Political Quotes

“Every year that I have had the honor to serve Oklahoma's First Congressional District, I have also faced the unfortunate reality that I will lose constituents to tornadoes, as will many of us who represent constituents in Oklahoma. This terrible fact has motivated me and others from our delegation to work hard for policies that will save lives and property and move us to a day where we have zero deaths from tornadoes or other extreme weather events. I would like to thank Chairman Smith, Vice Chairman Lucas, and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Bonamici for their tireless efforts to see this bipartisan legislation move forward. The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is the product of extensive negotiations between the Environment Subcommittee, which I chair, and the Senate Commerce Committee, and I am proud of the bipartisan and bicameral agreement that this bill represents. H.R. 353 directs the NOAA Administrator to prioritize activities that will save lives and protect property. Again, this is critically important to my State, which is in the heart of tornado alley. This legislation will help NOAA develop more accurate and timely warnings for hurricanes, tornadoes, and other high-impact weather events. It calls on NOAA to develop a plan to maintain forecasting capabilities that are second to none in the world, primarily because, by some metrics, we lag behind our counterparts in Europe, the U.K. and Canada.…”