Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today as a proud cosponsor of House Resolution 1462, which expresses the support of the United States to the people of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Agatha. Having already declared a state of emergency following a volcano eruption just 50 miles from Guatemala City days earlier, Guatemala was hit by Tropical Storm Agatha on May 29, 2010. Floods and mudslides devastated parts of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador as a result of the storm. Hundreds of lives were lost, hundreds of thousands of survivors left in shelters. Immediately following this disaster, as we always do, the United States, as a government and as a people, was standing by to lend a helping hand. The United States Southern Command, SOUTHCOM, located in my home district in Miami, Florida, deployed four helicopters from Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras to conduct aerial assessments and transport emergency relief supplies to areas impacted by the disaster. The ability of SOUTHCOM to utilize resources from the Soto Cano Air Base demonstrates the important role that Honduras plays in enabling the United States to provide support for security and disaster purposes. SOUTHCOM also sent personnel from Miami to join a humanitarian assessment team on the ground in Guatemala.…”