[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2519]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING THE LIFE OF JOE WILLIAMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Costa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a loving 
family man, a great friend, a veteran, a civil rights leader, and 
former Fresno City Council member, Joe Williams.
  Joe passed away last week at the age of 79. He was a loving husband, 
father, and grandfather. He dedicated much of his life to public 
service.
  No matter whether you were a good friend or you hardly knew Joe, he 
had a way of making everyone feel important and special.
  In 1968, he started a 26-year career at the Fresno Economic 
Opportunities Commission. After 2 years of serving as the director of 
the Fresno County Head Start, Joe was promoted to serve as the 
executive director for Fresno EOC. During his tenure at the Fresno EOC, 
he established 35 new programs, with a budget starting at $1.8 million, 
growing it to $37 million.
  With the help of over 670 employees in the Fresno EOC, he was able to 
implement so many important programs, such as the Women, Infants, and 
Children program, otherwise known as WIC; opened the first rural health 
clinic in Fresno County; and started Meals on Wheels programs for 
seniors.
  But he didn't stop there. Joe was a doer. He created a sanctuary 
program for homeless youth, which was established and later named in 
his honor upon Joe's retirement. Under his leadership, the Fresno EOC 
became a model for similar programs around the Nation, one of the truly 
outstanding leaders in terms of community action agencies in the 
country. Joe made that happen.
  In 1977, he became the first African American elected to the Fresno 
City Council. He served two terms and was always an advocate for what 
was best for the entire city. He said: You know, you've got to feel it 
in your gut; and if it's there, you do it.
  He was a civil rights leader in our San Joaquin Valley and throughout 
the State and the Nation, encouraging others to do the right thing.
  My thoughts and prayers are with Joe's wife, Laura; their children, 
Michael and his wife, Sonya, Winston, and Terri; his brother, George; 
his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and 
nephews.
  My colleagues, I ask you to join me in paying tribute to the life and 
times of Joe Williams. He will be remembered in a selfless way in which 
he lived his life, always looking to help those in the community who 
needed help.
  As Emerson once said: ``To have a friend is first to be a friend.''
  Thank you, Joe, for being my friend and being the friend of our 
community. I join his family in honoring his life and love and service 
to our country, and he will be greatly missed.


                   Flooding Conditions in California

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak about the flood conditions in 
California. It is either feast or famine. We either had the last 6 
years of some of the driest conditions we have experienced in over 
1,000 or, in the last 2 months, record rain and snow in the mountains 
and, thus, floods that we are experiencing.
  This last weekend I joined on an official tour of Merced County with 
Sheriff Warnke. In Le Grand, this weekend we had 25 homes in my 
district that were evacuated.
  I commend the collaboration between the Merced County officials, the 
California Office of Emergency Services, and FEMA for rightly declaring 
a state of emergency for the flooding that is happening and may 
continue with new storms coming.
  My thoughts are with the people in Butte, and Sutter and Yuba 
Counties. The emergency spillway that could be compromised at Oroville 
Dam is something that we are all concerned about; 200,000 people, as we 
know, have been evacuated from their homes.
  That is why I joined Congressman Garamendi and my colleagues in 
sending a letter to President Trump requesting, as the government has 
asked, a Major Disaster Declaration under the Stafford Act. A Major 
Disaster Declaration will provide greater collaboration among local, 
State, and Federal governments, and will provide immediate resources 
where they are most needed.
  Additionally, we must invest in California's infrastructure needs. 
Its water infrastructure needs to fix a broken water system. The 
President has proposed a significant massive infrastructure program, $1 
trillion. That could be used not only in California, but throughout the 
entire country.
  We need additional water storage in order to prevent devastating 
flood conditions as we are having now, and also to store that water so 
we can have it during the dry conditions. So two things go hand in 
hand.
  There are another series of storms expected later this week, and we 
still have about 2 months left of our winter season. Therefore, we need 
all hands on deck. We are using every tool available to reduce the 
potential flood and damage and accidents that are there, but we must 
invest to fix this broken water system.
  The President's proposal will allow us to provide additional surface 
storage supply to not only protect against flooding, but also to store 
that water so that when we have the dry periods in California, we can 
use that water for our crops and for the people who need it the most.

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