The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Confirmation of Deanne Bennett Criswell (Executive Session)” mentioning Gary C. Peters was published in the Senate section on page S2195 on April 26.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Confirmation of Deanne Bennett Criswell
Mr. PETERS. Madam President, I rise to recognize a historic confirmation that took place last week. On Thursday, the Senate confirmed Deanne Criswell to serve as the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I would like to thank Senator Portman for his support and for working closely with me to see that Ms. Criswell was swiftly confirmed for this critical position.
Ms. Criswell is an experienced, crisis-tested leader, well deserving of the unanimous bipartisan support that her confirmation received. As she takes the helm of FEMA, Ms. Criswell brings more than 25 years of emergency management and disaster response experience at the Federal, State, and local level.
Having served as an emergency management commissioner for one of the largest and most diverse cities in America, Ms. Criswell knows what it takes to ensure the coronavirus vaccination distribution is efficient and effective and that every community has the resources that they need to recover from this pandemic.
As a former member of the National Guard and a firefighter, she understands the needs of our heroic first responders as they continuously protect Americans on the frontlines.
However, the pandemic is just one of many challenges that FEMA faces, and Ms. Criswell understands that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to disaster response and every crisis, from hurricanes to historic flooding and wildfires, to the COVID-19 pandemic, requires a coordinated strategy.
There is no doubt that Ms. Criswell's experience in emergency management, extensive record of tackling crises on a local and national level, and the desire to work on a bipartisan basis to improve our Federal disaster response in every community are exactly what is needed to meet the challenges that we are facing now and those challenges that lie ahead.