Mystic Alerts Act

Floor Speech

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the bipartisan H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act introduced by Congressman Pfluger.

Public safety is one of Congress' most serious responsibilities, and this bill addresses a clear and urgent gap in our emergency communication system. Recent disasters have reminded us that when lives are on the line, emergency alerts must work immediately, reliably, and everywhere.

But too often, that is not guaranteed. In moments of crisis, terrestrial communication networks can be damaged, overloaded, or simply unavailable. When that happens, families may not receive the warnings they need until it is too late.

Like Congressman Pfluger, my family was directly impacted by the Camp Mystic flooding in Texas. As we all know, I had two granddaughters who were there. They lost one of their cousins, Janie Hunt.

That tragedy showed in the clearest possible terms how fast conditions can deteriorate and how devastating the consequences can be when warnings do not reach people in time.

The Mystic Alerts Act takes an important step forward by directing the FCC to establish standards and requirements for delivering emergency alerts through satellite connectivity. That means building redundancy into the system so that when traditional networks fail, alerts can still get through.

That matters for rural communities. It matters for disaster zones. It matters for places where geography, infrastructure damage, or network congestion can leave people isolated at the worst possible moment. It matters for every American who expects that, in an emergency, the government will do everything it can to get critical warnings into their hands.

This legislation will help modernize our emergency alerting framework, strengthen resilience, and improve our ability to save lives during floods, wildfires, hurricanes, and other disasters. It also honors the victims of the Camp Mystic flood by ensuring that we will not simply mourn tragedy but learn from it and act.

I commend Congressman Pfluger for his leadership and for bringing forward a practical, bipartisan solution. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7022, the Mystic Alerts Act.

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