On the recordJanuary 27, 2016
in 2014, I began coming to the Senate floor almost every month. I came here to highlight some of the great work done each and every day by the men and women who serve us in the Department of Homeland Security. I continued that effort throughout much of last year and plan on coming to the Senate floor every month in 2016 with a new story to share. There is simply so much good being done across the Department by the employees, our public servants who work there. I don't think I am going to run out of material anytime soon. As you know, the Department of Homeland Security is made up of some 22 component agencies and employs over 200,000 Americans. These men and women work around the clock to protect all of us, our families, and our country. One part of the Department is called the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We call it FEMA. It has the unique task of keeping Americans safe when everything around them has been thrown into chaos. In times of crisis, the men and women at FEMA coordinate rescue operations, provide emergency medical care, and give shelter to those who lost their homes. Simply put, they bring hope back to Americans whose towns and cities have been swept away by floods, destroyed by a fire or torn apart by a tornado. Ten years ago, in the days after Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act. That law completely overhauled FEMA from top to bottom.…





