Bill Nelson: “the Senators who have just spoken make a most compelling case. I take very seriously my role as Senator, in which I have…”

“the Senators who have just spoken make a most compelling case. I take very seriously my role as Senator, in which I have a responsibility to the rest of the Nation in addition to the wonderful State I have the privilege of representing. What I would like to do is come to their respective States and see these areas where there is outmigration. This is quite a contrast to what I have experienced in the State of Florida which has been just exactly the opposite kind of experience. As a matter of fact, my home county, Brevard County, in the early 1960s, because of the space race, when the Soviet Union surprised us with Sputnik and then surprised us by launching Yuri Gagarin, one orbit, before we could ever get to sub orbit with Alan Shepard, people were just pouring in, sleeping in cars. As a result, a lot of development was done in a rush with tremendous mistakes, not attending to zoning and not attending to proper drainage, and so forth and so on. So the experience of Florida has been quite the opposite of their experience. What I would like to do is to learn from them how I could help them because we are all citizens of the United States of America. I thank them for bringing this issue to the attention of the Senate. I look forward, maybe perhaps this summer, to visiting in their respective States of North Dakota and Nebraska.”