Blake Farenthold: “I thank Chairman Sessions for yielding. Mr. Speaker, as I was walking up to the Capitol from the Metro station just a…”

“I thank Chairman Sessions for yielding. Mr. Speaker, as I was walking up to the Capitol from the Metro station just a few minutes ago, I remembered just a couple weeks ago I was boarding up my house and preparing for Hurricane Harvey. Those intervening weeks have just altered my life immeasurably, seeing the devastation that has been wrought on south Texas. The district I represent, Corpus Christi, Port Aransas, Aransas Pass, Ingleside, Refugio, those southern coastal areas were damaged severely by wind. But then you move up the Texas coast into towns like Victoria, Wharton, Houston, and then there was just unimaginable damage by water. I was touched by how the entire Nation reached out to help, sending food, water, help, and volunteers. And as I was walking up today, it is a beautiful, crisp beginning to be a fall day here in Washington, D.C., but I am imagining what those folks in Florida are going through, very similar to what I was going through, searching for the elusive D cell battery for a flashlight, trying to find a gasoline station that is open, and preparing for possibly the worst. We are here today to tell those folks in Florida, those folks in Texas, and those who face disasters all over this country that this Congress has your back.…”