Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to enter into a colloquy with the chairman, Mr. Inouye, and vice chairman, Mr. Cochran, of the Senate Appropriations Committee, as well as my colleague from Tennessee, Mr. Alexander. I want to thank my colleagues who have recognized the needs of Rhode Island, which is struggling to overcome the effects of the worst flooding in centuries in midst of the worst economic environment in generations. Indeed, Rhode Island was among the first States to sink into recession. In the last 2 years it has consistently ranked among the top three States in unemployment, with as much as 13 percent of the workforce without jobs. As my colleagues know, Rhode Island has been fortunate for many decades until now to have avoided the kind of major natural disaster damage that has affected so many other States. When those disasters have occurred in other States, there has been no question about the support of the people of Rhode Island or our State's congressional delegation for Federal disaster assistance. I am grateful that in the midst of challenging fiscal environment that the committee, on a bipartisan basis has included assistance for flood-impacted States, specifically Rhode Island and Tennessee. I am particularly grateful for the inclusion of additional community development block grant, CDBG, and economic development assistance, EDA, grant funding, along with a reduction of the non-Federal cost share for FEMA assistance.…”