[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19349-19350]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     THE DEVASTATION IN PUERTO RICO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, just a few weeks ago, I was privileged 
to travel to Puerto Rico to meet with residents of the hardest hit 
areas of the island and to stand by them and serve them on Thanksgiving 
Day. The extent of the damage, Mr. Speaker, is vast and heartbreaking, 
and the road to recovery will be long and filled with challenges.
  I cannot begin to describe the devastation, but what I can describe 
is the enduring spirit and the shining optimism of all the people whom 
I met. I was inspired to see the way the community came together to 
help one another and the generosity with which people shared what 
little they had in order to make sure their neighbors were taken care 
of.
  I was fortunate to have the advice and counsel of constituents of 
mine, Pastor Harry Torres, from the Arriba P.R. Project, and Karen 
Rosado, from the Latino Alliance of Bucks County. With their help, I 
reported back to our community the needs of our fellow citizens to 
better tailor our community's efforts to provide relief to the people 
of Puerto Rico.
  The people of Puerto Rico are citizens of the United States of 
America. Let this Congress not forget that.


                        Battling Discrimination

  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, I was honored to welcome a 
group of passionate, well spoken, and civic-minded young constituents 
to our Nation's Capitol. Along with the Bucks

[[Page 19350]]

County Chapter of the NAACP and the Peace Center, these students spoke 
to me on the floor of the House of Representatives testifying about 
their experiences battling discrimination in all forms as they work to 
create a more inclusive society.
  Our team was deeply moved by the stories of these young people. In 
the coming days, I will be entering these students' written testimonies 
into the Congressional Record so my colleagues can also benefit from 
their experiences.
  As I have said, hateful attacks against members of our community 
cannot and will not be tolerated, and it is incumbent upon each and 
every one of us to condemn hate wherever and whenever it appears. I 
look forward to carrying this message to my colleagues and community as 
we work together to rise above and appeal to the better angels of our 
nature.

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