Sheila Jackson Lee: “Let me draw upon these final efforts and words so that you can know that now, after we have come back, the clarion call…”

“Let me draw upon these final efforts and words so that you can know that now, after we have come back, the clarion call of crisis is out. ``U.N. chief calls for massive help as Pakistan puts flood losses at $30 billion.'' The U.N. Secretary General called for massive help as he visited the country last Friday. Record monsoon rains and glacier melt created this catastrophe. He is now calling on the international community, and we do need it. The country is enormously dependent on our help. It has been, in many instances, helpful during the Afghan evacuation of recent time, and most people are unaware of the military lives lost of the Pakistani military in fighting terrorism. The very fact that this dam has been seen by NASA, this lake, shows that this damage is going to be far reaching. Pakistan must reach out to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, to be able to address this tragedy. My friends, this is not normal. If I can leave you with anything here, it is that we are, in fact, our brothers' and sisters' keeper and that as we see the clear evidence of a climate catastrophe, a mountain of horror, unspeakable devastation, it brings your mind back to the floods of the Biblical times. As we stand here today, children are not rescued, and 33 million people are in the eye of the disaster. Again, we are waiting, tragically, for the potential of massive disease that will shut Pakistan down.…”