Political Quotes

“We have a few minutes left to go. I didn't realize the colloquy was going on. I would like to give an opposing viewpoint. In this legislation, we put parks over people. We spend billions of dollars taking care of parks and don't spend a dime taking care of those folks who live in those parishes and counties next to a coastline. It turns out that 42 percent of Americans live in a parish or county next to a coastline, and if you haven't noticed, we increasingly have flood events. We increasingly have spent billions of dollars rescuing people from floods, repairing their homes afterwards, and trying to make them whole. Now, we could have put legislation in this legislation that would allow those people's needs to be met, but we are putting parks before people, and that is a tragedy. We are going to spend billions on places where we go on vacation, but we will not spend a dime where we live-- where we live--where we raise our children, where we help other people make a living. In this--particularly since we know that sea levels are rising--we are going to increasingly have these events. We are, if you will, being--I don't know how to put it--blind to the reality that is before us. And someone mentioned outhouses on top of a sinkhole--what a tragedy. Do you know what really a tragedy is? When someone--no, when many people--when whole swaths of a city are flooded out--that is a tragedy.…”