Political Quotes

“I rise to highlight one of the most egregious problems in this severely deficient VA-HUD appropriations bill. Earlier today, my good friend Mr. Boyd, offered an amendment to increase funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency by $2.7 billion dollars, and match the President's budget request for this agency. Incredibly, when our Nation is facing potentially one of the worst hurricane seasons ever to be recorded, the majority party instead proposes to cut funding for FEMA, the agency that responds to such disasters. For those Members whose memories are short, let me remind them that in my state last year, nearly 60 people lost their lives and more than $6 billion dollars in damage occurred in the space of a month, due to hurricanes. My state is still suffering from the after effects of Hurricanes Dennis, Floyd and Irene, and we are still working to get emergency assistance from Congress. The other side says: let's not have money in the pipeline, ready to come to aid of any part of America that suffers a disaster. Instead, they say, we'll just take care of it in a supplemental, even though it may mean a delay of months before the assistance can be delivered. Victims of Hurricane Floyd in North Carolina still reside in temporary housing, and it grieves me to think they could be hit by another hurricane before they have an opportunity to finally leave their current shelters.”