Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this legislation. This legislation is the first necessary step that's needed to provide the assistance and relief and aid that the people of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut require after the most devastating storm in the history of our region, in many ways, one of the top two or three, unfortunately, most severe storms in the history of our Nation. This legislation is essential because people are suffering, and the suffering increases each day. And as I said, this is the first major step that we're taking. Hopefully, this process will be completed on January 15. I want to thank the leadership of both parties for coming together on this. I want to emphasize that this legislation is vital. This is not a handout. This is not something we're looking for as a favor. What we're asking for is to be treated the same as victims in all other storms, all other natural disasters have been treated. Also, I think it's important to lay out, because this is part of a process, that, in the legislation that was originally going to be introduced in this House, there was never an earmark in the bill; there was never any extraneous spending the bill. I think it's important for the Members in both parties to realize that. The House of Representatives' bill was always targeted toward victims of Hurricane Sandy. It does not go beyond that. It's important to lay that out.…”