Brian Schatz Urges Support For Federal Disaster Relief Funding Request For Maui Fires

4 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) spoke about disaster relief funding for the 2023 Hawaii fires.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. President. For so many people in Lahaina, next week marks one

00:09year since the worst day of their lives. They watched in horror as wind-whipped

00:15fires barreled into town at blistering speed and sent everything in their path

00:22up in flames. They saw the only homes and places they'd ever known and lived in

00:29fall around them and with just minutes to escape, they gathered whatever they

00:33could and ran for their lives. It is a testament to the generosity and

00:39camaraderie that typifies Hawaii that even amid all of that panic and chaos, so

00:44many people put their loved ones, their neighbors, and total strangers before

00:50themselves. In their darkest hour, their first instinct was to provide help. In

00:58that moment, everyday people became eternal heroes. The outpouring of

01:05kindness continued far beyond those first few hours. As the grim and

01:09heartbreaking reality of death and destruction set in, people did everything

01:14that they could to ease the burden, even if just a little bit. Everybody pitched

01:19in, not because they were asked, but because they saw that their ohana needed

01:25help. For the survivors who lost everything in an instant, no amount of

01:31help is ever truly enough. A hundred and two people died that day. 2,200

01:39structures, most of them homes, flattened. More than 12,000 residents were

01:46displaced overnight. And so the process of recovery was never going to be quick

01:53or easy. This was always going to be a years-long effort riddled with stubborn

01:59realities to confront and difficult challenges to overcome. And in spite of

02:04the grace and goodwill of the community, in spite of a robust federal response

02:09since the very beginning, there is still so much unmet need and unfinished work.

02:15And understandably, people are worried and anxious and exhausted. They're tired

02:23of having to uproot their families from one temporary housing unit to the next

02:28every few weeks or every few months. They're tired of wondering what the

02:33future holds and if that future will be on Maui at all. They worry about their

02:40friends and their neighbors grappling with depression and post-traumatic

02:43stress from the lingering trauma of the fires. They worry about their kids

02:50missing out on school and getting left behind. One year later, people's lives are

02:56nowhere near back to normal. National headlines may have moved on, but life for

03:04survivors has not. They still need help. From the very next day after the fires

03:11following President Biden's disaster declaration, the federal government

03:15mobilized a sweeping recovery effort that's delivered more than 300 billion

03:20dollars, 300 million dollars in aid to date. Here in Congress, Senator Mazie

03:27Hirono, Representative Jill Takuda, and Representative Ed Case and I worked with

03:31colleagues on both sides of the aisle to deliver disaster relief funding and get

03:37survivors the help that they deserve. And while we should be clear-eyed about the

03:43long road ahead, it's worth just for a moment reflecting on the progress that's

03:48been made. After a year of round-the-clock work from the United

03:53States Army Corps of Engineers, debris removal is entering the final stretch

03:57and is expected to be completed in the coming months. Water and wastewater

04:02services have been fully restored, as of two weeks ago, and a temporary campus for

04:08King Kamehameha III Elementary School was built from the ground up in

04:11just 95 days and opened its doors to students in April. That progress is real

04:18and it's the reason for hope that things can and will improve, but there is still

04:25so much work left to do. Housing remains the number one issue. Businesses still

04:32need help as tourism lags and people of all ages need expanded access to mental

04:38health resources and other health care. Every part of the government, whether

04:44it's federal, state, or county, has a responsibility to help the survivors get

04:48back on their feet. And right now, for Congress, that means passing the

04:54president's domestic supplemental appropriations request, which includes

04:58significant investments in the CDBGDR program. That's Community Development

05:03Block Grant Disaster Recovery. CDBGDR has, for decades, been the lifeline for

05:10disaster survivors across the country, giving them flexible, long-term

05:15assistance to rebuild their homes and their businesses and their

05:19neighborhoods. This is a proven program that has helped to revive dozens of

05:24devastated communities and has to be extended for the survivors on Maui as

05:31they try to recover. For the people of Lahaina, the past year has been a year of

05:37uncertainty and unease, unspeakable grief and heartache, impossible choices, a year

05:46of what-ifs and what's next. Nothing will ever fully replace the people and the

05:52things that were lost on that harrowing day about a year ago, but what we can do

05:59is be there for them as they recover, for as long as it takes, every step of

06:07the way. That is our responsibility and that is our promise. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Brian Schatz Urges Support For Federal Disaster Relief Funding Request For Maui Fires

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