[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 117 (Tuesday, July 8, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4244-S4245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          CENTRAL TEXAS FLOODS

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today, the Senate's thoughts and prayers 
are with all the victims' families and communities devastated by the 
flash floods in Texas.
  The reports from Texas were both heartbreaking and terrifying at the 
same time--water rising over 25 feet in a matter of minutes, entire 
buildings and homes swept away, hundreds of people stranded.
  As of this morning, 105 people have died during the floods--27 
children. To see the pictures of those children, the little beautiful 
faces, which I saw published in one of our New York papers this 
morning, just breaks your heart and stays with you--and the agony, of

[[Page S4245]]

course, of those in their families who survived.
  Of course, the search continues for many more, and we hope and pray 
more will be found alive. I thank all of the first responders on the 
ground. And we all hope for the best in the ongoing rescue and recovery 
efforts.
  Now, when a tragedy as devastating as the one in Texas occurs, the 
American people deserve to know what happened, what more could have 
been done to minimize the tragedy, and what we can do better to prevent 
this from happening again. That means taking a close look what went 
wrong, if anything, at the Agency level. So, yesterday, I asked for an 
investigation into what role, if any, the administration's staff cuts 
to local National Weather Service stations played in preparedness and 
response to the Texas tragedy.
  We also must look forward as communities rebuild, as families mourn. 
We must ensure the Federal Government has all the resources in place to 
aid those in need, and that means holding off against devastating cuts 
to Agencies like FEMA.
  As recently as last month, Donald Trump talked about ``wean[ing] 
off'' FEMA and has toyed with eliminating the Agency entirely as soon 
as this year. That would be a mistake at any time, but in light of 
these horrible floods, it is unthinkable that Donald Trump would do 
something like put FEMA's future in doubt.
  As communities rebuild, today would be a good day for Donald Trump to 
back away from his threats to dismantle FEMA. Any one of us who has 
visited these terrible hurricanes and floods and so much other in terms 
of natural destruction sees the job FEMA does. They are dedicated, they 
are hard-working, and they are there for people at the exact time 
people desperately need them. To eliminate this Agency? It speaks to 
someone who doesn't know anything about what they do.
  We all know that nothing can bring back the lives of those who 
perished, but the administration can and must ensure it takes every 
step, including funding FEMA--not eliminating it, not cutting it in 
two-thirds, but funding it fully--the administration must do that to 
ensure that it takes every step possible to prevent a tragedy like this 
from happening again.

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