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Floor Speech

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Mr. WELCH. Madam President, Vermonters are experiencing a lot of anguish now. This photograph depicts flooding that we had in Barre a year ago and is here with us again. A year to the day, we had a return of flooding. We had devastating flooding in 2023.

Parts of the Northeast Kingdom, 2 weeks later, would flood again. They were hit with 8 inches of rain--heavy rain--which caused more flash floods in the Northeast Kingdom. And today--today--6 more inches of rain is in the forecast.

I come to the Senate floor tonight, when Vermont is in crisis, and I am asking for my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, for us to come together and approve the President's supplemental disaster funding request. It will help Vermonters rebuild from heavy rains, flash flooding, and mudslides that have brutally devastated our State. It will help other communities around the Nation that have had their own weather events that have done so much harm to their communities.

One year ago this month, the heavy rainfall required 214 swift boat water rescues--literally, some of our first responder folks showing up in boats to help people get out of their homes. Infrastructure was really hit hard, with 409 miles of rail, 64 State bridges, and 46 State roads closed. Madam President, 139 of our municipalities experienced flood-related damage. There was $553 million in public assistance need reported and $118 million for businesses on their damages. We also saw 18 drinking water and 33 wastewater systems damaged. Three wastewater systems were totally destroyed.

President Biden has revised his disaster supplemental request to account for Vermont's disaster last year. That will help us immensely, but Vermont absolutely needs the increased funding. The Department of Transportation Emergency Relief Program and the Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program and the Federal Emergency Management Agency Disaster Relief Fund all need supplemental funding, as well as more funding for the Department of Transportation CDBG disaster recovery grants. Those are flexible and really help the communities. That is needed very, very much.

And today I joined with my colleagues from Vermont, Senator Sanders and Representative Balint, in urging congressional leadership and bipartisan Appropriations Committee leadership to advance a supplemental package quickly.

We need Federal dollars to help support our farms. Our businesses need help. Families need help. So many families, hard-working Vermonters, were hit by these floods; 18 shelters opened, and over 3,000 households were approved for FEMA housing assistance.

And this is really, really tough, Madam President. Vermont is on a long road to recovery. We are resilient, and we believe that brighter days are ahead. But for many families, this is the second time in 2 years. And how much can they really endure, especially when getting answers down the road from FEMA gets very complicated, very bureaucratic, and inflicts a lot of emotional pain that could be avoided if we could be quicker and faster.

I have promised Vermonters that I would bring their voices to the Senate with me and share their stories. In the past month, I have been to Montpelier, Hardwick, Barnet, St. Johnsbury, Peacham, and Lyndonville to visit with homeowners, businesses, farms, and communities impacted by the flooding.

Hardwick lost four bridges in flooding this month. Three of those bridges were wiped out last year--the second time in 2 years. And these are small communities where folks on the select board are also the emergency responders; they are also the health officer. And they are incredible, what they do. The Presiding Officer knows this from her own service as Senator and as Governor. It is amazing how resilient they are. But they can't do it alone. They need our help.

I met with a Vermont farmer in Hardwick, somebody who started years ago what has become a very successful enterprise but also a farm-to- table, farm-to-farmstand business model in Vermont. He lost topsoil, and many of his crops were destroyed. A restaurant owner in Lyndonville had to make the tough decision to close instead of reopening. And Lyndonville was hit again in the middle of the night just 2 days ago.

Healthcare leaders in the area are also very worried about mental health and the stress on families. Every time they see a homeowner-- parents--where their homes have been wiped out, the overriding concern they have is for the well-being of their kids and the stability that they need to restore to their kids. And when that happens 2 years in a row, that is asking a lot.

In Peacham, I talked with two families whose homes were so damaged that there is no reasonable prospect that they will be repaired. They can only hope for the home to be bought out. But, again, that takes response that we are not getting, oftentimes, down the road with the bureaucracy, unfortunately, that we have to, I think, fix.

In Barnet, I met farmers who were trying to salvage what they could and make the best of the remainder of the season.

And again, I am speaking to the Presiding Officer, who just knows this from our shared border. The folks on the Presiding Officer's side of the river and my side of the river have a lot in common, and we admire them; but we have got to do our part here in Congress to help them help themselves.

I have sat down with small business owners in Montpelier and across the State, and they are struggling with the high cost of recovery from last year's flooding. Many have been hit twice or three times over. Those spared by the flooding are feeling, nevertheless, the impacts of the lost revenue because business has declined in the area.

Madam President, the Federal funding is really, really critical for Vermont. It is not just Vermont. I know my colleague Senator Schatz from Hawaii, who is chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee, is working very hard because it is his community, it is Vermont, it is Houston, it is communities throughout the country that are being affected by these once-in-100-year weather events that are coming every year or every 2 years. It is really happening.

We can't recover without that Federal help. I just can't stress this enough. We need Congress to step up, and we need the help of all of us here because, while it is Vermont this time, it may be New Hampshire next time; it may be Texas next month. And I believe all of us have to help one another when an event occurs causing such harm to people we represent and it is through no fault of their own.

Now, it is disappointing to me, to say the least, that Congress is getting ready to go on a recess without having gotten this done. It is my hope that getting disaster funding will be a top priority when we come back in September--not just for Vermont but for all of the communities around the country that need Congress to act.

Vermont's communities and communities across the country are counting on us. I implore my colleagues, all of us: Let's do this, first order of business, when we return in September.

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