Political Quotes

“I thank my friends from North Carolina, Senator Budd and Senator Tillis. Let me acknowledge in front of you that you guys got hit the hardest, but we got hit as well in southwest Virginia, and we have got communities that without this relief are going to die. I want to echo what both of my colleagues have said in that this RELIEF Act is bipartisan. It is what we do as a matter of course when an entity like the SBA runs out of money. Since October 15, 34,000 businesses across the country have applied for SBA relief. Many of them have gotten approved, but they get a response that says: We will give you money when Congress does its job. This is done as a matter of course, and, frankly, the SBA screwed up a little bit on not getting better numbers before we broke before the election. Let me take one moment and tell you about a community in particular in southwest Virginia. Damascus, VA, was an old town. Basically, its economy had disappeared. It came back because there is something called the Creeper Trail, with biking and hiking. I bike this trail. And, Senator Tillis, parts of that trail are gone now. We have 34 road trestles, and 18 of them are damaged or gone. We have got part of our road that gets to the top of the mountain that is gone as well. I went to Damascus, and I went to 10 jurisdictions in southwest Virginia, but in this little town, every business and home was affected. One guy had three businesses--two restaurants and a bed and breakfast.…”