[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14372]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            AMERICAN SPIRIT

  (Mr. PEARCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, for the last few days, I have been in the 
southern district of New Mexico. I've had the opportunity to visit the 
devastation caused by the flooding in that area. We've seen houses that 
have been completely washed off their foundation and completely 
destroyed. We've had loss of life and livestock, even the ground and 
certain farms washed away, and the underlying roadbeds washed away 8- 
and 10-foot deep in some areas.
  But in all of that, we see the inspirational actions of our first 
responders, volunteers, and people who came out and worked around the 
clock to provide help. In one instance, neighbors knew that a young 
couple was away from home so they took pickup trucks and unloaded their 
belongings and moved them to safety before the house washed off its 
foundation.
  These are the things that make America great. These are the things 
that make New Mexico great. Any time we see calamity, we have the 
opportunity to see the other side of America, and it shines brightly.

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