John Cornyn: “here we are, back in the Nation's Capital, doing the people's work. But over the last couple of weeks, I have been…”

“here we are, back in the Nation's Capital, doing the people's work. But over the last couple of weeks, I have been traveling across the State of Texas, where our communities have been battered by extreme weather of one kind or another. From Houston up to the Metroplex and Valley View, and all the way over to Lubbock, storms have caused severe damage and widespread power outages. A couple of weeks ago, 100-mile-per-hour winds ripped through Houston, toppling transmission lines, power lines, and trees, and ripping windows out of skyscrapers. Last week's storms in West Texas brought hail so large that the National Weather Service issued a warning with a novel descriptor. They called the hail ``DVD-sized.'' The Dallas area saw baseball-sized hail and 80-mile-an-hour winds, which led to several days without power for many of my constituents. And five tornadoes touched down in North Texas during a 6-hour span last Saturday. One of those tornadoes, an EF3, traveled roughly 48 miles through three counties for over an hour, with speeds peaking at 140 miles an hour. Tragically, it led to 7 deaths and an estimated 100 injuries. So far this year, the National Weather Service has recorded more than 1,300 heavy weather events in Texas, and more than 100 of those reports came on a single day last week. Many of our communities are still clearing debris, restoring power, and assessing damage.…”