Political Quotes

“The dispatch with which the committee has moved forward made it not possible for me to offer the amendment that I was going to offer formally, but I just intend to deal with the issue very briefly for the committee and look forward to trying to work with the committee going forward. Six years ago, in section 2032 of WRDA 2007, Congress directed the President to issue a report describing the vulnerability of the United States to damage from flooding. In addition to examining the risk to public health and property, Congress instructed the President to undertake an assessment of existing programs to address flooding, the effectiveness of those programs, and recommendations about how to improve them. Unfortunately, despite almost daily reminders that we see about flooding in the news, this report has yet to be written. The President has requested funding for this study in its annual budget requests for the Corps of Engineers. The fiscal year 2014 budget calls this study a ``high priority evaluation of the Nation's vulnerability to inland and coastal flooding and of the effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of existing programs and strategies.'' I agree. And the amendment that I would have offered would seek to provide funding for the Corps to finally undertake the study. The need is clear. Flooding is America's most common natural disaster. From 2002 to 2011, total flood insurance claims averaged more than $2.9 billion a year.…”