Political Quotes

“I just returned from South Carolina. I am sure many Members of the body have been watching this drama unfold on television. I have never seen anything like it. I was in the Charleston area over the weekend. There was 18 inches in about 24 hours, and Columbia, SC, is really under siege. It is a thousand-year historic rain. I am not a meteorologist, but it seems as if everything bad that could happen did happen to send the water and the rain to South Carolina. All 46 counties have received Federal emergency declaration. There has been a verbal request for a major disaster declaration for 11 counties; 1,300 National Guard deployed and 7,000 more on standby; the entire State trooper force is on the road; 1,250 South Carolina DOT maintenance employees working; 550 road closures; 150 bridge closures; 26,000 and climbing without power; 40,000 and climbing without water; there have been 9 deaths. The economic damage--we don't know yet. There will be an insurance component, and there will be a disaster relief component. As we get through this and look at the damages--that comes later--we are not going to ask the Federal Government to do anything beyond the responsibility of the government. We will not turn this into a pile-on party. The bottom line is I really appreciate my colleagues coming up and offering their assistance and their prayers to the people of South Carolina.…”