Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I have spoken on the floor twice now to tell the stories of the devastation caused by the great flood of 2016 and the depth of need the families of Louisiana have. Since I last spoke, about 10,000 more people have applied for individual assistance through FEMA, and now about 150,000 folks in Louisiana have applied for individual assistance. This is a serious, immediate issue, and we need help for those who are in great need. In all of the debate back and forth, some people have forgotten or never realized how massive this disaster was--an unprecedented event. The National Weather Service deemed this as a once-in-a-thousand-years event. Twenty parishes have been declared disaster areas. In the city of Denham Springs, 90 percent of homes flooded, and in about half of the structures flooded, it will cost owners over 50 percent of the value of the building to repair. Ninety percent of the housing stock in this town has been flooded. According to the estimates by the Advocate newspaper--the paper in the Baton Rouge area--as many as 12,000 Baton Rouge area businesses flooded. The National Flood Insurance Program has found that when businesses floods, as much as 40 percent of them never reopen. For a small business to reopen their doors, there is great cost, and this can prove too great to rebuild. The consequence of this is to the owner of the business, but it is perhaps felt more greatly by the employees--and their families--who lose their jobs.…”