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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, for so many people in Lahaina, next week marks 1 year since the worst day of their lives. They watched in horror as wind-whipped fires barreled into town at blistering speed and sent everything in their path up in flames. They saw the only homes and places they had ever known and lived in fall around them. And with just minutes to escape, they gathered whatever they could and ran for their lives.
It is a testament to the generosity and camaraderie that typifies Hawaii that, even amid all of that panic and chaos, so many people put their loved ones, their neighbors, and total strangers before themselves. In their darkest hour, their first instinct was to provide help. In that moment, everyday people became eternal heroes.
The outpouring of kindness continued far beyond those first few hours. As the grim and heartbreaking reality of death and destruction set in, people did everything that they could to ease the burden, even if just a little bit. Everybody pitched in--not because they were asked but because they saw that their ohana needed help.
For the survivors who lost everything in an instant, no amount of help is ever truly enough. Mr. President, 102 people died that day; 2,200 structures, most of them homes, flattened. More than 12,000 residents were displaced overnight. And so the process of recovery was never going to be quick or easy. This was always going to be a yearslong effort, riddled with stubborn realities to confront and difficult challenges to overcome.
And in spite of the grace and good will of the community, in spite of a robust Federal response since the very beginning, there is still so much unmet need and unfinished work. And, understandably, people are worried and anxious and exhausted. They are tired of having to uproot their families from one temporary housing unit to the next, every few weeks or every few months. They are tired of wondering what the future holds and if that future will be on Maui at all. They worry about their friends and their neighbors grappling with depression and post- traumatic stress from the lingering trauma of the fires. They worry about their kids missing out on school and getting left behind.
One year later, people's lives are nowhere near back to normal. National headlines may have moved on, but life for survivors has not. They still need help.
From the very next day after the fires, following President Biden's disaster declaration, the Federal Government mobilized a sweeping recovery effort that has delivered more than $300 million in aid to date.
Here in Congress, Senator Mazie Hirono, Representative Jill Tokuda, Representative Ed Case, and I worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to deliver disaster relief funding and get survivors the help that they deserve.
And while we should be clear-eyed about the long road ahead, it is worth, just for a moment, reflecting on the progress that has been made. After a year of round-the-clock work from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, debris removal is entering the final stretch and is expected to be completed in the coming months. Water and wastewater services have been fully restored as of 2 weeks ago. And a temporary campus for King Kamehameha III Elementary School was built from the ground up in just 95 days and opened its doors to students in April.
That progress is real. And it is the reason for hope that things can and will improve. But there is still so much work left to do. Housing remains the number one issue. Businesses still need help as tourism lags. And people of all ages need expanded access to mental health resources and other healthcare.
Every part of the government--whether it is Federal, State, or county--has a responsibility to help the survivors get back on their feet.
And right now, for Congress, that means passing the President's domestic supplemental appropriations request, which includes significant investments in the CDBG-DR Program; that is, Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery. CDBG-DR has, for decades, been the lifeline for disaster survivors across the country, giving them flexible, long-term assistance to rebuild their homes and their businesses and their neighborhoods. This is a proven program that has helped revive dozens of devastated communities and has to be extended for the survivors on Maui as they try to recover.
For the people of Lahaina, the past year has been a year of uncertainty and unease; unspeakable grief and heartache; impossible choices; a year of what ifs and what's nexts. Nothing will ever fully replace the people and the things that were lost on that harrowing day about a year ago.
But what we can do is be there for them as they recover, for as long as it takes, every step of the way. That is our responsibility, and that is our promise.
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