Humanity Must Always Take Precedence

Floor Speech

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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about Americans who are hurting, who have been suffering over the last 10 days as a result of the fires that have occurred in Los Angeles and south coast basin.

What we are talking about is the moral imperative of what America has always done to help the American people when they are in need, whether it is hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, earthquakes, fires, or natural disasters of every kind you can imagine.

In the wildfires that have ravaged Los Angeles and south coast basin, over 40,000 acres have burned, 12,000 buildings have been destroyed, and 24 lives and counting have been lost. There certainly will be more. That is more than 30,000 football fields. Think about it.

The pain, the suffering, the social, and the economic losses--from homes to businesses to churches and synagogues--have changed people's way of life.

I am appalled to hear that some of my Republican friends are openly discussing conditioning wildfire relief upon their partisan agendas. That is wrong. We should not forget that over $120 million of hurricane relief was provided to the State of Louisiana when they needed it over the last 20 years. Humanity must always take precedence over partisanship.

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