Calling for Vote on Disaster Funding
Floor Speech
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Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, I thank Dr. Dunn for his work here this evening to bring attention to something that is critical for not only our great citizens in Florida, North Florida, but of course we heard about North Carolina, Nebraska; and, of course, we have been waiting since last October in Georgia.
You have heard about devastation from Hurricane Michael. It left a tremendous trail of destruction. It was a Category 3 storm that reached my district with winds over 100 miles per hour. We lost trees, power lines, crops, poultry houses, and much more.
While traveling the district, I was able to see firsthand the heart- wrenching wreckage that Hurricane Michael left behind, and it is still there to this day, nearly 6 months later.
Many of our farmers in my district are struggling to survive. I mean, we had cotton on the ground, probably the best harvest we were going to have in a long time. Gone.
In addition to Hurricane Michael, it is also important to highlight the need for the assistance we have been working to secure for our blueberry and peach producers in the State who still suffer from losses and damaged bushes and trees resulting from late season freezes.
Not a day goes by that I don't hear from a Georgia-12 farmer about the urgency of providing disaster relief funding immediately.
And just last week, Senate Democrats chose to block a desperately- needed bipartisan disaster relief package that would have provided critical funding to our communities, not only in Georgia, but across the Nation that have been affected by these disasters.
Let me just say this: Holding farmers who feed and clothe our Nation hostage over partisan politics is downright shameful.
I cannot stress enough that local farmers must obtain bank loans ahead of the upcoming planting season. So the urgency of getting a bill passed in both Chambers and sent to the President cannot be overstated. We do not have time for political games aimed at undermining our President.
Madam Speaker, agriculture is the number 1 industry in Georgia and in the 12th District of Georgia. I know this process has been more challenging than many of our farmers could have imagined, and I just want to reiterate that I will always stand with rural America 100 percent.
I will not stop working until the farmers of the 12th District of Georgia and across our great State get this disaster relief that they need and deserve.
I would like to thank Senators Perdue and Isakson for leading the effort in the Senate, my colleagues Austin Scott, Sanford Bishop, and Neal Dunn, and others that you will hear from here tonight in the House, and all of my colleagues here this evening for the commitment to getting this done. It cannot wait any longer.
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