[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12590]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    IOWANS UNITED IN TIME OF TROUBLE

  (Mr. BOSWELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Speaker, today I come to share with you that Iowa is 
in a lot of trouble. We have had extensive floods, the worst I have 
ever seen, in our part of the country, and it is devastating. Since I 
saw you last, I have spent hours and hours with the United Way, Red 
Cross, civic leaders, both city, county, State, emergency operations 
centers in and out, and so on, and it is really tough.
  We have experienced that before in this Nation. In our Pledge we say 
``indivisible,'' and we are. This country will stand behind us, we know 
that, and we look forward to that possibility.
  I fly an old airplane, and so I spent Saturday afternoon with one of 
my staff flying over the various cities, and a lot of them were really 
tough. When I flew down over Cedar Rapids low level and looked down 
upon the homes and businesses, at the devastation, the roads out, 
bridges, et cetera; over Iowa City, the university, with a lot of 
flooded buildings and so on; and then over to Ottumwa and back up the 
Des Moines River, it looked like a big lake. A lot of cropland is 
ruined, over 17 percent, maybe more, and will not produce this year.
  So we need the help of the country. We need the help of this 
Congress. And I salute the people of Iowa for coming together. They 
have come together with determination. I asked one lady in the 
Emergency Operations Center after telling me all these things, I said, 
``How are you doing?'' She said, ``You know, we are like family. We 
have pulled together. We are going to do this, but we are going to have 
to have some help.''
  Mr. Speaker, I would hope today our Speaker and leaders will be ready 
to help Iowa and other States out there who are in dire need of help at 
this time.

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