Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, today I rise in strong support of H.R. 662, the Block Grant Assistance Act of 2023. I am a proud cosponsor of this bill, along with my fellow Floridians, including Mrs. Cammack, Mr. C. Scott Franklin, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz. I thank Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member David Scott for their assistance in moving this bill to the floor in a fairly expedited fashion. The bill authorizes the Department of Agriculture to utilize block grants to provide funding to States and territories to assist agricultural producers with losses due to natural disasters in the calendar year 2022. This does not address future disaster assistance. It simply allows USDA to get the money already appropriated to producers in our home States sooner, although we should look at that going forward as a longer-term reform. Why is this important? Hurricane Ian devastated both southwest and central Florida. A category 4 storm hitting on September 28 of last year, it was tied for the fifth strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States. Less than 2 months later, on November 10, 2022, Hurricane Nicole made landfall near Vero Beach, Florida. Nicole devastated parts of our east coast. The devastation was horrific, and the impact on Florida citrus and other segments of our agriculture industry has been devastating. My colleagues from Florida and other impacted areas were grateful for Congress' support in the omnibus.…”