Political Quotes

“I rise today to address a critical issue for Oregon's farmers and ranchers. If we turn the clock back from the most recent national disaster; that is, this terrible Hurricane Sandy that impacted New York and New Jersey and other areas, last summer we had another significant disaster, the worst wildfires to hit the State of Oregon since the 1800s and the worst wildfires in over a century. These wildfires devastated land and livestock. Yet our communities have been left stranded, without the protections they normally have, because of the inaction of the House and the Senate. The Long Draw Fire in Malheur County burned 557,000 acres. Let's translate that. That is 900 square miles of land. The Miller Homestead Fire burned 160,000 acres or 250 square miles. We have had many folks coming to the floor to discuss the terrible consequences of natural disasters. It was not long ago that I was on this floor, before Hurricane Sandy, calling for urgent, immediate action. But the challenge is that these emergency programs designed to respond to the ranchers and farmers who have lost so much land, so much forage in Oregon, those measures are in the farm bill. Never before has the farm bill been unfinished, unaddressed, while Congress took their month-long break in August. Yet there it is. We came back and here we are and we still have no action from the House. We can't have a conference committee because the House hasn't acted.…”