Political Quotes

“There is one other area I wish to speak to. I know my colleague from New York is going to be on the floor shortly. The area I wish to speak to is disaster relief. I strongly support the disaster relief funding bill. As Americans undertake the physically and emotionally difficult task of rebuilding, cleaning up, and recovering from hurricanes and flooding and even earthquakes, we must see that the Disaster Relief Fund is there so they can get back to their own lives as quickly as possible. The year 2011 has been a record year when it comes to natural disasters. The cost of recovery from Hurricane Irene alone could reach $1.5 billion. We have seen it this year in Illinois. It has been tough from Chicago to Cairo in the southern portion of our State. We have had blizzards and floods and tornadoes and troubles all around. Our State, like most other States, has seen the damage and has felt it personally. People are trying to put their homes back together again. Here is a photo--I saw this in person when I visited the State earlier this spring--around Cairo in the southern part of the State. It was an awful situation. We had flooding along the Ohio River that troubled and bothered the folks who live in southern Illinois as well as Kentucky and adjoining States, Missouri. Some of our towns, such as Cairo, were literally threatened with being inundated. They had to blow levees, which basically means to open up a place for the river water to flow.…”