The following is Mayor Sylvester Turner's statement on the budget bill signed into law by the president:
“I’m relieved to see Congress moving forward on funding for the Hurricane Harvey recovery and future flood mitigation in our metropolitan area.
"The funding emphasis on protection against the next deluge, or storm surge from the gulf, has been a key part of my plea to the federal government. Merely funding a recovery would be ‘funding for failure’ because without flood mitigation projects we’d have to restart the expensive recovery after the next storm.
"The administration now must move as quickly as possible to ensure these funds flow to local governments, where these dollars will have the most impact. The City of Houston also looks forward to working with our state leaders to ensure these federal dollars are used as efficiently and effectively as possible.”