Chuck Schumer

In these times of national crisis, the Federal Government always steps up. It must do so again now.

This tragic storm was an unfortunate wake-up call for New York that much more must be done.

We can either invest in protections now--or we will pay later.

New York has no choice. We must simultaneously rebuild and adapt to protect against future storms.

It would be penny-wise and a pound foolish to give LIPA $800 million without helping to harden and modernize an electric grid.

The tragic storm was an unfortunate wakeup call for New York that much more must be done by the Federal, State and local governments in our region to protect and fortify our vulnerable infrastructure from future storm surge activity.

Congress should focus on helping those in need and rebuilding communities, not on politics.

These are tough times and the support we have received from our colleagues has been exceptional.

Reserving the right to object, would this allow a vote, an up-or-down vote on the Coburn amendment? Would this allow an up-or- down vote on the Coburn amendment?

Let me be blunt: the process in many places in many ways is badly broken.

We can either invest now, or we will pay later.

I wake up every morning with a little bit of a knot in my stomach just thinking about what happened.

We need the Army Corps to start right away and do a study.

I feel so good about several in this Committee, many thanks.

The storm was an unfortunate wake up call, not only to New York and our neighboring States, but to the country and even the world about what we must do to protect our region.

Senator Schumer will come in, who has been a stalwart advocate for New York.

305,000 homes are seriously damaged or gone.

In other ways, it is much more devastating than Katrina.

One of the roles of the Federal Government is to keep people safe.

I think they just have to find a way to get around that. If they can do that, I think they can have a framework for everything else.

Senator Schumer and I, and others, have called for the banning of this practice.

I wish to thank Chairman Reed and Ranking Member Crapo for holding this important hearing today.

I look forward to today's hearing, and we should all look forward to pressing our regulators to address these questions.

As a New Yorker, I look forward to having him join our city because the International Court of Trade sits in New York, and it is one of the most crucial courts in our country, and he would be a welcome addition.

Ms. Failla is being nominated to the court that is the oldest court in the Nation, even older than the Supreme Court.