Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am here to give a report on behalf of Florida to the Senate. Senator Rubio and I were there all day yesterday in Miami and in other parts of South Florida, and we are preparing for what will be another Andrew. Andrew was thought to be a category 4, but it actually was a category 5, with winds in excess of 155 miles per hour. Likewise, that is what we have now. I see the leader has come in. I will speak for just a few minutes, then, giving an update. There are a number of things. I believe the Federal Government is prepared, unlike we were 25 years ago with Hurricane Andrew. The Federal Government is certainly prepositioning supplies, but look at the situation with regard to FEMA. FEMA is stretched, and of all things, FEMA runs out of money unless we act by tomorrow. Thus, I left Florida in the middle of the night to come back to make sure that it has my stamp of imprimatur on this legislation. I am very glad that the majority leader has agreed to double the amount, basically $7.5 billion for FEMA and another $7.5 billion for CDBG's, or community development block grants, both of which would be for natural disasters. Because of that, it gives the flexibility to FEMA that some of the money will be used in case Irma hits Florida. But there is also the fact that Irma has already devastated our fellow U.S. citizens in the Virgin Islands, as well as Puerto Rico.…”