Niki Tsongas: “We, as a Nation, have a solemn responsibility to bring home every service man or woman who volunteers.”

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 21, line 24, after the dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $5,000,000)''. Page 32, line 1, after the…

Given the information that we have learned from the gas explosions that devastated the Merrimack Valley in September, it is now clear that this disaster was entirely preventable.

I think it is important to remember that we are having this hearing today because it has been 47 days since the landfall of Hurricane Maria, and yet our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico are still enduring a humanitarian crisis.

The question for Congress is, in my view, how do we keep it that way and make it even better?