Majority Leader McConnell Issues Floor Remarks on Disaster Assistance Funding

WASHINGTON, May 23 -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, issued the following floor remarks regarding the need for disaster assistance funding:

"As I have stated, the Senate will not adjourn this week until we have voted on legislation to deliver long-overdue relief funding for communities that have been hit hard by natural disasters. None of my colleagues need to hear me recite yet again why action in this area is such an important priority. Why it is so urgently needed. It is a shame this overdue subject has been allowed to languish for so long due to extraneous questions and, frankly, partisan small-ball.

"Wildfire victims in western states don't want to hear about House Democrats' various disagreements with the White House on a variety of issues. They simply want the relief they need and have been waiting for. The same goes for the flooded midwest. The hurricane-ravaged southeast. The Kentuckians I myself represent. They don't want to hear about more Washington D.C. difficulties. They want an outcome.

"And of course, everybody is well aware that we have an ongoing humanitarian crisis on our southern border, and that our federal government needs more resources to deal with it. Even the New York Times editorial board wrote a few weeks ago that, quote, 'As resources are strained and the system buckles, the misery grows. Something needs to be done. Soon.' The editorial went on: 'the program that deals with unaccompanied minors is expected to run dry next month...Democrats need to find a way to provide money for adequate shelter.' And here was the title of this editorial: 'Congress, Give Trump His Border Money.' In the New York Times.

"So on all these matters, it is past time to bring these negotiations to a close. I want to thank Chairman Shelby and all our colleagues whose leadership has brought a bipartisan, bicameral solution this close to the finish line. And I implore our counterparts in the House and my colleagues in this chamber to quickly resolve the last few issues and produce compromise legislation today. Because, one way or another, the Senate is not leaving without taking action. We are going to vote this week. And I sincerely hope we'll be voting on a bicameral, bipartisan, negotiated solution that can become law for the American people."