Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3709, introduced and championed by Representatives Katko and Delgado, two colleagues of ours on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The Preliminary Damage Assessment, or PDA, Improvement Act would direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to produce a report examining the PDA process and establish a more consistent training regime for FEMA personnel to effectively support State and local officials as they conduct these assessments in the wake of disaster. FEMA uses PDA findings to determine the extent of damage and the subsequent unmet needs of individuals, businesses, and the public sector in a disaster-impacted area. This bill will ensure greater consistency of PDAs across FEMA's 10 regions by creating a training program with a goal of ensuring a more consistent process of data collection and analysis. As communities across the country experience more extreme weather events, consistent and timely PDAs are more important than ever to the recovery process. Madam Speaker, I support this legislation and ask my colleagues to do the same. I reserve the balance of my time.”