Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Raskin for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule for H.R. 268, the Disaster Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2019. This bill would provide over $12 billion in necessary funds to help affected communities recover from natural disasters, including Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and farmers who lost crops due to Hurricanes Michael and Florence. I would like to thank my colleagues for introducing the underlying bill and for making in order an amendment to prevent these funds from being used to plan, develop, or construct a new border barrier. Sadly, this amendment is necessary because this administration wants to divert critical disaster aid meant for other projects to go toward border wall construction. The reality is that our country needs help recovering from some of the greatest natural disasters we have seen in our lifetimes. Puerto Rico is still recovering from the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria, a storm that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people. I am glad to see that the underlying text provides $600 million in disaster nutrition assistance to the island where over 3 million U.S. citizens reside. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure, the underlying text, and this important amendment. Let's hold this administration accountable and ensure they do not deceive the American people by pulling a bait-and-switch.”