Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I thank Mr. McGovern of the Rules Committee for making this vital amendment in order. The base text of the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2019 provides critical relief for natural disasters that have recently plagued our Nation. The supplemental is necessary, and it is needed, but we do have a problem, and it is a problem that we have to fix. The interior West and, for example, my home State of Utah have been largely ignored. My amendment seeks to rectify this and seeks to increase funding for the West to address the impacts of ongoing drought and, something that we are all aware of, the catastrophic wildfires that we have been experiencing. The amendment provides increased funding for hazardous fuel management activities in the hopes of doing three things: first, to increase the resiliency of our forest; second, to protect against future catastrophic fires; and, third, to reduce the amount of damage caused by these fires. Like many Western States, and, as I mentioned, my home State of Utah, we suffered a devastating fire season that burned countless acres and threatened life and property. Now we are left with the scars of the burns that can be almost as damaging, with flooding, mudslides, and threats to water supplies. If adopted, my amendment will not only help mitigate the losses from past fires but help to create future resiliency in our forests and lessen the devastating aftermath. The simple fact is, we can do better.…”