Calling for Vote on Disaster Funding

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I thank Dr. Dunn for the work that he has done, as well as my other colleagues, Representative Austin Scott, Representative Sanford Bishop, and Representative Martha Roby. All of these fine legislators have worked diligently on this, and I thank them for their efforts, as well as others.

Madam Speaker, I have the honor and the privilege of representing the First Congressional District of Georgia. The First Congressional District of Georgia includes the entire coast of Georgia, over 100 miles of coastline. We have a lot to be thankful for, a lot to be proud of. We have two major seaports and four military installations, Moody Air Force Base, Kings Bay Naval Base, Fort Stewart, and Hunter Army Airfield. We have the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. We have two Coast Guard stations, one in Savannah and one in Brunswick.

We have so much to be thankful for, but we also have a very strong agriculture community, particularly in the western portion of our district. It is very, very important.

Madam Speaker, much of the State of Georgia is in need right now, and they can't wait any longer.

In the First Congressional District of Georgia over the past few years, we have had hurricanes. We had Hurricane Matthew, Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane Michael. We have had fires. We had the West Mims Fire. We have had freezes and harsh freezing conditions that impacted our agriculture community.

These disasters have been detrimental to agriculture in Georgia. By the way, agriculture in Georgia is our largest industry. That is very important and very important for the First District.

In fact, just to be specific, blueberries, which are the leading fruit now in the State of Georgia, blueberries alone make up a $1 billion industry. That is ``billion'' with a B, a $1 billion industry. Those farmers are the backbones of their communities.

Blueberry farmers, in some areas, their crops make up 30 percent of the portfolios of banks. That is significant to these communities, and we simply cannot allow these farmers to continue going without this assistance.

The banks are waiting for many of these farmers to repay their loans. It is putting them in jeopardy of not being able to farm next year and putting entire rural economies at risk. When you put 30 percent of your portfolio at risk, you are putting your community at risk.

Congressional inaction on this is absolutely unacceptable.

The Senate's failure to pass disaster aid last week was one of the worst moments that I have experienced in Washington since I have come to Congress.

These people need assistance, Madam Speaker. They need assistance. We need to help them. The American farmer feeds the world. Georgia farmers are an integral part of this. Blueberries are an important crop in our district. Agriculture is the number one industry in Georgia.

It is time for us to respond to this. This is what we are to do as Members of Congress. We cannot simply ignore this. It will not go away.

We need these farmers. They need our help, and we need to respond.

Madam Speaker, I encourage all my colleagues to support disaster aid.

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