Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JONES. Mr. President, the second bill I have introduced today would create a one-time refundable tax credit of up to $2,500 for homeowners to build or purchase a storm shelter for their home. It would ensure that people won't have to travel dangerous distances to seek shelter in the event of sudden severe weather.

Alabamians know all too well that extreme weather can strike at any time, especially now as we move from the spring tornado season into the summer hurricane season. That is why I want to use this opportunity today to urge every single one of my colleagues to support these bills and these efforts so that all of our communities can be better prepared when natural disasters strike, and they will.

In Lee County, I have been discussing with local officials these two bills, which are just a step. They are obvious steps to me. Not everybody can afford to buy a storm shelter, so the tax credit would not be available. So, working with the Lee County M.A. and officials on the ground, we are trying to learn best practices. What can we better do to harden those areas where people live in the rural communities so they will not lose their lives, much less all of their possessions? That is what we are planning to do, and the two bills today are first steps.

I sincerely hope going forward that helping fellow Americans who have suffered disasters will no longer be the partisan issue that it suddenly became this year and that we can get back to the business of taking care of our citizens and those who have sent us here to represent them.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JONES. Mr. President, while it is critical that communities get the disaster relief they need after the fact, it is also important that folks can better prepare for natural disasters and help make our communities safer so that we can reduce the impact and costs of the inevitable severe weather we will have in this country.

The 2019 hurricane season is upon us. It started just last Saturday. Folks in my neck of the woods and especially down in South Alabama know that means storms can come at any time. Fortunately with hurricanes, they can get some warning, but for tornadoes like the ones that hit Lee County, it is just minutes.

It is not a question of whether severe weather will happen; it is a question of when and where. It is also a question of whether we will be prepared when it strikes again. That is why today I am introducing two bills. The first is cosponsored by my Louisiana colleagues, Senators Kennedy and Cassidy. It would establish a new grant program through the U.S. Department of Transportation that would award up to $100 million for projects to improve emergency evacuation routes in small and rural communities.

Generally in our State and in a lot of the coastal States, there is only one or two major evacuation routes, which is just not enough to handle the situation should another hurricane hit the gulf. This grant money would help expand those routes.

The grants would be used for two purposes: to build State and local connector roads that would improve access to the broader thoroughfares and to expand existing roads and bridges so that folks can evacuate safely during extreme weather events. These infrastructure investments would also have the additional benefit of serving rural Alabama communities year-round and expanding and improving some of our aging roadways. With expanding and improving aging roadways and giving better access to rural communities, economic expansion will follow.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source