Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I many consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Senate amendment to H.R. 7077, the Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act. This bipartisan legislation would give the U.S. Fire Administration the authority to send specialists to assist local firefighter investigators in onsite investigations of major fires. According to the National Fire Protection Association, last year had the highest number of home fire deaths in 14 years. As was mentioned, families in Representative Torres' district know the devastation of major fires after suffering through New York City's deadliest fire in over three decades. This single fire claimed the lives of 17 residents, including 8 children. By empowering the U.S. Fire Administration to partner with local fire departments, we can better determine the root cause of these tragedies and make sure that they never happen again. The U.S. Fire Administration is housed within FEMA, and it has valuable and lifesaving resources on preventing, responding to, and investigating fires. This bill would ensure that State and local governments can access their expertise and, hopefully, prevent major fires in the future. The bill directs incident investigators to examine the determined cause and origins of fires.…”