Schatz calls for additional disaster relief for Maui as government funding deadline nears

With just nine days to go until the Sept. 30 deadline to fund the federal government, US Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) today spoke on the Senate Floor to call on lawmakers in Congress to pass additional disaster relief funding as part of an appropriations bill.

Schatz’s remarks come as federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, are facing depleting funds for disaster relief even as they continue recovery work on Maui and other states impacted natural disasters across the country.

“Americans impacted by disasters are the ones most desperately in need,” said Senator Schatz. “That includes the people on Maui who are just beginning the recovery process from last month’s devastating wildfires, but also people in states across the country: in Vermont, in Florida, in California, in Texas, and many other states.”

Schatz continued, “Funding disaster relief is one of the core responsibilities of the federal legislature, not just as a matter of public policy but morally. What are we here for other than to help our fellow Americans when they are in desperate situations?”

“Morally, what are we here for other than to help our fellow Americans when they are in desperate situations?” said Sen. Schatz. “In West Maui you have hundreds of kids still not in school. You have an elementary school that was destroyed. You have sewer and water treatment facilities that have been… deeply damaged. You have Lahaina Harbor that is inoperable. You have telecom services that are not operating at full capacity. You have roads that are trashed—and that is to say nothing of the 1800 homes that burnt to the ground, 2200 structures… [and] very likely between 100 and 200 dead.”

“We have to stop messing around here,” said Sen. Schatz. “I have been known to be partisan sometimes. I have been known to get into it with my colleagues on the Republican side, but part of the beauty of the American system of government, when it works, is that you can fight about all the stuff you’re supposed to fight about, and not fight about the stuff that you’re not supposed to fight about.”

He said: “We are not supposed to fight about whether people on Maui or people in Vermont or people in Florida, or people in Texas or Louisiana or California get the help that they need. We have to get our act together and get this money out.”