Rep. Jackson Lee Supports Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 -- Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, issued the following speech, which was published in the Congressional Record on Oct. 16, supporting the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act (H.R. 2266):

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2266, which provides $36.5 billion in aid to respond to the damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and the wildfires currently raging in California.

Specifically, the aid package before us provides an additional $18.7 billion in supplemental appropriations for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) under the continuing resolution (CR) that runs through Dec. 8 (P.L. 115-56).

Of this amount, as much as $4.9 billion could be transferred to FEMA's Community Direct Loan (CDL) program to help local governments and U.S. territories provide essential services.

The legislation before also provides an additional $16 billion in borrowing authority to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which reached its borrowing limit after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

To alleviate the damage and suffering caused by the wildfires in California, the legislation provides $576.5 million for federal wildfire suppression programs.

There are particular concerns for our seniors who survived the terrible storms that ravaged the Texas Coast, Florida, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico because so many of them are alone, while trying to the do difficult and hard job of cleaning out their homes, or removing debris from their yards.

Mr. Speaker, the work is not done in my State of Texas. There are thousands of families who have no home to return to following the historic flood.

We have low-income communities that are struggling to find the new normal that FEMA officials warned Texans would need to accept following the historic flood.

A substantial portion of Houston's residents live in multi-family dwellings.

The city has lost low-income housing for the elderly and the disabled.

The number of persons who remain displaced and unable to find permanent housing remains unacceptably high, with many towns and cities left without space at hotels for visitors or tourists, which contribute much needed dollars to local economies.

As we rebuild the city must have sufficient numbers of low-income, affordable, and accessible housing within the city limits so that lives, families and communities can be restored.

The economics of a city requires that we make room for everyone as Houston recovers.

Part of the work of rebuilding is to be sure that post-Hurricane Harvey rebuilding and recovery leads to a better quality of life for all of the people of Houston.

If we have the right balance of low income, and affordable housing in the mix as we plan the rebuild the recovery efforts will be a great success.

We need a commitment that Community Development Block Grant Program dollars will have a dedicated amount to rebuild, repair, or replace low-income affordable housing.

Recovery work in homes damaged by flood water is hard work for young people, but it is almost an impossible task for the elderly and many are at risk of physical injury or falling into poor health due to their age or medical condition.

I am particularly concerned about the elderly who survived the Hurricanes in Texas, Florida, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Our nation's seniors are proudly independent, but a hurricane was not part of their retirement plan.

Our seniors are trying to remove water-logged furniture, remove sodden carpets, or knock out damaged drywall. They are put at risk of being injured or becoming ill.

Our seniors should not have to face the task of recovery alone because they have survived their children or may not live near a relative who can help them.

My request to the appropriators is to remember that disasters do not visit only the young and healthy.

The disabled and elderly are victims and their needs during the recovery are very different and this should be addressed.

We need help our elderly and disabled with getting sufficient resources in place to do this difficult and heavy work of clearing their homes so that they are safe, sanitary and can be occupied.

If the homes of seniors are not cleared their lives are put at risk due to mold, which will come because Houston is a subtropical area where dampness will allow spores to grow within homes, which can cause health concerns.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted my office that they were conducting surveillance in the Houston area for medical conditions that can arise from exposure to mold because of reported cases.

In future disasters there should be an effort to extend the work of federal relief including seeing to the needs of the elderly to be sure they are living in safe and sanitary conditions.

Harvey did not spare Houston's arts community or public spaces, but caused tremendous damage to the: Alley Theater; Worthem Opera; Jones Hall; and Hobby Center.

We must include plans to address the root cause of some of the most catastrophic flooding, water releases from the Addick and Barker Dams.

I am committed to the Army Corp of Engineers replacement of both of those dams.

The Army Corps should take the lead on ensuring that much needed work at the Port of Houston and throughout the impact zone for the flooding is done, after a post Hurricane Harvey assessment is completed to determine the source of the flooding and report on what needs to be done to mitigate the chance of a reoccurrence.

Texas is months away from seeing the worse effects of the flood event.

A record 51.88 inches fall in the Houston area during Hurricane Harvey's torrential rains before the rain gauge broke that was used to measure precipitation, although the storm punished the upper Texas Coast with several more days of rain.

According to the National Weather Service this was the largest recorded storm in the continental U.S. history.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Hurricane Harvey was an historic catastrophic event.

Hurricane Harvey dropped 21 trillion gallons of rainfall on Texas and Louisiana, most of it on the Houston Metropolis.

This amount of rainfall could fill more than 24 thousand Astrodomes or supply the water for the raging Niagara Falls for 15 days.

Hurricane Harvey caused damage to more than 134 thousand homes of which 99 thousand are in Harris County.

The total number of homes with major damage or were destroyed was about 28 thousand, of which 16 thousand are in Harris County.

And today, nearly four weeks later, thousands of Texans are still without permanent and stable housing situations.

I thank Chairman Frelinghuysen and Ranking Member Lowey, and Speaker Ryan and Democratic Leader Pelosi, for bringing this supplemental funding bill to the floor in a timely manner because it lets the people of Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands know that the American people, acting through the Congress, stand in solidarity with them in their moment of heartbreak and anguish.

Mr. Speaker, 21 days ago, on September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, along the southeastern coast, near the small town of Yabucoa.

The devastation wrought on that beautiful Caribbean oasis and its 3.5 million inhabitants, our fellow citizens of the United States, is unimaginable, except perhaps to those of us who have lived through and survived similar natural disasters, like Hurricanes Harvey and Katrina.

At least 48 people have died as a result of the storm as rescue and recovery operations proceed, and no electricity to combat the stifling heat, this number is likely to rise, especially with so many elderly, sick, and very young persons at risk.

As we speak, more than half of Puerto Rico's population (55 percent) is still without potable drinking water and 85 percent of Puerto Rico's 1.57 million electricity customers are without power, the majority of which can be expected to remain in this state for as many as 10 months since Hurricane Maria knocked out nearly all of Puerto Rico's 2,400 miles of transmission lines.

Hurricane Maria destroyed 80 percent of Puerto Rico's agricultural industry, including banana, plantain and coffee crops, which translates into lost income of approximately $780 million.

And yesterday, the Governor of Puerto Rico announced that four persons had died from leptospirosis, a disease spread by animals' urine, which they contracted by drinking from contaminated rivers and streams.

On August 30, 2017, Hurricane Irma struck, inflicting horrific damage on the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John, the Caribbean nations of Barbuda, St. Maarten, Cuba, and Anguilla, before making landfall in the Florida Keys.

In Florida alone, 6.4 million people were told to evacuate to safety, leading to days of jammed highways and frantic searches for gasoline amid one of the nation's largest ever-emergency evacuations.

At least 124 persons are known to have lost their lives in Hurricane Irma and more than 200,000 Floridians took refuge in shelters.

Nearly 7.2 million homes and businesses were without power in the southeast part of the United States, 6.5 million of which were in Florida.

Mr. Speaker, we do not yet know the full extent of the damage and devastation suffered by our fellows Americans in Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

But what we do know is that the costs of recovery and reconstruction will be extensive, best estimates place the cost in the range of $50- $100 billion.

That is why I strongly support the legislation pending before us appropriating an additional $18.7 billion for the FEMA-Disaster Relief Fund as the initial response of the Congress to the damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

But I must emphasize that what we are considering here is the initial response because much more funding will be needed because my state of Texas and Houston, my home city and the nation's fourth largest city, remains devastated by Hurricane Harvey.

I will be working closely with House and committee leadership to secure the substantial funding necessary to meet the needs of my constituents in the area of housing, community development, transportation, infrastructure, and water resource management that must be addressed in the next and subsequent supplemental appropriations measures to come before the House.

These are and remain the highest priorities for my Texas colleagues and me and we will not waver in this pursuit, nor falter or fail in our advocacy.

But while that works goes on, we must today rally to the aid of our fellow citizens in Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and California who are facing and striving to overcome the difficulties visited upon them by Mother Nature.

They were, and will be, there when Texas asked for help and are entitled to expect the same treatment in return.

It is the right thing--the American thing--to do.

I ask all Members to join me in voting to pass this House Amendment to Senate Amendment to H.R. 2266, Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act for Fiscal Year 2017 and to commit to providing our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida, and California the help and support they need to restore their communities to their previous greatness.