Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 58, the First Responder Identification of Emergency Needs in Disaster Situations, or the FRIENDS Act. This bill requires the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, to submit a report on how State and local programs affect the preparedness and protection of first responders. Congress and the American people need to know whether these programs consider circumstances that may affect a first responder's ability to respond to an event. In particular, the bill requires GAO to examine the degree to which State and local programs and policies consider the presence of a first responder's family in an area impacted by a terrorist attack, the availability of personal protective equipment for first responders, and the availability of home MedKits for first responders and their families for biological incident response. While we are asking GAO to examine State and local programs and policies, some of these programs and policies may be funded with Federal dollars. To that extent, Congress needs to know whether these federally funded programs and policies are as effective as possible to prepare and protect first responders. This month, the State of Georgia received two Presidential disaster declarations from devastating tornados in districts neighboring my own.…”