American Relief Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I will not use 15 minutes, but I do want to just let our colleagues know that I am very pleased that we are on the verge of passing long overdue relief desperately needed by communities that are recovering from disaster, as well as avoiding a damaging shutdown.

The only reason it took so long and this much chaos to get here is that House Republicans chose chaos and chose to follow the whims of the richest man in the world. Needless to say, that is not how this should work.

But I am glad that at the end of the day, we will avoid a shutdown and get disaster relief out to families and communities that are struggling after being hit by hurricanes and fires and floods and so much more.

I worked hard with Members on both sides of the aisle to finally get this aid across the line and to make sure we did so in a comprehensive way that meets the wide range of critical needs in the country, because it is painfully clear there are so many communities that are still reeling from hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, flooding, and more that really do need this support.

So, despite all the unnecessary chaos and delay, I am glad we are finally here, getting this done. This relief will make a critical difference for folks who have lost it all and are simply working to get their feet back underneath them.

I urge all of my colleagues to join me in passing this package so we can get this over the line and avoid a needless shutdown as we head into the holidays.

Finally, one last important thing. I want to recognize my colleagues who helped pull this relief package together, especially my vice chair on Appropriations, Senator Collins, who has been a critical partner, and our House counterparts, Congresswoman DeLauro and Congressman Cole, who have pushed so hard to get this disaster relief done.

Of course, I want to thank all of our staff, especially Evan Schatz, our staff director, who worked so hard around the clock to pull together not just the disaster relief in this package but so many other critical funding packages and proposals over the last 2 years I have been chair of the Appropriations Committee. The work is never easy, and I am incredibly grateful to our entire team and to all of our colleagues who have been working so hard.

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