Blake Farenthold: “I am here today to ask my colleagues to support funding for Hurricane Harvey disaster relief. Often, the TV news goes…”

“I am here today to ask my colleagues to support funding for Hurricane Harvey disaster relief. Often, the TV news goes around taking their cameras seeking the worst damage to create the most dramatic story. In the case of Hurricane Harvey in the district I represent, you could drop a camera almost anywhere in towns like Rockport, Port Aransas, Aransas Pass, Ingleside, Refugio, Tivoli, Port Lavaca, and Victoria, and have that dramatic heart-wrenching shot of devastation. My friends' and neighbors' homes were completely flattened by hurricane winds. Businesses were destroyed and much of towns were under water, like in Wharton, following the unprecedented flooding left behind by this storm. It is the worst we have seen in decades. Many people, including the town mayor of Port Aransas, suffered and lost everything. He was walking around the emergency operation center when the mayor of Corpus Christi went up to him and said: I am jealous. You get to work in shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and flip-flops. The Port Aransas mayor looked at him and said: It is all I have left. You know, the good news for our communities is that we came together during this disaster. Groups from around the State and around the country donated to help, and many assisted the rescue and cleanup and came down and cooked food for evacuees and survivors. People opened their homes and their hearts to strangers.…”