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Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, with last week's election results, the American people have given Republicans an incredible mandate: Secure the border, strengthen the economy, restore law and order, and do so much more that is going to put this country back on the right track.

It is pretty amazing--70 percent of the American people feel like this country is on the wrong track, and we are going to need to wait until the new year to start fully enacting the strong, conservative agenda; and we are still going to have a lot to do here in this Congress before we are sworn in.

Now, I have got something to put at the top of that to-do list, and that is ensuring that our hurricane survivors in Tennessee and across the southeast receive the disaster assistance that they desperately need.

No one ever thought that such a storm would end up in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, but it did. And the damage assessments show what Tennessee is facing in our affected counties to restore our communities so that people are able to live; to work; to rear their families; so that the kids are able to go to school.

And we know that it is going to have quite a cost to it. The estimate for repairing roads, bridges, and infrastructure from Hurricane Helene tops $510 million. Think about that. You have got an area in upper East Tennessee--7 counties--and you are looking at over a half billion dollars to repair the infrastructure.

Now, on top of this, we have got more than 1,500 homes that are not livable--503 of those homes were completely destroyed. And being on the ground in Tennessee, you have heard stories of how people saw their homes just being washed away.

And we know that this is going to take a while. Our Tennessee Emergency Management Agency has been on the ground from day one; and they are working with these homes, with these communities, and with the 209 businesses that have been impacted--and 36 of those companies were completely destroyed.

The total economic losses to Tennessee's agriculture and forest industries, meanwhile, have been estimated at $1.3 billion, and that is according to the UT Institute of Agriculture.

So you can see devastating loss--devastating loss--from one area of Tennessee in these counties that border North Carolina and sit there along the Nolichucky River and the Doe River and the devastation that has been unprecedented.

I have found it really quite amazing that when you look at what happened in Southwest Virginia and North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, that the estimates are about $50 billion in damages.

Now, as I mentioned, being on the ground really tells a story that is much more pointed and explicit than what you see in pictures or in video. And once you are on the ground, you can truly understand the devastation and the depth and breadth of this devastation.

I have been in upper East Tennessee and in every one of these affected counties five times, and I have visited communities that have been isolated because of road closures, because bridges have been completely washed out. I have talked with business owners that have lost it all, just have lost everything that they have worked for, and I have met with families whose entire homes have been washed away.

One family that I was visiting with in Johnson County, they were staying right there at the disaster relief agency because that is where they could find a place to lay their head, get a hot meal. The devastation is just unprecedented.

And in the middle of all of this, I have seen what makes Tennessee so unique. We are known as the Volunteer State. And, indeed, we do have that volunteer spirit. And seeing the way that neighbors have stood up and helped their neighbors and have come to their aid--food, shelter, clothing, cleaning supplies--indeed, if you were to go to the Bristol Motor Speedway--somewhere that people go to watch the races--what you would see is an entire building that has been turned into a command center and also a disaster relief center with pallets of water and food and cleaning supplies and linens and furniture and clothing, everything that is needed to get people back on the right track.

Now, I will say this: Our Governor--Governor Bill Lee--our State emergency management agency, and our local mayors deserve a lot of credit. These local elected officials are the first ones on the ground, and they were on the ground immediately--all of our local law enforcement, our first responders, our county emergency management agencies--and they stepped up. They went into action, and they moved forward immediately to start to come around individuals who were losing it all, who were fighting to find people that they feared had lost their lives.

But we know that Federal support is going to prove vital to these communities being able to stand up. They are not asking for handouts. They are asking for help and a hand up so that they can rebuild.

And, unfortunately, what we are seeing is Tennesseans are struggling to get access to these Federal programs. Just 2 weeks after Hurricane Helene struck, we had the Small Business Administration announce that it had run out of funds for its disaster loan program. Now, the fiscal year started October 1; this storm happened on September 27, and you have the SBA saying 2 weeks into the fiscal year they have used every penny of their disaster loan program. And we know this is an essential lifeline for businesses to help them to stay in operation and to keep employees on the payroll.

And after spending almost half of its disaster budget in the first week of October, FEMA also warned that it may have to restrict funding for rebuilding efforts--that includes repairs for infrastructure and water treatment facilities.

This shortfall is absolutely inexcusable. The mismanagement is inexcusable.

Just days after Hurricane Helene struck Tennessee, I joined my Senate colleagues who represent the States impacted by the storm in calling for a Federal disaster relief package to aid rescue, recovery, and rebuilding efforts. We need to address the needs of our farmers whose crop fields face devastating flooding. I have joined the entire Tennessee delegation in urging House and Senate leadership to pass agricultural disaster assistance.

So with Congress back in session, we should waste no time. And before we get to next year's agenda, we should put at the top of the to-do list: addressing the needs of those who have been so devastated--their lives, their businesses, their homes--everything devastated by these floods.

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