Political Quotes

“I rise tonight to begin this hour to put a great spotlight on what is occurring in the southeastern region of the United States. You know, when you look at the statistics and you look at the effects, there is only one word that can describe the drought that has gripped the southeastern United States, and that is ``tragic.'' If you look at this map to my right, you see that the Southeast is this large red area. And you also have some of the same effects in some parts of the west coast, and we've seen the effects of what's happening there with the terrible fires that are now taking place out in California. Mr. Speaker, this is a disaster, not like a tornado or a hurricane or even any major catastrophic event. When you have a big storm or you have an earthquake, it's over, you come in and put things back together, you're able to start sorting people's lives out. But a drought of the magnitude of the one that is now gripping the Southeast is sort of a continual process. It started well over a year ago. We had a dry winter, we had a dry fall, last year a dry winter, this past year, and now this year. And I will talk about it more as the evening goes on. We have places in my home State and in other places of the Southeast where we are 20 inches of rain below normal. And I will talk about that and will have more to say about it as the evening goes on. But this impact adds up over time. It impacts every person in the Southeast.”