[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5274-5275]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 SOLUTION TO FLOODING IN HOUSTON, TEXAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there is a common refrain that 
you, I, and many others are quite familiar with. It is: but for the 
grace of God, there go I.
  This refrain has significant meaning to all of us. I have used this 
refrain myself. I used it when it came to the East Coast and Sandy, the 
hurricane. I used it when it came to Flint and lead in the water. I 
have used it when we had the hurricane visit New Orleans--I am talking 
about Katrina. And I am using it as it relates to Puerto Rico. But for 
the grace of God, there go I.
  But I will tell you, it takes on an even greater meaning when you 
become the subject of the refrain.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise now because in Houston, Texas, over the last 2 
years, we have had significant flooding. Over the last 2 years, in 
Houston, Texas, we had the Memorial Day flood. That flood created about 
$3 billion worth of damage. This year, we have had the tax day flood, 
which created about $5 billion. Combined, the two floods totaled $8 
billion in damages.
  We have had lives lost in Houston, Texas: four lives estimated for 
the Memorial Day flood; eight lives for the tax day flood. Lives have 
been lost.
  But for the grace of God, there go I. And I have a greater 
understanding of what it means because of the way this has impacted the 
people in my city and in my State.
  Mr. Speaker, they are citizens of this country. I come to the floor 
today with a hue and cry, an appeal that we do something about these 
circumstances because this will not be the last flood that will take 
place in Houston, Texas.
  There is a possible solution to some of the problems. I don't know 
that we could ever eliminate all of the flooding problems in Houston, 
Texas. But I do know that the Corps of Engineers has projects that are 
already on their docket, on their agenda; and if these projects are 
properly addressed, we can mitigate a good deal of this flooding.
  These projects that the Corps has would cost us about $311 million to 
complete. One such project is the Brays project. We authorized this in 
1990, and we are projected to finish it in 2021.
  Mr. Speaker, it didn't take that long to create the Erie Canal. It 
took us 4 years to complete the Golden Gate Bridge; the Hoover Dam was 
5 years; the Erie Canal was 8 years. And it only took us about 8 
years--maybe 10, by some estimates--to put a person on the Moon. 
Surely, we could have completed these projects sooner.
  This bill, H.R. 5025, will accord us $311 million to finish these 
projects so that we can save lives, so that we can save money; and the 
bill, if properly implemented with the creation of these projects and 
the completion of them, will also create jobs. More than 6,000 jobs are 
estimated to be created.
  So I come before my colleagues today asking that you kindly sign on 
to H.R. 5025. It is an opportunity for us to do something to help 
somebody, to help those who are in harm's way and will continue to be 
in harm's way as long as they live in Houston, Texas, one of the great 
American cities. But I do believe that we can do this.
  And while it may not be enough to eliminate all flooding, I live by 
the basic premise that when there are times in your life when you 
cannot do enough, when no matter how much you do, you will not do 
enough, I live by the premise that you do all that you can.
  We can do more. We can do something to prevent a good deal of this 
flooding, save some lives, and create some jobs.
  Finally this: I would remind my colleagues that Dr. King was 
imminently correct when he called to our attention that the truest 
measure of the person is not where you stand in times of comfort and 
convenience, but where do you stand in times of challenge and 
controversy? Challenge and controversy. When you have got cities with 
lead in the water, when you have got bankruptcy confronting one of that 
territories that is within our sphere, when

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you have got a city that is flooding continuously, where do you stand?
  This is an opportunity for us to show that we stand with the people 
who are in need of help.

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