Sheila Jackson Lee: “This is a final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill…”

“This is a final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. While this amendment will not kill the bill, it will save lives. It does this by transferring $2.4 billion to the FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation account, offset by eliminating the funding for the President's border wall and new funds for ICE to be used for an additional 10,000 detention beds. Mitigation is preplanning. Mitigation is helping to mitigate the power outages all over the hurricane region. Mitigation is to minimize losses. When we listen to the better angels of our nature, we know in our hearts that this is the right and just and American thing to do. I along with my colleagues were eyewitnesses to the devastation inflicted on southeast Texas and Louisiana when struck on August 25, 2017, by Hurricane Harvey. Our colleagues from Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and those neighbors in the Caribbean are bearing similar witness to the terrible destruction caused earlier this week by Hurricane Irma. Irma has taken the lives of at least 75 persons, to date, including 32 in Florida; 5 in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and may be counting upwards; 37 in the Caribbean; and, as well, 8 seniors who died, and the numbers may be going up because of those who are critical; and a family of 6 in the State of Texas.…”