I want to especially appreciate the Department's focus on English language.

I strongly encourage you to pay attention to the feedback and this comment period because I think it is pretty clear that all over this legislation, we have been focusing on State flexibility, trusting States and local communities to make…

I think this is an issue where the legislation, the intent is for States to have the flexibility to work this out.

As you have indicated, Congressman Barletta, Congress, the GAO [Government Accountability Office], and others have indicated that the Federal cost of disasters continues to rise.

I strongly believe this program will be critical to any effort to reduce future disaster costs in a significant way.

I thank my friend, Mr. Sires, for working with me on this legislation.

More than 4,000 foreign children and adolescents have resettled in Miami, Dade County, in Fiscal Year 2015.

I think it is incumbent on the Federal Government to help communities like ours solve these problems because it is unfair for all of these costs, for all of the burden, to fall on local school districts and on local municipalities.

Under No Child Left Behind, there were very rigid, unfair, in my opinion, standards used to evaluate English language learners.

We really believe that we can do a lot to give small business owners access to new markets.

Small businesses are very important for all of our communities, because they are the ones that employ the people that don't have access to the big firms.