Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman from Texas yielding to me. Madam Speaker, I came to the floor to highlight the disasters that we have in the Midwest. I recall back in 2011 when the Missouri River was 11 miles wide at its widest and 5 to 6 miles wide most everywhere else, all the way through Iowa and down across Missouri. It was a secret flood because you couldn't drive there. You had to fly over to see it. We have some of these similar circumstances this spring, although it has gotten a little more of the press. We had more water come down below Gavins Point than ever before. It wiped out a lot of ag land on the Iowa side and more so, even, on the Nebraska side. We have critical infrastructure that has got to be reconstructed. We have got to protect some of these communities that have been nearly wiped out. This Corps of Engineers, in particular, has 41 breaches on the levees just on the Iowa side of the river. I urge that we get to a conclusion and adoption of a final package on this disaster relief. But I would point out, Madam Speaker, that this message from the White House said that Congress should not use natural disasters as a pretext to engage in unnecessary spending outside the agreed upon discretionary spending caps. I am hopeful that this gets worked out between the House and the Senate. We need the relief, and we need it very soon.”