Senator Murray: “We have a long road ahead to ensure our communities can recover and rebuild—rest assured I will fight tooth and nail to make certain that Washington state gets the federal resources it needs.”
***VIDEO OF THE MEDIA AVAILABILITY IN MOUNT VERNON AVAILABLE HERE***
Mount Vernon, WA — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, visited Snohomish and Skagit Counties to hear about ongoing response efforts and witness firsthand the current state of local communities that have been hit hard by major flooding and extreme weather.
In Snohomish County, Senator Murray was joined by Governor Bob Ferguson, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA-01), Congresswoman Kim Schrier (D-WA-08), Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, and other local elected officials. At this stop, the Senator heard from local first responders and emergency management officials and also toured affected areas around the city of Monroe including Tualco Valley and Ben Howard Road.
In Skagit County, Senator Murray was joined by Governor Ferguson and Senator Cantwell. She met with Mount Vernon Mayor Peter Donovan to discuss the ongoing response efforts in the region and to see firsthand how the Skagit County Flood Wall protected downtown Mount Vernon during the historic flooding—Murray secured the federal funds to help build the flood wall back in 2006. Senator Murray also heard from National Weather Service (NWS) staff about the forecast for next week where they underscored that further precipitation is expected and that flood waters could continue to rise in certain areas even as they recede in others.
“Communities across our state have been hit hard by this flooding and we aren’t out of the woods yet—I continue to urge everyone to stay alert and listen closely to local officials for urgent updates to keep themselves and first responders safe,” said Senator Murray. “These past few days have been difficult, and there are a lot more tough days ahead—but I am really heartened by how our state has come together, with so many incredible stories of ordinary people stepping up to help their neighbors. In particular, I am so grateful to our local first responders, our Coast Guard, our National Guard, and absolutely everyone working around the clock to keep folks safe and save lives—the video of rescue missions happening across Washington state have been nothing short of inspiring. As we continue to respond to ongoing flooding and other extreme weather, we have a long road ahead to ensure our communities can recover and rebuild—rest assured I will fight tooth and nail to make certain that Washington state gets the federal resources it needs.”
Yesterday, Senator Murray visited the FEMA response center in Bothell to thank the staff for working around the clock to help coordinate local response efforts. On Thursday, Senator Murray led Washington state’s entire Congressional delegation in a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to approve Governor Ferguson’s request for an expedited Emergency Declaration for the devastating storms and severe flooding hitting Washington state—that request was approved yesterday.
In visiting the Skagit County Flood Wall, Murray—who secured the federal funding for the project in 2006—reiterated that Congress should support more, not less, investments in climate resilience. Back in May, Senator Murray led a bipartisan, bicameral letter with over 80 of her colleagues urging Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to reinstate the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which supports local efforts to protect and harden our communities from natural disaster. Just recently, Washington and a multistate coalition won their lawsuit against the Trump administration over its unlawful attempt to shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) BRIC program. As a longtime senior appropriator, Murray has always fought to secure the federal resources Washington state needs to recover and rebuild from natural disasters—in Congress, Murray has worked hard to impress upon her colleagues that disaster relief should never be impeded by politics.
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