Texas Senator John Cornyn took a moment from his schedule today to speak with The Buzz at the Texas Department of Public Safety. I asked Senator Cornyn how he feels about the response so far to Hurricane Rita:

“I think the response has been pretty darn good. Washington DC is the kind of place where we have world-class finger pointing and love to place blame. Thankfully, we have professional people on the ground here solving problems on a real-time basis.”

When it comes to the financial costs associated with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Senator Cornyn said:

“Put me down as worried. I support the across the board cuts that were proposed by Senator Grassley. The problem is, we have a Congress that talks an awful lot about cutting programs and government waste. But when it comes to cutting those specific programs, in the end, nothing happens. What we don’t need is putting all the costs for this at the federal level. The taxpayer doesn’t need to be playing the role of all the king’s horses and all the king’s men putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.”

“A lot of these costs can be handled through private enterprise. I support President Bush’s idea of urban homesteading.”

Finally, I asked Senator Cornyn how Texas voters have responded in the first day of Hurricane Rita’s aftermath:

“I think there has been a collective sigh of relief. Though we’re concerned about the damage, I think most people are quite relieved that it has been a lot less damaging they it could have been. But there are still a lot of concerns about school finance issues and of course, gas prices. But Texans are a pretty hearty people. They are resourceful and will find a way through this.”