On the recordMay 14, 2013
I thank the Senator from California and the chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee for her work on this important project. I do wish to mention we have in Vermont one small concern that I hope will be addressed in this bill. In Vermont we have suffered through Irene, and it was a devastating experience for many communities in the State and for businesses. The problem we are having now is that we have State regulations which correctly require that culverts be built which can, in fact, deal with the real problems of flooding. Unfortunately, what FEMA is prepared to pay for is inadequate infrastructure--culverts, among other things, that will not address the problem if we have to deal with another problem such as Irene. This is a very modest proposal. Senator Leahy and I feel strongly about this issue. I know the chairperson is sympathetic. There appears to be some problems on the other side, and I very much hope we can resolve this.
