Republicans on the House economic disparity subcommittee tore into their Democratic counterparts for traveling all the way to border town McAllen, Texas to talk about infrastructure without touring border operations.
The House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth traveled to South Texas for the first field hearing at the southern border of this Congress. The full committee heard from locals who live in 'colonias,' unincorporated communities that still often don't have basic amenities like running water, paved roads or concrete foundations under their homes.
DailyMail.com viewed the full committee hearing and participated a nighttime ride-along tour and a daytime boat tour of the Rio Grande with border agents and Republican members of the committee, but Democrats did not tour the facilities.
'We're here at the behest of the Democrats, they chose a select hearing in the field at the border, but they don't want to talk about the border. They want to talk about green energy and infrastructure,' Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., told DailyMail.com.
During the field hearing, Democrats and Republicans took time to hear from local residents of colonias in Texas Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez's district who talked about flooding issues faced by South Texas, where due to insufficient drainage structure residents said their own homes would often take on water and the streets outside would be flooded for three days even with mild storms.
The issues pose health hazards for local residents - one man said during a committee roundtable that his wife takes at least one of their three kids to the doctor for a sinus infection every week.
Making the case for further infrastructure funding, community leaders said they would need $600 million to resolve drainage issues.
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