Political Quotes

“first, I thank the Senator from Arizona for coming to the floor and debating this amendment because it means we can move our bill in an expeditious way. I wish we could be solving the issues around the fiscal cliff with such civility, watchful rigor, and a commitment to the taxpayer. Having said that, however, I rise to oppose the Senator's amendment. The Emergency Forest Restoration Program was established after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It does help owners of private forest land carry out emergency measures to restore land damaged by a natural disaster. This is not just trees falling. It has recently been used to provide assistance to tornado damaged land across the Southeast: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. As the Senator from Maryland, the Presiding Officer, knows, when a hurricane hits, people, homes, and landscape are uprooted. The program provides a 75-percent cost share for the work. The landowner has to provide the other 25 percent. In order to participate in this program, there must be an onsite inspection to determine the type and extent of damage caused by the disaster, and it must show that the damage, if untreated, would endanger our natural resources or materially affect the future use of land around it.…”