FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of Bill Shuster. I am also supporting the bill. But I want to thank Bill for being a person who is constructive, visionary, and works across the aisle with constructive ideas. He has made a difference in this House. His father made a difference in this House. I thank him for his service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. It includes key changes to the Stafford Act that I have been working on with Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Bishop for many, many months. I have advocated for over the past year to permit Federal disaster aid funding to be used to not only reconstruct what stood before, but to build to 21st century standards.

Importantly, the bill puts an emphasis on pre-disaster mitigation. The emphasis is on actions taken to lessen the impact of future disasters. Last year, natural disasters cost the Nation a record $306 billion, eclipsing the previous record of $265 billion set in 2005.

If we fail to do this, if we fail to mitigate, then we will have forsaken the lessons of Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, Maria, and now Florence, or the devastating wildfires of the West. For every dollar spent in mitigating future disasters, we save between $4 and $8 in avoided future recovery efforts. This just makes sense.

Last year, when I traveled with Majority Leader McCarthy to Puerto Rico and to the U.S. Virgin Islands with Mr. Bishop, the chairman of the committee, to see the aftermath of Hurricanes Maria and Irma, I saw Americans struggling without power, access to clean water, basic health services, or shelter over their heads.

The majority leader and I came away from that visit determined to help these communities. Chairman Bishop joined with us. So I thank the committee.

I want to thank Mr. DeFazio, too, who like Mr. Shuster is a constructive, positive Member who wants to make a difference for our country. My constituents thank him, and the country thanks him.

I come to support a bill that was fashioned by two people who wanted to make sure that we did positive things in this House. The American people can be proud of our work today.

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