John Mica: “I want to take a moment and commend the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) and the Committee on Appropriations for…”

“I want to take a moment and commend the gentleman from Florida (Chairman Young) and the Committee on Appropriations for bringing this supplemental appropriation to the floor. As some of my colleagues may know, central Florida is the fern capital of the United States. Unfortunately, the nursery and fern industry suffered the second largest amount of agricultural damage from recent hurricanes, just behind citrus. The United States Department of Agriculture staff estimates that 65 percent of the industry's total acreage in central Florida has been totally lost. In addition to $32 million in infrastructure losses, the industry has suffered crop losses of $76 million. Worse, it takes some 7 years to reestablish crops in natural shade, and the long-term loss is estimated at $235 million. Mr. Chairman, the total economic impact from hurricanes on the fern industry, the lifeblood of this central part of our State, is $342 million.”