Political Quotes

“President Bush is in Iowa today to see first-hand some of the devastation that more than a week of severe flooding has inflicted on that State. It is the President's first visit to the Midwest since the floods began more than a week ago. Midwesterners appreciate the President's visit to our region. These floods are happening in our States, but they are a national disaster. The President's visit to Iowa today gives us some reassurance that the Federal Government will help our region through this crisis. As the President visits Iowa today, I hope he looks across the river to my State of Illinois. Floods don't stop at State lines. The floodwaters are receding now in Iowa; they are rising in Illinois. Levees are breaking and farmland and towns along our side of the Mississippi are being swallowed up by the river now. The damage in Iowa has been staggering and heartbreaking, and we pray for our neighbors' safety and well-being. But the entire Midwest is reeling from weeks of flooding and tornadoes--from Minnesota to Kansas and everywhere in between; Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and, of course, Illinois. We know from the great flood that devastated the Midwest in 1993 and, more recently, from Hurricane Katrina, that the losses from this chain of weather-related disasters will be more than our States and citizens alone can shoulder. We also know that, in times of crisis, Americans have always come together to help those in need.”