ICYMI: Sen. Cruz: ‘Texas Will Come Through This and We're Going to be Stronger’

HOUSTON, Texas – On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) visited with victims of the storm at the George R. Brown Convention Center, and surveyed the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in flooded neighborhoods on an airboat near the Addicks Reservoir.

Still photos of Sen. Cruz’s visits may be viewed here. 

During his visit near the Addicks Reservoir in Houston, Sen. Cruz joined Fox News’ Sean Hannity to discuss the ongoing rescue and recovery efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey, and the bipartisan support for the people of Texas.

“We've seen incredible heroes from first responders, firefighters, police officers, EMS, National Guardsmen, Coast Guardsmen, rescuing lives,” Sen. Cruz said. “The storm is still ongoing in East Texas and Louisiana. Those rescue operations are underway. The next stage is going to be rebuilding. I spent this morning at the shelter at the George Brown Convention Center helping serve breakfast, helping care for people there. We had 11,000 people who had lost their homes who spent the night there last night. We are seeing churches and charities and private citizens throughout the community stepping up. It has been incredible, the most incredible part: local officials put out a call to citizens, ‘If you can help, step up and help.’ And we have hundreds of ordinary men and women who had a flat bottom boat, who had a bass boat, who had a jet ski and went out and rescued their fellow citizens. A couple of days ago I was at the Harris County Emergency Command Center. There's an entire wall of Post-It’s of all the people who called in and said, ‘I got a boat, I can help.’” 

Sen. Cruz continued, “We’re going to have the resources at the state level, at the local level and the federal level. The president has committed unequivocally to supporting the people of Texas and Congress in a bipartisan way, I’ve had senators from both parties reaching out to me saying, ‘We're going to stand with Texas.’ Texas will come through this and were going to be stronger.”

While surveying the damage in neighborhoods near the Addicks Reservoir, Sen. Cruz visited with Fox News’ Griff Jenkins on an airboat, and praised the efforts of first responders and volunteers.

“We’ll come through this,” Sen. Cruz said. “This first stage has just been about saving lives. It has been responding to the immediate crisis, and that crisis is still ongoing. In East Texas, Beaumont big chucks are still underwater and it looks like you are looking at the Gulf of Mexico. It’s been the incredible story of Hurricane Harvey, the heroism that we’ve seen over and over again. You look at the Houston officer that was killed, Sergeant Perez. He came in, his wife begged him not to go and said ‘The water is too high, don’t go in.’ and he drove in anyway and he said ‘I’ve got to it’s my job, I got to save people.’ He drove in and he couldn’t get to his ordinary duty station so he went to another station to report to duty. He got caught it fast moving water and lost his life. Those are the stories of bravery. We are seeing one after the other after the other and it is really what has saved Houston throughout this storm. You know, you think about politics in Washington where everything is nasty and total warfare all the time. And I don’t think it has to be that way. I think something like this reminds us that we’ve got more that brings us together than divides us.”

Sen. Cruz’s full interviews may be viewed below:

###