[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15495]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            BLIZZARD OF 2013

  (Mrs. NOEM asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mrs. NOEM. Mr. Speaker, this past Friday, a storm struck western 
South Dakota and dumped up to 4 feet of snow throughout the region. 
This has left thousands without power and devastating livestock losses 
in the area. Some estimate that hundreds of thousands of livestock have 
been killed, many of which are still buried in the melting snow.
  The weekend's blizzard is expected to cost local governments millions 
of dollars. Those counties and the Governor are expected to petition 
the President for disaster status and for FEMA funds so they can clear 
the fallen trees and help ranchers remove all the cattle that died 
during that storm.
  Some in South Dakota are wondering if this partial government 
shutdown will affect the timing of potential assistance. It certainly 
does not have to. There may be disagreement over certain parts of the 
Federal budget, but not on FEMA.
  Last week, the House passed a bill to fund FEMA. It passed with 
Democrat support because there is bipartisan recognition that we should 
fund noncontroversial aspects of our government and stop the attempts 
of some to make this partial shutdown as painful as possible. It does 
not have to be this way.
  I call on our Senate colleagues to act immediately on the funding 
measures that we have sent them. It's time to negotiate, to work 
together, so that we can end this shutdown.

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