Congressman Gregory W. Meeks House Floor Statement on Hurricane Sandy Relief

January 2, 2013

Congressman Gregory W. Meeks House Floor Statement on Hurricane Sandy Relief

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Meeks (NY-05) spoke on the House Floor today, calling on House Republicans to consider the Hurricane Sandy supplemental legislation before adjourning the 112th Congress. Below are his remarks:

“Last night when I came to the floor, for the first time since I have been in this body, my heart was hurting. I understand politics, but this should not be about politics. This should be about leadership. The first thing I want to do is say to the Speaker, come walk with me, Mr. Speaker. Come walk with me. Let's walk the beaches of the Rockaway Peninsula. You'll see a place where every soul, no matter whether you were rich or whether you were poor, no matter whether you were black or whether you were white, every individual, no matter what your religious belief was, every individual was affected by this storm. Everyone.”

“Come walk with me, Mr. Speaker, and talk to the people, look into their eyes, understand their needs. Come walk with me, Mr. Speaker. Maybe then you can have the leadership that is necessary to get this bill passed today. Come walk with me, Mr. Speaker. If you can't walk with me, Mr. Speaker, for any reason, then go walk with Michael Grim. If it's a partisan issue for you, because it's not for me, go walk with Michael Grim from Staten Island, Mr. Speaker. You will see the same pain that the people on the Rockaway Peninsula have. It's the same pain because they are the same people. They are American people. And this is the United States of America, and this is the people's House.”

“We make jokes all the time about the Senate, but the Senate stood up and passed the bill to fund the recovery from Hurricane Sandy. This is the people's House, Mr. Speaker. We are supposed to do the right thing for the people, the American people. I'm proud to be on the foreign affairs committee, going all over the world talking about what we’ve got to do, and how we help folks. How we help other individuals, and what we have as Americans. We have Americans, Mr. Speaker, who are crying out for help. Who are saying that they don't know where their tomorrow is. They are asking me as their member of Congress, needing the government to help. Asking, “Where are you?” Mr. Speaker, we need leadership. Come walk with me, and see the American people that are suffering."(End)