Sheila Jackson Lee: “Let me thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for his leadership. He has been particularly helpful in thinking through…”

“Let me thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for his leadership. He has been particularly helpful in thinking through how we can work together on the multiple crises that Texas, Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico are facing. Let me thank the manager of the bill for working on these issues as well. Let me first of all indicate, as I have done earlier today, that I understand that the FAA extension is a clean extension which I will support, recognizing the international airport that is in my district. But again, I will seek the important leadership on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and particularly, the ranking member, when it comes to dealing with not supporting privatization of air traffic controllers. I want to speak specifically to the hurricane tax relief. As I do so, let me particularly make mention that I had hoped this bill would have an extension of the CHIP program and the community health centers. Maybe we can work on that, because I know in many of our communities impacted by the hurricanes, those elements are important, community health centers, and, certainly, the Children's Health Insurance Program. I do want to make a point to say that I wish we could have gone further. I know that there were at least 21 different tax credits or exemptions that we could have had to help those who are impacted by the hurricanes, but these, I want to cite and say that I appreciate them being utilized for my constituents now.…”