Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) delivered the following remarks on the House floor honoring the lives lost in the catastrophic floods that struck Central Texas, including constituents from his Congressional District.

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Remarks as Delivered:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the lives lost in the catastrophic floods that struck Central Texas over the 4th of July weekend. At least 134 lives have been taken, including 27 young girls and counselors at Camp Mystic in Kerr County. This is an unimaginable and heartbreaking loss for these families and for our great state.

I also want to remember constituents from my district whose lives were lost.

Tanya Burwick was the epitome of a hardworking West Texan, wife to Robert, married with four children and six grandchildren, and yet she did it all while working for the past 10 years at the Walmart Neighborhood Market in San Angelo, Texas, out of commitment to her family and their future.

Holly Frizzell was also a mother and grandmother, married for almost 40 years to her husband Lane until he was diagnosed with dementia and ultimately passed away. So, you can imagine the hardships on her in the last years of her marriage to Lane, but she turned that tragedy and struggle into service, becoming a tireless advocate for dementia awareness, and that's who she was - reflecting the very best of our country and certainly West Texas and that's why it's a major loss to our community.

Robert and Joni Brake - two people devoted to service, Him an Air Force veteran, her registered nurse. They were celebrating the 4th of July, in a campground next to Hunt, Texas, when the flood overtook them. They leave behind three children, five grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren and they too will be missed.

Mr. Speaker, Texans as well as people throughout the country are mourning this unimaginable tragedy. We should honor them by striving for the same sacrificial love and service that they so powerfully and beautifully demonstrated in their lives.

And I would say that Texans are tough for a lot of reasons, but mostly because we believe in the power of prayer and God's sovereignty and because we depend on Him for our comfort and confidence and strength and I know Texans are appealing to the father of compassion and God of all comfort to do what only he can do, what these words and any words could never do which is provide the divine comfort and peace and strength that these families need.

And so, I beseech my fellow Americans and my members on both sides of the aisle join us in prayer and asking God to do what only he can do to lift these families up, to keep them strong and together through this every step of the way

May God bless our great country, May God comfort these families, and go West Texas.

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