Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of my bill, the National Construction Safety Team Enhancement Act of 2024. Last year, there was massive flooding along California's central coast, which left communities really across the State vulnerable. In my district, the Pajaro River's levee failed, forcing over 1,500 people to evacuate and putting thousands of homes at risk. Many of them were flooded. In May 2023, I joined Representative Panetta, Senator Padilla, and the late Senator Feinstein in asking the Army Corps of Engineers to provide emergency assistance to help with the levee. Last August, the Biden-Harris administration heeded our call to action and committed $20 million to repair the levee and address erosion on the left bank of the Pajaro River. That has now been concluded, and these communities have been protected, at least with the emergency repairs. As with this small rural community in my own district, the climate crisis continues to put massive strains on aging infrastructure across the United States. While recovery and reconstruction efforts continue, we have to do more to understand the causes of destructive and life-threatening events, like the Pajaro River levee failure, to make sure it doesn't happen again. Unfortunately, there's no agency currently authorized to conduct thorough technical investigations of failure of general infrastructure, like levees, dikes, bridges, or dams.…”