Disaster Relief and Recovery Funding

Floor Speech

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Ms. GABBARD. Madam Speaker, 2018 was a tough year for so many Americans. We had families and farmers and people all across California whose homes were destroyed, people who lost their lives, lost their farms, lost their businesses. In other parts of the country, there were storms and hurricanes that similarly devastated communities.

My home State of Hawaii was one of them. We were battered by natural disasters of all types last year on nearly all of our islands, from major flooding and landslides on Kauai and Oahu in April, an erupting volcano throughout May and June, and flooding and wildfires on multiple islands in August.

But, time and again, in Hawaii and across the country, people have proved their resilience and strength, living aloha, taking care of each other, even when they have lost everything.

Today, we are voting to pass funding that is sorely needed by communities like mine, where people are still struggling to get back on their feet with limited resources.

This bill provides funding for things like crop insurance, reconstructing facilities, water infrastructure projects, crisis counseling, rebuilding homes, small businesses, and more.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to pass this necessary funding bill and provide a helping hand to those whose lives will never be the same because of these disasters

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