EC From DC - May 27, 2011

Join me Saturday for Coffee with Cleaver in Grandview! 

Joplin

You have seen the news, the pictures that could have come from a warzone, the disturbing footage. Sunday's savage storm was the nation's deadliest single tornado in more than sixty years. More than 900 people were injured. The tornado path was six miles long, and more than half a mile wide through the center of the city. A third of the city was stricken. The roof of St. John's hospital was torn off, and every window was blown out. Though sirens gave residents about twenty minutes notice, early warnings can only do so much. This was a supercell storm and a multivortex tornado.

This morning, Joplin city spokeswoman Lynn Onstot confirmed that there are 132 dead from the EF-5 tornado that struck the town on Sunday. There are 156 still unaccounted for. There is still hope--I pray that many of those 156 are safe and sound but have not yet been able to reach their friends and family. Officials are working twenty-four hours a day, around the clock, to find and help those in the rubble. 

Help came from all around the area, and our best and bravest from the Metro area are still lending a hand to our neighbors down in Joplin. The Kansas City region sent over 100 firefighters, police, and first responders. Five heavy rescue teams, from our metropolitan area and from the county, were dispatched to Joplin immediately following the tornado to help search for survivors. Three of those teams were paid for by money from the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant. We talked about the loss of UASI funding last week, if you remember. The money we received in the past allowed us to invest in vehicles and equipment to support six technical rescue teams in four area fire departments - along with training and exercise support.

Kansas City area doctors, nurses, and emergency medical personnel are on the scene caring for stricken survivors. Our hospitals are also sending much-needed medication and supplies. KCPD tactical and traffic squads and communications assets are in Joplin to help bring coordinate out of chaos. Twenty-five ambulances, from Belton, Cass, Excelsior Springs, Grandview, Harrisonville, Johnson County, Kansas City, Kearney, Lake Lotawana, Lawson, Lee's Summit, Pleasant Hill, Prairie Township, Raytown, the South metro, and Warsaw/Lincoln drove down to provide care and medical assistance as soon as they got the call.

I could go on and on with examples and stories of our region's response, but for the sake of time I will stop there. More information about the response can be found here. The Washington Post has an interesting article about rebuilding here.

On Wednesday afternoon, a tornado struck Sedalia, destroying sixty-five homes and damaging nearly twenty-five. While twenty suffered minor injuries, no one, thankfully, was killed.

A Time to Remember
Each year on Memorial Day, Americans come together to remember those who have sacrificed their lives on behalf of our country in the name of freedom and democracy. The debt owed to them is immeasurable. Their sacrifices and those of their military families are freedom's foundation. Without the brave efforts of all the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen and their families, our country would not live so freely.

In Missouri's Fifth District, we gather at the Liberty Memorial, a monument built as a reminder of those who were loved and lost in what was supposed to be the "war to end all wars". Hundreds of thousands gathered at its dedication, some with wounds still fresh from the fields of Europe. They prayed that war would never again envelop the globe. Sadly, in less than a generation, their children would be called on to once again defend freedom against tyranny.

Monday, we will honor all those who have answered the call to service, and all who have died in the cause of liberty. A Memorial Day observance will begin at 9:30 a.m., outdoors on the south side of the monument. A color guard will parade the American Legion Band will perform. There will be a dedication of the newly installed Walk of Honor bricks, a keynote address and other speeches to pay tribute to the day's significance.

Compared to the sacrifices of our veterans, these tributes seem small, but I know they mean a great deal to the men and women who served. Our forefathers built the Liberty Memorial so that the nation would never forget the cost of war. I know, here in our community, we know and remember that lesson well.

America continues to be engaged in hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, and young men and women will pay the ultimate price while wearing the uniform of our nation. Let us honor the memory of the 4,442 Americans who have died in Iraq and more than 1,571 who have died in Afghanistan. We also honor the sacrifices of our wounded: 32,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 11,400 in Afghanistan.

Since September 2001, 13,957 troops from Missouri have been deployed from the U.S. National Guard and Reserve. Missouri currently has 4,494 troops deployed, and has sent 42,650 since September 2001. In Iraq, 90 have been killed. 754 have been wounded. In Afghanistan, 40 have been killed. 235 have been wounded.

As we remember their patriotic sacrifices, we renew our commitment to keep our promises to the nation's more than 2 million troops and reservists, their families, and 23 million veterans, including 505,916 in Missouri.

From 2007-2010, the Congress made historic gains for America's troops, veterans and military families. That is why the American Legion said "111th Congress Achieves Banner Year on Veterans Legislation… the real successes were the passage of bills that affected nearly every veteran in America." Over four years, I was proud to vote for legislation that:

• Enacted the new Post 9-11 GI Bill to restore the promise of a full, four-year college education, allowing up to 2 million warriors of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts to be part of a new American economic recovery, just like after World War II, with tax incentives for hiring to expand economic opportunities for returning soldiers.
• Strengthened health care for more than 5 million veterans, with a historic commitment -- including the largest single increase in the history of the VA -- for more doctors and nurses, better access for rural veterans, and expanded efforts to treat the signature injuries of the war, PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury, while enacting a law to ensure that politics never get in the way of timely and predictable funding for veterans' health care and to address the health care needs of our nearly 2 million female veterans.
• Provided troops and veterans the benefits they have earned and resources they need, giving troops a pay raise, restoring military readiness, providing the best training and equipment for the men and women serving in our Armed Forces, taking steps to reduce the backlog and wait for veterans trying to access their earned benefits, providing special payments for service members and veterans were forced to serve under stop-loss orders since 2001, and making headway in ending the Disabled Veterans Tax and the Military Families' Tax.
• Strengthened support for military families, building more military child care centers and better military family housing, and enacting landmark legislation to provide much needed support for family members and other caregivers for wounded veterans.

Building on these efforts, this week, we introduced the Heroes for Hiring Act – which takes major steps to help our men and women in uniform obtain good jobs when they come home. With nearly one-in-four young veterans (between the ages of 20 and 24) unemployed, this critical legislation would strengthen much needed training programs for separating service members, and encourage businesses and government contractors to hire the brave men and women who have developed valuable skills and professionalism while in the armed forces. As this will smooth the transition for our returning troops and put them on the path to success, the bill is supported by a broad array of veterans' organizations, including the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

I invite you to take a moment to stop and remember the members of our community who have been lost while wearing the uniform of our nation. For those who are able, please join me Monday at the Liberty Memorial for the Memorial Day observance. Free parking and shuttle service from the lots at 27th Street and Grand Boulevard will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

After the event is over, I always join our Vietnam Veterans at their memorial wall, just north of the Plaza on Broadway at 43rd Street. Please take a moment to join me to thank those veterans for their service and remember friends and family lost in Vietnam.

Have a very safe holiday weekend, and I hope to see you Monday.

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