"We are here today. We will be here tomorrow. And we will be here every day until this city and this state and this region rebuild bigger and better than ever before," Pence said on Thursday after visiting several parts of the state battered by the hurricane.
He also expressed the government's desire to work fast on the approval of financial aid for people and businesses affected by the disaster.
Pence took the occasion to confirm that US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania would be back in the area on Saturday.
The ongoing floods in Texas, one of the most devastating in US history, have left more than 30,000 people evacuated and about 40 dead so far, although it is feared that the death toll will continue to rise.
The hurricane made landfall in Texas on August 25.
After landing at a US airbase in Pyeongtaek, 70 km from here, Pence headed to a Seoul national cemetery in a gesture to highlight the alliance forged during the 1950-53 Korean War, Yonhap news agency reported.
This is Pence's first trip to Asia after taking office in January. The visit came amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Pyongyang on Sunday made an unsuccessful attempt to launch a ballistic missile and has been seen preparing for another nuclear test while Washington has sent an aircraft carrier strike group to waters off the Korean peninsula in a show of force against the Kim Jong-un regime.
Pyongyang on Saturday displayed three intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade.
Pence will on Monday meet South Korea's acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun.
The two sides will discuss bilateral cooperation in pressuring Pyongyang into changing track toward denuclearisation through sanctions and diplomacy, observers said.
Pence is also likely to explain to Hwang the Trump administration's North Korea policy.
Other issues likely to be discussed include the ongoing installation of an advanced US missile defence system on the peninsula.
The two sides may reaffirm the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system and call on Beijing to stop its economic retaliation against South Korea, observers said.
Hwang and Pence will release a joint statement after talks to warn North Korea against provocations and highlight the unwavering alliance.
Pence will on Tuesday deliver a speech at a meeting hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea.
In recent months, a series of top US officials have visited South Korea amid concerns that security cooperation between the allies could slacken in the wake of the March 10 ouster of former President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal.
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Seoul in February and March respectively to highlight that the US commitment to the defence of South Korea will remain "ironclad".
Pence will depart for Japan on Tuesday. His trip will also take him to Indonesia and Australia.
"Sikh Community and its issues are always close to my heart and I always admire the contribution of Sikhs in Indiana and across the US," he told a Sikh delegation in Indianapolis.
During the meeting with the Sikhs Political Action Committee (SikhsPAC) led by Gurinder Singh Khalsa, Pence said that he was fully aware of Sikh awareness issues since his days as Governor, a SikhsPAC media release said.
Main topic of discussion with the delegation was Sikh awareness and introduction of Sikh History in public history curriculum through federal department of education.
The 58-year-old leader also admired the efforts of SikhsPAC for encouraging Sikh Community for its participation in the main stream politics, the statement said.
During the meeting, Pence reaffirmed his commitment to the Sikh community and encouraged it to continue to give back in the form of serving in the military and public offices at local, state and federal levels, it said.
Early this week, Khalsa visited Washington DC and met about two dozen US Senator and Congressmen.
He also attended US Global Leadership Collision where about 500 world faith leaders, veterans and elected leaders participated to influence the American foreign aid policies.
Pence was the first siting Governor who attended Sikh Parade and bestowed highest Civil award to a Sikh in 2015.
The US state of Indiana has passed a resolution recognising Sikhs' "significant contributions" to America.
Hate-crime incidents against Sikhs have seen a spurt in in America recently.
Dressed in a blue-black pantsuit, Harris kicked off the debate by responding to the first question - predictably on the virus. She termed the Trump administration's response to COVID-19 as "the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country."
"On January, 28, the Vice President and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic. They were informed that it's lethal, that it is airborne, that it will affect young people, and that it would be contracted, because it is airborne. And they knew what was happening and they didn't tell you", Harris said, punching hard within the first two minutes.
Harris' goal in this debate, based on her prep team's vantage point, is twofold: Frame Pence as complicit in Trump's chaotic response to a deadly pandemic and equally, paint a 'what if' scenario of an alternative universe, should the Biden ticket win.
Pence, political obsessors said, will be looking to jump off the sinking Trump ship, get on a lifeboat and bob away to some island where he can hang out till the 2024 election comes around.
VP debates often get lost in the news cycle of presidential politics but this one may end up being different. The political costs are already mounting for Trump, after the first presidential debate and his own COVID-19 diagnosis.
In fact, the Trump campaign chaos has turned this usually muted event into a TV spectacle.
Most of the Biden-Harris weapons going into the VP debate are of Trump's own making. The US president has morphed into a walking-talking negative ad for his own re-election campaign.
Biden is up 9 points in head to head polling against Trump. Dig a little deeper and Biden has widened his lead in six battlegrounds. A RealClearPolitics average puts the gap at +4.9 for Biden.
With Trump tanking in the polls and the White House shaken by a string of new infections striking its A team, the Democrats are smelling blood and Harris, an aggressive prosecutor, is on the offence.
Everything about this debate is messy for Trump and Pence, it's all about the coronavirus, 7.5 million Americans are sick, more than 211,000 are dead and it's all happened on the Trump watch.
Trump spent the last eight months asking Americans to look at shiny objects - the stock market, bleach, hydroxychloroquine, ultraviolet light, tweets, the occasional swipe at immigration and even snuck in a giant photo op tour to the Taj Mahal one full month after he was told that COVID would be his biggest national security challenge ever.
The coronavirus blew up all those balloons and infiltrated the White House with 31 days to go before the US election 2020. Given that backdrop, Harris' 101 is to do the political version of the Hippa oath: Do no harm to the Biden ticket.
But clearly, Harris has set her sights a few notches above.
And, there's the matter of the plexiglass - an unlikely rockstar in the VP debate, making its debut in America's presidential debates. Harris' team requested they be used, Pence's team kicked and screamed and gave in.
Harris is not budging from the high ground of public health policy during America's worst public health emergency.
The trickiest terrain for Pence is coronavirus. Trump crowned him as the leader of the coronavirus task force. Until Trump got sick, Pence could do his thing while Trump did his gig.
If Harris makes Pence answer for Trump and Pence refuses, he'll have to answer for himself. Either way, there's no running away from 211,000 Americans dead and still counting.
Health experts have been going red in the face saying the virus will decide everything. So it goes with this debate.
"I'd rather have a vacuum cleaner for my president. Anybody but Trump!", Alexander Pickard, a Manhattan based voter, told IANS.
(IANS)
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The 25th Amendment allows for the president to be removed from office by the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet.
The president's dangerous and seditious acts necessitate his immediate removal from office, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the two Democratic leaders tried to reach out to Pence on the issue but were unable to talk to him.
This morning, we placed a call to Vice President Pence to urge him to invoke the 25th Amendment which would allow the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to remove the president for his incitement of insurrection and the danger he still poses. We have not yet heard back from the vice president, Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement.
We look forward to hearing from the vice president as soon as possible and to receiving a positive answer as to whether he and the Cabinet will honour their oath to the Constitution and the American people, the two Democratic leaders said.
In an unprecedented assault on democracy in the US, thousands of supporters of outgoing President Trump stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday and clashed with police, resulting in four deaths and interrupting a constitutional process by Congress to affirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the election.
On Thursday, both Pelosi and Schumer at separate news conferences said they will move impeachment proceedings in the Congress if Trump was not removed from office through the 25th Amendment.
In calling for this seditious act, the president has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people. I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th Amendment," Pelosi said.
"If the vice president and Cabinet do not act, Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. That is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus and the American people, by the way, she told reporters.
Justice will be done to those who carried out these acts, which were acts of sedition and acts of cowardice. To those whose purpose was to deter our responsibility, you have failed. You did not divert the Congress from our solemn constitutional purpose to validate the overwhelming election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president of the United States, she said.
Schumer told reporters that if the vice president and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach Trump, who has less than two weeks in office.
(Lalit K Jha/PTI)
"Under our Constitution, the 25th Amendment is not a means of punishment or usurpation. Invoking the 25th Amendment in such a manner would set a terrible precedent," Pence said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi and House Democrats had pressed Pence and the Cabinet to remove Trump from office in the aftermath of the January 6 breach of the US Capitol by thousands of the president's loyalists.
"As you know full well, the 25th Amendment was designed to address Presidential incapacity or disability," Pence said in the letter, a copy of which was released by the White House on Tuesday night.
"Just a few months ago, when you introduced legislation to create a 25th Amendment Commission, you said, '(a) President's fitness for office must be determined by science and facts.' You said then that we must be 'very respectful of not making a judgment on the basis of a comment or behaviour that we don't like, but based on a medical decision.' Madam Speaker, you were right," he wrote.
Pence said that after the horrific events of the past week, the administration's energy is directed towards ensuring an orderly transition.
"In the midst of a global pandemic, economic hardship for millions of Americans, and the tragic events of January 6th, now is the time for Americans to come together, now is the time to heal," Pence said.
"I urge you and every member of Congress to avoid actions that would further divide and inflame the passions of the moment. Work with us to lower the temperature and unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden as the next President of the United States. I pledge to you that I will continue to do my part to work in good faith with the incoming administration to ensure an orderly transition of power," the vice president wrote.
Pence further said every American was shocked and saddened by the attack on the nation's Capitol last week.
"I am grateful for the leadership that you and other congressional leaders provided in reconvening Congress to complete the people's business on the very same day. It was a moment that demonstrated to the American people the unity that is still possible in Congress when it is needed most," he said.
"But now, with just eight days left in the President's term, you and the Democratic Caucus are demanding that the Cabinet and I invoke the 25th Amendment. I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution," Pence said.
"Last week, I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our nation," he added.
With Pence declining to invoke the 25th Amendment, the decks are now clear for House Democrats to vote on impeachment of Trump on Wednesday.
Under the 25h Amendment, the vice president can hold a meeting of the Cabinet which can vote that the President is not fit to hold the office.
(IANS)