[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5870]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            HOUSTON FLOODING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I and a host of colleagues find 
ourselves on a mission of mercy. This is a mission of mercy, Mr. 
Speaker, for people who are suffering in Houston, Texas, and the 
surrounding area.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congressman Gene Green, the original 
cosponsor of H.R. 5025, the 2016 Tax Day Floods Supplemental Funding 
Act. I want to thank Congressman John Culberson for being the first 
person to sign on, such that the bill has become bipartisan. It is a 
bipartisan piece of legislation.
  I want to talk about suffering today, Mr. Speaker, because a good 
many people in Houston, Texas, are suffering for a multiplicity of 
reasons. I will share just a few.
  Before I do this, I want to remind friends and colleagues that 
tonight, after the Republican hour and the Democratic hour, my 
colleagues and I will take to the floor to say much more about what is 
happening in Houston, Texas.
  For now, I want to mention the suffering, because suffering can teach 
us that which we can learn no other way. Some things bear repeating. 
Suffering and pain can teach us that which we can learn no other way. 
It is one thing to sympathize and to say, ``There but for the grace of 
God go I'' and understand that there is suffering associated with that 
statement, but it is another thing to empathize because you had the 
experience associated with the suffering that goes along with the 
statement, ``There but for the grace of God go I.''
  So in Houston, Texas, a good many people are suffering because they 
have had their homes flooded not once, but twice--some even more. They 
are suffering because some of them were just getting back into their 
homes, and their homes were flooded again. They are suffering because 
they have lost their means of transportation, the ability to get to 
work, to sustain the livelihood that causes them to have the ability to 
take care of themselves and their families.
  There is suffering in Houston, Texas. They are suffering because they 
don't know what the future holds. They don't know what next year will 
bring or next month will bring because these 100-year floods are 
happening quite regularly in Houston, Texas. So they are suffering in 
Houston.
  I want my colleagues and my friends to know, Mr. Speaker, that this 
suffering is something that we can mitigate. We may not be able to 
eliminate it totally, completely, and absolutely. No one can stop all 
of the flooding all of the time, but there are projects that have been 
authorized that we are currently funding on a piecemeal basis. There 
are projects that, if completed, Mr. Speaker, would mitigate the 
flooding. We have a piecemeal approach to a problem that requires a 
wholesale solution. There is suffering, and we could eliminate much of 
this suffering. That which we cannot eliminate, we can mitigate.
  The suffering I have called to your attention thus far, Mr. Speaker, 
involves property, real and personal. But I also want to mention the 
ultimate pain that is being endured by a good many in Houston, and that 
is losing someone whom you love to circumstances that could have 
possibly been eliminated.
  Eight lives, possibly nine--I am told that there may be another--
eight lives were lost, Mr. Speaker. Eight people lost their lives to 
flooding in Houston, Texas, in the tax day flood, so-called because it 
occurred on the last day to pay your taxes. Eight lives were lost. The 
family members of these persons who lost their lives are suffering in 
Houston, Texas.
  So I come to the floor with an appeal to my colleagues. We ask that 
you kindly give consideration to H.R. 5025, the 2016 Tax Day Floods 
Supplemental Funding Act, that has now some 60 cosponsors. But it is 
more than a bill, Mr. Speaker. It is an opportunity to eliminate 
suffering in Houston, Texas.
  I will close with this. I mentioned that suffering can teach us that 
which we can learn no other way. One of the things that I have learned 
is that, when a storm hits the East Coast and people are suffering, as 
a Member of Congress, I have to be there for them. When we have the 
tornadic activities and people suffer, I have to be there for them. Mr. 
Speaker, I want people to remember that suffering will teach you that 
which you can learn no other way.
  God bless you, and God bless our great country.

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