Political Quotes

“this evening I rise on the floor to speak for a few minutes in support of H.R. 5351, the National Emergency Management Reform and Enhancement Act, and to address the need for reform of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This legislation represents a significant victory for democratic principles of effective Federal action for the American people. Hurricane season starts in a little over a week, and just yesterday scientists at NOAA told us to expect another several months of dangerous storms. The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita on our fellow citizens on the gulf coast serves as a wake-up call that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was badly broken. Unfortunately, the inept response of many FEMA officials and the administration to this national disaster illustrated the degradation of an agency that once was a showplace of government responsiveness, efficiency, and professionalism. My State of North Carolina has been no stranger to hurricanes and natural disasters over the years, and FEMA personnel performed admirably as our State struggled to recover from Hurricane Fran in 1996 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999, as well as other floods, tornadoes, and ice storms. Fran featured devastating winds and Floyd produced a 500-year flood in northeastern North Carolina. Fortunately, then-FEMA director James Lee Witt was a professional with marching orders from the White House to do whatever was needed to save life and property.…”