John Cornyn: “I am particularly glad to see you presiding today because I came here to report on what you and I saw together in Texas…”

“I am particularly glad to see you presiding today because I came here to report on what you and I saw together in Texas during this last long weekend. Unfortunately, it didn't feel quite like home--not when parts of Texas battered by Hurricane Harvey aren't what they used to be and not when so many cities, towns, and wornout faces don't look like they otherwise would. As of this weekend, more than 8 million cubic yards of debris still needed to be cleared in Houston alone--the Presiding Officer's hometown and the city of my birth. More than 800,000 people have registered with FEMA for individual assistance. More than 24,000 hotel rooms are still occupied by victims of the flood. Fifty-two public and charter schools sustained ``catastrophic damage'' and are awaiting funding for repairs. Worst of all, 82 lives were lost as a result of this terrible storm. One news story that stuck with me came from Port Arthur, where the mayor, Mr. Derrick Ford Freeman, a man of truly steel resolve, can't stop yawning. Well, he is exhausted. He has a good reason. He has been sleeping upstairs in his child's second floor bunkbed because, unlike some other residents, he hasn't had time to strip the first floors of his house that flooded to remove the Sheetrock, destroyed furniture, and all of his personal effects. He has been too busy worrying about others and trying to help pull the pieces back together. Mayor Freeman spoke of the smell in his house at night.…”