Rodney Frelinghuysen: “I thank my colleague from New Jersey for yielding. Madam Speaker, it's been 70 days, and the residents of the Northeast…”

“I thank my colleague from New Jersey for yielding. Madam Speaker, it's been 70 days, and the residents of the Northeast have been--many of them--living in misery and heartache. I'm pleased that we are taking this step to support the National Flood Insurance Program, which has met the needs of Americans across our Nation when there has been flooding crises. We in the Northeast have been facing this crisis now for 70 days. I'm glad that this essential program is going to be supported. There are about 125,000, from what I understand, Sandy-related claims that can be met by raising this cap, and I think it's good that we're about to do that. This, as others have said, is the first step of what we need to do to sort of rebuild lives, to put aside the misery that so many families and businesses have been suffering for this length of time. It's the right step. On January 15, we will be considering a much larger supplemental, a total of $60 billion, which will meet the needs--not all the needs--of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and the region. There are considerable needs. But the National Flood Insurance Program is a good program. It needs supports. This is a good first step. Let's get about it, and let's do it in a bipartisan manner.”