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Floor Speech
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Mr. BUDD. Mr. President, I want to thank my friend Senator Tillis for his partnership not just for today but throughout this whole crisis in our State.
Hurricane Helene represents one of the worst natural disasters ever to happen to our State--in particular, Western North Carolina. More than, as he mentioned, 100 people were killed and hundreds more injured, and some are still missing.
Thousands of North Carolinians lost their homes and their family businesses. Every day that I was present in the region, I was stunned by the enormity of the damage. It is unlike anything I have ever seen.
Now, I went to college at Appalachian State in Boone, and you learn very quickly how tough these mountain folks are. They are proud. They are self-sufficient people. The citizens of Western North Carolina are some of the toughest, most resilient people around. They don't look for handouts. They don't complain. So when there is a need like this, government needs to be ready, needs to be there to help them.
They have to be able to access the loans from the SBA so they can continue to rebuild and recover their communities. Now, this program provides victims with low-interest loans to replace lost property or to rebuild their businesses or their homes or shops. This is very important because very few Helene victims--they don't have flood insurance, and it covers--you know, anything that covers a disaster of this magnitude.
Now, it is critical that this program be funded and effectively managed to get loan dollars flowing to those in need immediately, but, as my colleague mentioned, the SBA announced on October 15 that it ran out of money.
Now, every day that this fund sits empty, it further slows the process of rebuilding the lives for thousands of North Carolinians, and that is why we are here. We have to replenish it, and we need to do it now.
So I stand ready to work with my Senate colleagues to cut through the delays and provide the folks of Western North Carolina and the whole Appalachia region the resources they need as quickly as possible. So in this spirit, I strongly want to support Senator Tillis's RELIEF Act to refill the SBA's Disaster Loan Program, and I hope the Senate can pass it today. I also strongly support the quick approval of a supplemental bill to help fund the long-term recovery for the folks in Western North Carolina. Congress should take up this bill without any further delay.
I either yield to Senator Tillis or to Senator Warner.
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