Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman, my good friend from New Jersey. I want to say that this amendment would do serious damage to our efforts in terms of the National Weather Service. In the mark of the House and the Senate appropriation bills for FY13, we had this $13 million. It improves our forecasting. What does that mean on the ground? What it means on the ground, all across our country, when there is a severe weather incident, it means that we will have better information for evacuation purposes, if needed. It's about $1 million a mile to evacuate. It's about saving lives. So when the gentleman, who is the maker of this amendment, said that he wished we could do this faster and he's not opposed to us having better information, then I join with him in part, in that part, because this is about providing necessary information to the American public about severe weather incidents and saving lives. This is money that both the House and the Senate intended to provide, but in the 112th we were unable to complete our work. This is vitally important to every single Member in this House in their districts, the businesses and families alike, that the National Weather Service and the satellite system be upgraded as quickly as possible. We've had the greatest series of severe weather events--over $1 billion each--that we've ever had in our history.…”