[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 87 (Thursday, May 23, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3077-S3078]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MEMORIAL DAY
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, this is the weekend before Memorial Day,
and we will be honoring the brave men and women who have served our
Nation and who gave their lives to protect the very freedoms that we
enjoy today.
Ronald Reagan said:
Freedom is never more than one generation away from
extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the
bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on
for them to do the same.
Our Nation is incredibly fortunate and grateful to have had no
shortage of those who are ready to lead that fight. Throughout our
history, brave men and women have answered the call to serve our
country. Whether they answered the call nearly 250 years ago to fight
for our independence or in recent years to combat the global threat of
terrorism, all of them are our heroes.
I have always had tremendous admiration for our servicemembers--
something instilled in me from an early age because of my dad's
military service. He was a B-17 pilot in the Army Air Corps and flew
with the Hell's Angels in the 303rd Bomb Group out of the 8th Air Force
in World War II. On his 26th mission over Germany, after leaving the
base in Molesworth, England, and flying over the English Channel to
Germany, he was shot down and captured as a prisoner of war. By the
grace of God, he survived the Nazi prison camp where he was interned
for the last 4 months of the war.
My dad went on to serve in the Air Force for 31 years and retired as
what we affectionately called a full-bird colonel. Both during and
after his service, he was an unabashed patriot and demonstrated every
day to us, his children and family, what it meant to selflessly serve
your country.
While my dad made it home after the war, many of his friends and
comrades did not. Like the great soldiers before them, and many after,
they laid down their lives in service to our country and the values we
embrace as a nation.
This Memorial Day, we remember the fallen and thank them for the
ultimate sacrifice to preserve our way of life. We mourn their loss and
celebrate the great gift they have bestowed upon us and the freedoms
they protected.
Since last Memorial Day, we have lost some incredible servicemembers
who call Texas home. In December, we said good-bye to Richard Overton,
American's oldest World War II veteran. At the ripe old age of 112, he
had a lot of wisdom to share, including a few unlikely tips for living
a long life, like enjoying a little bit of whiskey in your morning
coffee and smoking cigars.
In April, we mourned the loss of Richard Cole, the 103-year-old World
War II veteran who was part of the Doolittle Raiders. He and his
brothers in arms carried out a strike on factories and military
installations in Tokyo, against enormous odds, providing a desperately
needed morale boost after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Just last week, we said farewell to another member of the Greatest
Generation, 100-year-old Bill Hayes. Colonel Hayes was one of the last
living Pearl Harbor veterans and spent nearly four decades serving in
the U.S. Army.
While we honor those who served in the past, we also celebrate those
serving now and the young men and women who one day will put on a
uniform.
In just a few days, I will have the privilege of speaking to young
Texans who will be attending one of our country's five prestigious
military service academies. I hold the sendoff each year in Texas to
meet the next generation of our military leaders and to thank them for
their willingness to serve our country in uniform.
Today, in advance of this holiday weekend, I would like to say thank
you to the men and women stationed across my State and the veterans who
call Texas home.
On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you to all the brave men and
women who lost their lives while fighting for our freedoms. We will
never forget your service or your sacrifice.
DISASTER RELIEF
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, on another matter, we were all hoping that
the Senate would soon be able to vote on a disaster aid bill that would
send funds to States throughout the Southeast and Midwest that continue
to battle with the impacts of severe weather.
When a hurricane, tornado, wildfire, or whatever the case may be,
hits your State, securing funds to help with relief and recovery
becomes priority No. 1. I know because after Texas was hit by Hurricane
Harvey in 2017, I worked with the entire bipartisan Texas delegation to
secure funding that would help both with the immediate aftermath and
long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts.
We received tremendous support from our colleagues here in Congress,
as well as President Trump, in making sure that Texas communities had
the funding and resources they needed. Our State has made a great deal
of progress since Hurricane Harvey hit, and most Texans have returned
to some sense of normalcy, but the recovery process is not over.
In February of last year, Congress appropriated more than $28 billion
in community development block grants for disaster recovery, with
roughly $12 billion intended specifically for mitigation purposes.
About $4 billion of that was designated for Texas to fund projects that
will improve resiliency and help us prepare for future storms. But as
Texans who continue to recover from Hurricane Harvey have learned,
getting a disaster relief bill passed in Congress and signed by the
President doesn't mean the check is in the mail.
It has now been 15 months since that bill was signed, and Texans
haven't seen a penny of it. Despite numerous attempts to get the
funding untangled from the redtape at the Office of Management and
Budget, we are still waiting.
[[Page S3078]]
That is simply not acceptable. It is not acceptable to me, it is not
acceptable to Texans still in need, and it shouldn't be acceptable to
the U.S. Congress.
I recently introduced a bill that would ensure that the Office of
Management and Budget wouldn't stand between communities impacted by
disaster and vital funding appropriated and approved by Congress. Once
signed into law, it would establish a ``shot clock'' requiring the
Office of Management and Budget to release funds appropriated by
Congress within 90 days.
This change would apply not only to this particular block of funding
but to any funds appropriated to the States which are being withheld by
the Office of Management and Budget.
With hurricane season just about a week away, there could not be a
more critical time to act.
It is important for us to come together in a bipartisan agreement
that can pass the Senate and the House and get the President's
signature. I hope that those who are negotiating this disaster relief
bill, including this shot clock provision, will continue to negotiate
in good faith so we can reach a compromise and reach a result soon.
Communities across our country need this money for disaster recovery
and mitigation, and they are simply tired of waiting for Congress to
act. I am hopeful that any agreement will include this shot clock
provision so we can finally get the roughly $4 billion in disaster
mitigation funding untangled from Washington redtape and get it to the
Texans who desperately need it.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut
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