Joe Crowley: “I thank the gentlewoman from New York for yielding me this time, and I thank her for her work. I thank Mr.…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from New York for yielding me this time, and I thank her for her work. I thank Mr. Frelinghuysen, as well, for his work and my colleagues on the other side, but I have reservations, strong reservations about this bill. I appreciate the very real needs of those still recovering, our American citizens and friends and family in Florida and Texas, and that concern is genuine. I have always supported aid to other parts of the country, even when some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle refused to help New York and left New York hanging after Superstorm Sandy. I have never let that get in the way of my wanting to be helpful to my fellow citizens anywhere in this country who are under duress. But I can't, in good conscience, vote for this bill. It leaves some of the hardest hit and most vulnerable Americans, American citizens, without the help that they need. It treats Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as second-class citizens--not second-class people, but second- class, literally, citizens--and will stall the efforts there to rebuild. I appreciate Mr. Culberson saying that the people of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are a long way from recovery. I am paraphrasing what he said. I do appreciate those words.…”