Political Quotes

“I rise today to ask my colleagues to support this cloture motion this afternoon and move forward in passing the continuing resolution to fund our government through December 9. Flooding is a national emergency. I have heard many Members talk about the flooding in Louisiana, West Virginia, and Texas. It is a devastating circumstance we find ourselves in in the State of West Virginia. Twenty-three West Virginians lost their lives. Amazingly, the last victim was found--a 14-year-old girl--probably just a month ago. Twelve counties were declared Federal disaster areas. For some areas of West Virginia, this was a thousand-year event. It came up so quickly. Some of our oldest and our poorest communities suffered serious destruction, and nearly 90 percent of the homes and businesses affected did not have flood insurance. I toured most all of the affected areas and talked to some very brave people and very brave local mayors, who were doing a great job. There are 5,100 homes and businesses that have suffered a loss, as verified by FEMA. Seventy-five percent of the affected homes have been deemed unsafe by inspectors, so we have thousands of people who are not living in a permanent home situation. Some are still living in temporary situations that are unsafe, and certainly, moving into the fall, it would be very unhealthy.…”