Bill Nelson: “it has been 2 months since Hurricane Irma hit Florida and basically covered up the State, and our people are still…”

“it has been 2 months since Hurricane Irma hit Florida and basically covered up the State, and our people are still hurting because they don't have sufficient housing. If you lived in a mobile home, if you lived in a low-lying area, your home was destroyed. It is uninhabitable. The ceiling is collapsing. The mold and the mildew, because of all the water which has now accumulated, makes it an uninhabitable home. FEMA, through individual assistance, is supposed to provide temporary housing. This is the law. That is what the people of Florida are entitled to--just like the people of Texas are entitled to in the Presiding Officer's State--but it is not happening in Florida. Why? Because they get on the telephone, and they have to wait up to-- documented--4 hours to get somebody on the phone from FEMA or, for home inspections, it takes 45 days before they can get an inspector to come out and see the home so they can be declared eligible for individual assistance. That is just unacceptable. If they don't have the means--especially if they don't have a job as a result of the jobs being destroyed in the hurricane--where are they going to be able to get temporary assistance for housing? It is a fact that this is happening in the State of Florida, and it has to be changed. Thus, you see the bipartisan effort of my colleague from Florida Marco Rubio and me writing to the head of FEMA today to say: Look, what happened?…”