Dear Friend,
Since January, this Congress has been its own worst enemy. It has been mired in a muck of its own making, bogged down by partisan squabbles and gripped by gridlock—the likes of which I have never seen in all my years of public service. I wish I could say the situation across the country is better. But sadly, it isn’t.
Please take a minute to watch a speech I delivered about the critial lessons we have learned from Charlottesville and Houston
The polarization we see in the Senate is only indicative of the division we see all around the nation. The events of August threw that division into sharp relief. But they also showed us our ability to heal—our remarkable capacity to lay aside superficial differences in moments of crisis to come together as one.
In Charlottesville and Houston, August brought us a tale of two cities—one that showed us, at once, both the weaknesses and strengths of our great country.
In Charlottesville, we saw the worst of America on full display. In the violence, vitriol, and vulgar racism of Nazi demonstrators, we stared evil in the face. And in the terrorist attack that ensued, we saw the ideology of hatred brought to its logical endpoint.
But if the violence in Charlottesville showed America at its worst, then the rescue and recovery efforts in hurricane-ravaged Houston showed our country at its best. While Hurricane Harvey left in its wake a trail of destruction and shattered life, it also gave us countless stories of hope and heroism.
On national TV, we saw a weatherman rushing to the aid of a stranded driver, pulling the man to safety before the current could take him away;
We saw everyday Texans wade into neck-deep waters to form a human chain, saving the life of a stranger trapped in his car;
We watched as three teenage boys navigated the streets of Houston in a fishing boat, driving from house to house to rescue their neighbors as the floodwaters poured in.
These are just a few stories among thousands more. These stories remind us of the hope and humanity borne of tragedy. They bear testament to the innate goodness of the American people. And they show us that, in moments of crisis, our capacity to come together for the good of our communities is unparalleled.
Tragedies like those in Houston strip us of all that is superfluous, leaving behind only our common humanity. In the moments of peril that moved tens of thousands of Texans to band together to save their city, considerations of race, religion, class, or creed fell into complete irrelevance. The first responders, volunteers, and Good Samaritans who put their own lives at risk to rescue others served indiscriminately. They took no thought for who they were helping—what their background or beliefs were. Houston’s heroes saw only lives that needed saving—and they went to work.
If there’s any good to come of tragedy, it’s that for a brief but beautiful moment, we are able to see each other as we truly are—not as Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, black or white, but as members of the same community, partakers of the same human condition, and children of the same God. For a brief moment, we are able to see each other as Americans.
I pray that the hope of Houston may inspire all of my colleagues in Congress. I pray that our elected officials may look to the city’s example in the work we have before us, setting aside petty partisan differences to come together for the good of the nation.
Now more than ever, we need strength and unity in our government. The challenges we have before us are enormous. In the next few weeks alone, Congress needs to secure emergency relief funding for the victims of Hurricane Harvey, raise the debt ceiling, fix our broken tax code, and find a way forward on immigration reform. And the to do-list just keeps growing.
Each of these items taken on its own is challenging; taken as a whole, our agenda is daunting. But I truly believe my colleagues and I are up to the task. I truly believe Congress can step up to the plate—just as the people of Texas did—to tackle the challenges before us.
This last week, I shared a simple message with my fellow Senators: We can do hard things. I know because we’ve done them before. It’s time for Congress to make laws, not excuses. It’s time to move forward on an agenda that puts the needs of America’s families front and center.
Know that I will never stop fighting to ensure that we finish the work the American people sent us here to do.
Sincerely,
Orrin
