Today, we mark the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey—and I began it on the telephone with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Red Cross to discuss Hurricane Laura.  It was both a fitting and surreal way to start the day.  Now, we face the unique challenge of navigating the impacts of Hurricane Laura, a major hurricane with potential life-threatening impacts, during a pandemic that has altered all of our lives.

This will be a challenging week—in an already challenging year.  I know our strong and resilient community will face both challenges as we have before.  The challenges before us remind us of the importance and the urgency of applying the lessons we learned in Harvey; most important, what we can accomplish when we come together as a community to help one another.

As we mark this anniversary of Harvey, I want to share with you some of the work I have done to help our community continue to recover and prepare for the storms coming our way.  In Congress, I have worked with city, county, and federal officials on both sides of the aisle to make sure our region can get the resources it needs for recovery efforts and to implement policies that will allow us to rebuild and prepare for the future in a smart and strategic manner:

• I led the bipartisan effort to expedite delivery of $4 billion in federal disaster relief funds from HUD, which was signed into law by President Trump. 
• I led a bipartisan amendment to provide an additional $45 million in additional relief for households affected by Hurricane Harvey, which has passed the House.
• I worked with our local leaders to write my first standalone bill, the bipartisan HELP Act to cut through federal red tape and allow disaster relief projects to begin sooner.  This bill has passed the House of Representatives with broad support and has been introduced in the Senate. 
• I led bipartisan legislation, the Built to Last Act, to use science and date to protect infrastructure against the risks of strong weather events.
• On the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I worked to ensure the Water Resources Development Act of 2020, which passed the House last month, included provisions to invest in Houston’s water infrastructure and improve flood protection projects in the Houston region, including authorization for: 
• the project to widen the Houston Ship Channel;
• a new federal study to uncover gaps in flood management coordination between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other agencies; and
• increasing the federal share of local natural infrastructure projects designed to increase resiliency.  

I know there is still much work to do.  That is why I want to provide you with the opportunity to share your stories, insights, and questions with me.  Your stories will help inform my work in Washington, and ensure that I am doing everything possible to help our community.

As we look back, we must also look forward – and today that means keeping our eyes on Hurricane Laura.  I urge you all to prepare, to stay safe, and to stay informed.  

• Ready Harris has prepared a hurricane brochure, a disaster kit checklist, an evacuation zip zone map, and COVID-19 sheltering information in multiple languages, all of which you can find here. 
• You can also sign up for ReadyHarris alerts here. 
• My office has prepared a 2020 Hurricane Season Resources List, which you can access here. 

I know our community will face this oncoming storm as we have so many others before: together.  My team and I will be with you every step of the way.  As always, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help.  You can email here, or call my office at (713) 353-8680 any time.

Take care and stay safe,