Sanford Bishop: “I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, as a legislative body, one of Congress' core responsibilities is to…”

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, as a legislative body, one of Congress' core responsibilities is to keep the government open and working for the people. Another core responsibility is to help communities struck by disaster to recover and rebuild. The continuing resolution before us is not a sufficient response to these vital needs. It includes only token disaster relief for rural communities and farmers in middle and southwest Georgia that were devastated by Hurricane Michael and other disasters that occurred in 2018. It does not include a number of provisions that were being negotiated. It only includes $8 million for impacted rural communities, instead of $150 million. It does not change the percentage recovery for crop losses from 85 percent for those with crop insurance to 90 percent and from 65 percent for those without crop insurance to 70 percent. It includes less than half of the estimated need for the Emergency Forest Restoration Program, $200 million instead of $480 million. It does not include the lower threshold for pecan tree mortality to 7.5 percent, but leaves it at the current level of 15 percent, which is totally inadequate. It does not include the most recent estimate for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Disaster Nutrition Assistance, which is $8.5 million instead of $9.3 million. Finally, it does not include any of the $600 million for Puerto Rico nutrition assistance.…”