Solution to Flooding in Houston, Texas
Floor Speech
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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there is a common refrain that you, I, and many others are quite familiar with. It is: but for the grace of God, there go I.
This refrain has significant meaning to all of us. I have used this refrain myself. I used it when it came to the East Coast and Sandy, the hurricane. I used it when it came to Flint and lead in the water. I have used it when we had the hurricane visit New Orleans--I am talking about Katrina. And I am using it as it relates to Puerto Rico. But for the grace of God, there go I.
But I will tell you, it takes on an even greater meaning when you become the subject of the refrain.
Mr. Speaker, I rise now because in Houston, Texas, over the last 2 years, we have had significant flooding. Over the last 2 years, in Houston, Texas, we had the Memorial Day flood. That flood created about $3 billion worth of damage. This year, we have had the tax day flood, which created about $5 billion. Combined, the two floods totaled $8 billion in damages.
We have had lives lost in Houston, Texas: four lives estimated for the Memorial Day flood; eight lives for the tax day flood. Lives have been lost.
But for the grace of God, there go I. And I have a greater understanding of what it means because of the way this has impacted the people in my city and in my State.
Mr. Speaker, they are citizens of this country. I come to the floor today with a hue and cry, an appeal that we do something about these circumstances because this will not be the last flood that will take place in Houston, Texas.
There is a possible solution to some of the problems. I don't know that we could ever eliminate all of the flooding problems in Houston, Texas. But I do know that the Corps of Engineers has projects that are already on their docket, on their agenda; and if these projects are properly addressed, we can mitigate a good deal of this flooding.
These projects that the Corps has would cost us about $311 million to complete. One such project is the Brays project. We authorized this in 1990, and we are projected to finish it in 2021.
Mr. Speaker, it didn't take that long to create the Erie Canal. It took us 4 years to complete the Golden Gate Bridge; the Hoover Dam was 5 years; the Erie Canal was 8 years. And it only took us about 8 years--maybe 10, by some estimates--to put a person on the Moon. Surely, we could have completed these projects sooner.
This bill, H.R. 5025, will accord us $311 million to finish these projects so that we can save lives, so that we can save money; and the bill, if properly implemented with the creation of these projects and the completion of them, will also create jobs. More than 6,000 jobs are estimated to be created.
So I come before my colleagues today asking that you kindly sign on to H.R. 5025. It is an opportunity for us to do something to help somebody, to help those who are in harm's way and will continue to be in harm's way as long as they live in Houston, Texas, one of the great American cities. But I do believe that we can do this.
And while it may not be enough to eliminate all flooding, I live by the basic premise that when there are times in your life when you cannot do enough, when no matter how much you do, you will not do enough, I live by the premise that you do all that you can.
We can do more. We can do something to prevent a good deal of this flooding, save some lives, and create some jobs.
Finally this: I would remind my colleagues that Dr. King was imminently correct when he called to our attention that the truest measure of the person is not where you stand in times of comfort and convenience, but where do you stand in times of challenge and controversy? Challenge and controversy. When you have got cities with lead in the water, when you have got bankruptcy confronting one of that territories that is within our sphere, when you have got a city that is flooding continuously, where do you stand?
This is an opportunity for us to show that we stand with the people who are in need of help.
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