Political Quotes

“I have not spoken yet on the floor regarding the disaster that has hit my State of California. Senator Feinstein was on this floor and brought the Senate up-to-date a couple of days ago. I would like to do the same, and then I would like to speak about another very urgent issue regarding safety at reproductive health care clinics. Mr. President, 34 counties have been declared State disaster areas and 24 counties have been declared Federal disaster areas, and we expect others to be added shortly. I do not think I have to tell my colleagues that the people in California have, once again, been struck by Mother Nature in a very difficult way. We live in a very magnificent State. We treasure it and we prize its beauty--its rivers, ocean, mountains, streams, creeks, forests, and deserts. And because we are such a magnificent State, we just have to put up with our share of natural disasters. I want to say, once again, to my colleagues how appreciative Californians are for the swift relief we got from the Clinton administration, backed in a very bipartisan way by this Congress, and we are rebuilding. Now we have people thrown out of their homes because of ravaging floods. The power of that water-- someone described it as a 500-year occasion in some parts of the State--is just overwhelming.”