Political Quotes

“The purpose of H.R. 1665 is to ensure that, in making a recommendation to the President for a major disaster declaration, the Administrator of FEMA looks at the intensity of the impact in a localized area as well as the impact on other recent disasters. My colleagues from Illinois are to be commended for working so persistently on this bipartisan piece of legislation. Their Illinois districts have been impacted by several devastating disasters, but each time the communities were told that the damage was not severe enough to warrant Federal disaster assistance. In recent years, there has been more evidence of devastated small and rural communities not receiving disaster assistance in a fair manner compared to other larger communities and neighboring States. I know all too well how devastating this can be for those affected by disaster, as I am dealing with a similar issue in northeastern Pennsylvania. In March, much of the area I represent was hit with a crippling snowstorm that dumped as much as 30 inches of snow or more. Municipalities had to exhaust much of their yearly budgets on snow removal efforts and emergency services. However, due to the fact that the statewide threshold needed for Pennsylvania to request reimbursement funding from the Federal Government was not met, local municipalities were left with massive holes in their budgets.…”