[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 176 (Tuesday, October 31, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S6899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Hurricane Irma Recovery Effort

  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, it has been 2 months since Hurricane Irma 
hit Florida and basically covered up the State, and our people are 
still hurting because they don't have sufficient housing.
  If you lived in a mobile home, if you lived in a low-lying area, your 
home was destroyed. It is uninhabitable. The ceiling is collapsing. The 
mold and the mildew, because of all the water which has now 
accumulated, makes it an uninhabitable home.
  FEMA, through individual assistance, is supposed to provide temporary 
housing. This is the law. That is what the people of Florida are 
entitled to--just like the people of Texas are entitled to in the 
Presiding Officer's State--but it is not happening in Florida. Why? 
Because they get on the telephone, and they have to wait up to--
documented--4 hours to get somebody on the phone from FEMA or, for home 
inspections, it takes 45 days before they can get an inspector to come 
out and see the home so they can be declared eligible for individual 
assistance. That is just unacceptable.
  If they don't have the means--especially if they don't have a job as 
a result of the jobs being destroyed in the hurricane--where are they 
going to be able to get temporary assistance for housing? It is a fact 
that this is happening in the State of Florida, and it has to be 
changed.
  Thus, you see the bipartisan effort of my colleague from Florida 
Marco Rubio and me writing to the head of FEMA today to say: Look, what 
happened? Years ago, during the debacle of Hurricane Katrina in New 
Orleans, they experienced an average wait time of 10 minutes before 
they could get FEMA on the line to help them. Now we have people 
waiting as much as 4 hours. I wanted to bring this to the attention of 
the Senate.
  After a hurricane, 2 months later, we cannot have an aftermath where 
our people are hurting, they are suffering. They can't live in a 
healthy condition in the homes that have been destroyed in the 
hurricane.
  I yield the floor.

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