Dan Coats: “The Senator from Vermont is correct. I don't intend to take any action on this now. I know there are events planned…”

“The Senator from Vermont is correct. I don't intend to take any action on this now. I know there are events planned tonight. We are in the middle of mourning for our lost colleague as well. But I simply wanted to explain for the record what it is that we are attempting to do. I think all of us are sensitive to the pain and the damage incurred by those in the Northeast due to the catastrophic, clearly catastrophic record proportion hurricane that hit that sector of our country just weeks ago. Clearly, that is something that falls in the category of an emergency. It goes beyond the ability of State and local jurisdictions to address with their own resources. They will participate in the recovery, and they have. It is remarkable, in this country virtually no State, no Senator, can stand and simply say, well, we haven't been touched and not understand the need for the response that comes from disasters, whether they be tornadoes like occurred in my State of Indiana just this past spring--we needed emergency help and response and received that--or whether it is flooding that has occurred throughout the Midwest and in other parts of the country that has caused a tremendous amount of damage. There have been terrorist attacks such as 9/11, Oklahoma City. In this case, hurricanes, and we have had a number of those. Katrina stands in our mind, Irene, and on and on it goes with Sandy being the latest. This one was truly of a monumental proportion and created a lot of damage.…”