George P. Bush Quotes

There must be an authority at the state level to coordinate flood mitigation projects in upstream watersheds. Additionally, this state entity could bring together multiple stakeholders to benefit all communities in the region.

The immediate, highest priority need, in my humble opinion, is that we build quickly the interim structures that can channel water away from population and businesses in the New Orleans area.

However deep you dig a well it affords no refuge in the time of flood.

Flooding damage is not customary for New York, especially downstate.

I think the governors would all agree that what we don't want from the federal government is unfunded mandates.

You cannot depend on a sandbag dike to save your life. You put it up to try to save your property.

The answer to many of the domestic problems we face is not higher taxes and more spending. It is less waste, more results and greater freedom for the individual American to earn a rightful place in his own community - and for States and localities to address their own needs in their own ways, in the light of their own priorities.

Governors would like the money to be left on a stump and let them come and pick it up and spend it where they want. Governors like to spread money around rather than target it.

The [teachers’] unions and the [school] districts have very different stakes in local control. The districts want the money and the programs that higher level governments can provide, but they also want autonomy in determining how resources are allocated. The unions are much less wedded to local autonomy. Indeed, much of their lobbying at the state level is to limit the autonomy of the districts.

We can't deal with the flood in the orchards until we cap the floodwaters coming into them. And that means giving our Border Patrol the total resources they need to get their job done, and even utilizing military personnel in particular hot crossing spots.

In Newark, we see a problem and want to seize it, but we run up against the wall of state government, the wall of federal government that does not have the flexibility or doesn't see problems, even. At the federal level, it's often a zero-sum game: If you win, I lose. At the local level, it's just not local that. It's win-win-win.

States know better than the federal government how to allocate and manage resources to address the needs of their people.

Whatever solutions there are for flood control need to be bipartisan.

State governments should not have to compete in bidding contests against each other in order to get the necessary supplies to protect and help their citizens.

Texas has a pressing need for a single governmental body to provide overall flood control management for the watersheds affecting major population areas and guide state and local flood control policy.

If I meet Ashok Chavan, I will ask him - when the rains come, why do the roads get flooded? Despite spending so much money and taking so much tax from the citizens, why?

If the federal government is dumb enough to give it to us, we'll be smart enough to take it. In Minnesota's case, we are not a net taker of money from the federal government.

Whether you're talking about Chris Christie, or you're talking about Rick Perry or Scott Walker or John Kasich, there's more interesting evolution at the state level than there is in Washington.

Even if it's a national issue, the federal government cannot provide all the answers.

The federal government shouldn't be drawing lines on a map in terms of what transit infrastructure are needed; we should be there to be a partner with the cities, with the provinces, that need that.

We ought to prioritize national disasters... in a fiscally responsible way.

To me, the most powerful people in this country, politically, are mayors. If you took all the mayors of the 25 biggest cities and you got them together, you could do more on that level than you ever could through the bureaucracy in Washington.

We want combination solutions at the state level, at the local level - whether we've learned from the Chinese about creating what we've been calling COVID wards - creating the ability to actually care for larger numbers of clients and patients in a more concentrated way which allows more oversights so we could really track patients.

For the states that take the lead on reform - asset recycling, deregulation, service innovation - the Federal Government could step back, and allow greater flexibility in how we deliver our responsibilities.

There are certain rivers which can be linked, which will be beneficial especially for flood mitigation... It will be very useful process, but all rivers in India are not fit to be linked.