Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, you have heard numerous speakers talk about the bureaucracy that happens in the aftermath of a disaster, and we had legislation by Ranking Member Sam Graves trying to help to cut through that bureaucracy and not have our own Federal Government revictimize our disaster victims, who are citizens of this country. In the aftermath of a disaster--which, being from south Louisiana, we experience, unfortunately, way too frequently--we have FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, that comes in; we have the Small Business Administration that comes in; we have the Department of Housing and Urban Development; we have the Department of Agriculture; and others that all offer different types of emergency aid or programs. Madam Speaker, apparently, it appears that many of these agencies aren't aware that there has been this invention called the internet that connects everybody. Instead of coming in and forcing these disaster victims, who potentially have lost everything that they own, to come in and stop by numerous locations and fill out the same paperwork over and over again, they should come in and apply commonsense solutions that we have seen in the private sector for decades now, simply coming in, providing information once, being more efficient, truly providing service to these disaster victims, instead of revictimizing them. I want to thank the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico, my friend, for her leadership on this effort.…”