On the recordApril 9, 2019
I thank Congressman Dunn for yielding. I appreciate his taking the initiative to bring folks together to discuss, unfortunately, the need to address the disasters across America. Madam Speaker, representing one of the most rural districts in America, we have a lot of natural resources, among them, a lot of rivers, a lot of miles of river in Nebraska. Not so long ago, conditions were such that the rivers flooded in the central and eastern part of Nebraska. In the west, a blizzard hit with the bomb cyclone, and it created massive damage. The chunks of ice flowing down rivers took out a dam, probably the first dam to break due to ice floes and the chunks of ice. It has been tragic. There has been loss of human life, certainly the loss of livestock. The initial estimates are about $400 million in infrastructure damage and another roughly $1 billion in damage to crops and livestock. I appreciate the fact that President Trump moved quickly on Governor Ricketts' request for the disaster declaration. We are working together among the Nebraska delegation, both Senators and all three House Members, to make sure that we articulate the needs of not only Nebraskans, but when you remove agriculture products, as is the case, ultimately, consumers will likely be impacted. This is something we should always keep in mind because everyone needs to eat. When we lose the channels of supply for agriculture products, that is bound to increase the cost of food.…
