On the recordDecember 10, 2019
In 2017, the Gulf region experienced one of the greatest catastrophic floods and hurricanes in our history: Mr. Speaker, 51 trillion gallons of water. Neighborhoods that have never flooded, flooded. People in desperate conditions, reservoirs breaking, dams breaking. And I knew that we had to rescue them. I introduced the first Hurricane Harvey legislation: $174 billion. But, Mr. Speaker, there was a group that I did not want to forget because I know that they are entrepreneurs, and that is why I established the small business grant program, modeled after 9/11, that now has come into fruition with $100 million. I will go home and announce this to my local community. The grants are grants and not loans--unique. They are not like the SBA. They are grants. We fought for that from the Federal Government all the way down to the State government. I am asking my constituents to meet me in Houston at 2 p.m. for a grand announcement in order for the small businesses still impacted by Hurricane Harvey to get grant relief, money that is not a loan, and I am fighting for those loans to be small enough to help all of our small entrepreneurs. ____________________
