Political Quotes

“indeed I want to talk about this amendment and why it is a good thing, but I first want to compliment the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, who is not seated at her desk in the Chamber, but she is seated as the Presiding Officer. I want the chairman of that committee to know that she must be Merlin the Magician because in rapid fashion she brings the bill out of her committee and to the floor, along with her ranking member, the Senator from Louisiana, Mr. Vitter. This water bill is so important to the future of this country, and it is so important to infrastructure in this country. I commend the chairman and the ranking member for the rapidity with which they have worn out the leadership in order to get the leadership's attention to bring it to the floor. What Senator Blunt and I are sponsoring is common sense. Anybody who has been through a hurricane, tornado, or any other kind of natural disaster knows what new building codes have done. There is a fancy new term now called ``resilient construction,'' and the resilient construction is making it more resilient in withstanding a natural disaster. I will never forget flying in a National Guard helicopter after a monster hurricane in 1982--Hurricane Andrew--that hit a relatively unpopulated part of Miami-Dade County, the southern end, and it ended up being a $20 billion-insurance-loss storm.…”