Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. First of all, the cuts to NOAA and our Weather Service are contained in H.R. 1, and we have not reached agreement on H.R. 1, which is why we are doing yet another CR. And, believe me, those kinds of cut to NOAA and our Weather Service will have an impact on our ability to implement early warning systems. Some of you may not know that Hawaii has already suffered millions and millions of dollars of damages as a result of the tsunami. And, yes, it does not compare at all to the tragedy that the Japanese people are facing, but nonetheless, thank goodness, our early warning systems were in place. Now, as to this CR, I rise in opposition to this CR, which continues the Republican strategy of cutting $2 billion every week from programs that support jobs and our families. I want to focus on just one program being cut, out of many, by the way, that affect real people in real ways that is particularly troubling to me in this CR. This is the elimination of all funding for the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operation Program, popularly known as PL 566. This $30 million program means a lot to small rural communities nationwide. For Hawaii, the decline of the sugar and pineapple industries has forced us to transition from large scale plantation agriculture to small scale farming.…”