Political Quotes

“I thank my friend from New York, and I rise in strong support of this legislation. I must say Tuesday night when I found out that we were not taking this legislation up in the previous Congress, it was the angriest I've been since I've been a Member of Congress. In the last 20 years, this is the longest that people affected by natural disasters have waited for Congress to provide them the needed relief. It's really not acceptable. I have voted for aid for all areas of the country, wherever there has been a natural disaster. The Northeast now deserves the same. I would remind my colleagues that New York has been a donor State. We give more to the Federal Government than we take back. Now we need help. Politics should not be played with the help that we need. We should be supporting the entire package. I'm sorry we are not voting for the entire package today. As was mentioned before, we now have to wait for the Senate to pass whatever we pass. This could have been done and gone on Tuesday night, and the aid would have been speeding to the people. This simply is not acceptable, and I hope there's no further delay. My constituents are suffering. The people of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are suffering. Congress needs to get out of the way now and send not only this $9.7 billion in flood insurance, but the entire package.”