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Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, here we are, back in the Nation's Capital, doing the people's work. But over the last couple of weeks, I have been traveling across the State of Texas, where our communities have been battered by extreme weather of one kind or another. From Houston up to the Metroplex and Valley View, and all the way over to Lubbock, storms have caused severe damage and widespread power outages.

A couple of weeks ago, 100-mile-per-hour winds ripped through Houston, toppling transmission lines, power lines, and trees, and ripping windows out of skyscrapers.

Last week's storms in West Texas brought hail so large that the National Weather Service issued a warning with a novel descriptor. They called the hail ``DVD-sized.''

The Dallas area saw baseball-sized hail and 80-mile-an-hour winds, which led to several days without power for many of my constituents.

And five tornadoes touched down in North Texas during a 6-hour span last Saturday. One of those tornadoes, an EF3, traveled roughly 48 miles through three counties for over an hour, with speeds peaking at 140 miles an hour. Tragically, it led to 7 deaths and an estimated 100 injuries.

So far this year, the National Weather Service has recorded more than 1,300 heavy weather events in Texas, and more than 100 of those reports came on a single day last week.

Many of our communities are still clearing debris, restoring power, and assessing damage. I have spoken with leaders throughout these regions about the recovery process and offered a helping hand.

I appreciate everything that has been done and continues to be done to keep our communities safe and support those who have suffered the damage caused by this severe weather.

In many areas, the level of destruction far exceeds the capabilities of the city or county, and there is a need for Federal support. Governor Abbott has worked quickly to ensure Texas receives the resources and support it needs from the State, and he requested assistance from the Federal Government too. He has submitted major disaster declaration requests to President Biden for the counties impacted by severe weather and flooding. Senator Cruz and I have been in communication with the administration to emphasize how critical these resources are, and we have urged the President to grant the Governor's request for all of the affected counties. Many counties are still waiting for that critical declaration, and I urge the administration to move expeditiously to grant those requests as soon as possible to unlock critical assistance. I appreciate the Biden administration working with us to support these counties and these constituents who were impacted by the recent string of storms.

There is a lot of partisan disagreement here in Washington, DC, that underpins what we do day to day, but those divisions have never extended to critical emergency relief.

With the start of hurricane season officially upon us and experts predicting an active season, I know I join all Texans in hoping for an expeditious recovery for impacted communities.

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