[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 21, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S3634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           OKLAHOMA DISASTER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, we are all thinking today about the 
tragic loss of life in Oklahoma yesterday, so this morning I would like 
to take a moment to express my condolences to all who lost family and 
friends in this horrible disaster. It has been a truly heartbreaking 
loss of life--dozens injured and killed yesterday, including many 
children. The tornado that tore through Moore flattened entire 
neighborhoods and destroyed at least two elementary schools--Briarwood 
and Plaza Towers--just as students were about to be released for their 
last week of school before the summer recess. I don't think any of us 
can comprehend the searing grief of their parents. I am told that two 
crews from the Louisville Red Cross recently left for Oklahoma to help 
those who are now suffering.
  Kentuckians understand the terrible toll these storms can take. Just 
last March I toured the wreckage after a deadly tornado in West 
Liberty, KY, where churches, businesses, and schools were reduced to 
rubble and where several Kentuckians lost their life. I remember full 
well the tornado that went through my hometown of Louisville back in 
the 1970s. It knocked down every house on my parents' street. My mother 
was in the basement, and mercifully it skipped over our house for some 
reason but leveled all the houses across the street and the ones next 
door. It is very hard to accurately describe the devastation a storm 
such as this leaves in its wake.
  As first responders continue to dig through the rubble in Moore, I 
fear we will hear a lot more bad news in the days ahead. That said, I 
am sure we will also hear stories of hope and self-sacrifice, as we 
almost always do when tragedies such as this strike--of strangers 
shielding strangers, of neighbors helping others rebuild, of volunteers 
working through the night to sift through the debris to find survivors.
  As we have seen time and time again in recent years, Americans are at 
their best when called upon to help each other in tragic circumstances, 
and this circumstance can hardly be more tragic. So we in the Senate 
offer our heartfelt prayers to those affected by this terrible storm. 
We offer our gratitude to the first responders. We offer our 
encouragement to Governor Fallin and the many Federal, State, and local 
officials who are working hard to assist in the recovery and who will 
aid in the rebuilding of homes and schools and families and lives.


                      Welcoming Burma's President

  Later this morning the majority leader and I will welcome the leader 
of Burma, Thein Sein. He will be here to discuss the reform in that 
country and our bilateral relationship. Later today I will have more to 
say about the reform movement in Burma.
  I yield the floor.

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