[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15816]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              FOCUS ON THE PAIN THAT PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me first of all say what the world 
is coming to and how much our friends, our neighbors in America have 
had to go through: the most recent tragedy and massacre in Las Vegas, 
and now the horrendous, unspeakable tragedy by fires in California. I 
offer my sympathy to my friends, Mike and Jared, Congresspersons in 
California, and we look forward to working with them, and offer our 
sympathy for those who are lost, those who are missing.
  I think it is important, as we have these natural disasters, that we 
really attentively work on the pain that people are suffering; that is 
on the back side of Puerto Rico, where there is no power, and we don't 
know the assessment of loss of life, there is no housing; from Florida 
to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where people are still waiting for relief, 
and the attention is not at the peak that it should. Then, in my own 
community, we are in desperate need of housing. We have senior 
citizens, after Hurricane Harvey, being dismissed and out of their 
homes.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, we are looking for a new disaster supplemental 
food program. We have the okay from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
We have the State of Texas ready to work with us, but we must make sure 
that our local officials realize that this is a disaster and an 
emergency and that they move forward quickly to serve the people who 
are hungry and who are in need.
  So, Harris County, you need to move faster to use the Federal funds 
that we now have.

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