Joe Wilson: “I rise today really to offer my thanks to the chairman and the ranking member for including in this supplemental claims…”

“I rise today really to offer my thanks to the chairman and the ranking member for including in this supplemental claims for the Cerro Grande fire in New Mexico. It was less than 2 months ago now when the National Park Service lit a fire that destroyed the homes of over 400 families in the town of Los Alamos in northern New Mexico. And in less than 2 months, some folks working very hard here have come up with a way to compensate the victims and try to get them on the path to rebuilding their homes and their lives. I particularly wanted to thank Senator Domenici and Senator Bingaman for their leadership. I wanted to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young); the Speaker, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert); the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis); and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hobson) for their hard work and their willingness to include this claims language and the compensation in this bill. From the people of New Mexico, we thank you very much.”