Expressing Sympathy and Support for Individuals and Institutions Affected by Tornados Transcript: Congressional Record February 13, 2008

Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee. I thank the gentleman from Memphis, and deeply appreciate your management today of this resolution that we are discussing here on the U.S. House floor.

The tornados and storms and winds that recently tore across the South wrought upon each of our States the tragedy of loss of lives and families being separated. By now all of us have seen the images of fallen trees and toppled homes and, one by one, Tennesseans and other Southerners affected by this disaster have begun the seemingly impossible task of piecing their lives together, clearing wreckage, mourning the lost, and recovering whatever the storm failed to claim.

Our planet, for all its blessings, chooses indiscriminately at times to affront our shores, plains, valleys and farmlands with terrible acts. I'm proud to say, though, as we face the worst of the forces we cannot control, we continue to see the best of the humanitarian spirit that is very much within our power to command.

In this time of need, volunteer associations from the United Way to the Red Cross helped bring aid and comfort to the affected. Within days of the tornados' passing, the Red Cross alone helped provide shelter, comfort and over 44,000 meals with the help of nearly 1,600 Red Cross staff and volunteers in Tennessee alone.

Our local sheriff's departments and volunteer fire departments, neighbors, friends, those from the farm next door or the neighbor next door that may not have lost their home gathered together to offer a shoulder of condolence, hope for the future, and concern and compassion for those affected.

It was not long ago that the people of New Orleans endured the worst of what can happen when we fail to act. And in the wake of the storms in Tennessee and the South, we have shown that we will never commit the sin of inaction again. This week and last, we have shown there is no tornado so powerful, no storm so terrible that the winds of compassion cannot restore and repair any damage brought upon us.

We rise today to honor the losses of those affected, to grieve for those who were so callously and abruptly taken from us that night, and we placed a renewal of our great country and our States in the wake of this storm.