Act--will help ensure FEMA better addresses the unique and increasing danger of wildfires. FEMA's current procedures and requirements don't always work for postwildfire recovery needs. And this bill will close those gaps. I give a lot of credit to FEMA. They have gotten pretty good at anticipating and responding to other types of disasters. We are seeing it, as we speak, with the hurricane impact in Florida. They do the same with tornadoes, floods, other disasters. In all these scenarios, we know that it begins with preparation.…”