[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9730]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                         THE SENATE SHOULD PASS
                            H. CON. RES. 129

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Weber) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of 
H. Con. Res. 129.
  To do so, let me share a story about a constituent of mine who is a 
Holocaust survivor from Lithuania. She was 11 years old when the German 
SS Nazis marched into her town and gathered her and her family up. She 
was separated right away from her family, and, I guess fortunately for 
her, she did not appear Jewish to the German soldiers.
  When she was asked her name, she told them it was Weber, which 
happens to be my name and the way my grandfather would have pronounced 
it when he came over from Germany on the boat in 1903. Anyway, the 
soldier thought she wasn't Jewish, so he let her go.
  She ran into the forest, Mr. Speaker, and she hid in barns and other 
places until the end of the war. She spent the years of that war hungry 
and frightened but somehow managed to survive. She was liberated by the 
Russians at the war's end.
  This woman, who was a young girl when she was 11 back during World 
War II, is now in her 90s and living in my district in her home in 
Galveston, Texas. Mr. Speaker, she is in need of 24-hour care to remain 
in her home. Unfortunately, funds are running low to keep her in her 
home, with the high cost of providers. She is unable to stay there, it 
looks like.
  She lives on Social Security, but fortunately the Claims Conference 
has been able to assist her through providing funding by the German 
Government for 25 regular hours a week and some exceptional hours a 
week provided on her increasing healthcare needs.
  Additionally, the Jewish community of Houston, through the generosity 
of a private fund which assists Holocaust survivors, through case 
management efforts of Jewish Family Service in Houston, has also been 
able to provide up to 59 hours a week of home care above that which the 
German Government has funded.
  As of June 1, 2016, Mr. Speaker, the Jewish Family Service in Houston 
has not been able to continue this level of care.
  She and other constituents of mine who are Holocaust victims would 
all greatly benefit from increased funding which is included in House 
Concurrent Resolution 129, asking the German Government to provide that 
funding for that very home care. This would ensure that those Holocaust 
survivors are able to remain in their homes with dignity for the 
remaining few years of their life.
  Thankfully, H. Con. Res. 129 passed--with bipartisan support, I might 
add--in the House last week. I encourage our counterparts in the Senate 
to pass this legislation swiftly. Mr. Speaker, you know I am right.

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