WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today released the following statement on the urgent need to pass disaster aid before the conclusion of the 118th Congress:
“The last time Congress passed a comprehensive disaster package was December 2022. Since then, the United States has had more than 50 climate disasters that each caused more than $1 billion in damage—totaling over $155 billion in losses. This is an economic catastrophe as well as an environmental one.
“These floods, wildfires, storms, droughts, freezes, and other extreme weather disasters have impacted communities from Vermont to North Carolina, to Minnesota, to Texas, to Hawai‘i—more than 40 states and territories in total. This isn’t an issue that discriminates based on state lines or political preferences. In a crisis, we are all neighbors in need. That’s what I’m asking my colleagues in the Senate and the House to do before the end of this Congress: help fellow Americans in their time of crisis, just as they would hope to be helped if a disaster hit their state.”
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