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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, it is good that the Senate and the House are working on a bipartisan basis to pass a short-term spending bill to keep the government open. But make no mistake, our work is not over, because, once again, we are leaving town, for a long period of time, not having passed disaster aid to help survivors on Maui and elsewhere.
Over the past 13 months, since tragic fires tore down the town of Lahaina and claimed 102 lives, I have been here on the floor repeatedly pressing for urgent disaster relief, and in that time, more disasters have devastated communities all over the country.
So many people on Maui and in Texas and Vermont and New Mexico and California and Iowa and Florida and in 20 States total and, unfortunately, rising--they are waiting for help, and the Federal Government has not come to their aid yet. They have lost loved ones. They have lost homes. They have lost businesses. They have lost livelihoods. And all they want is help and a little bit of hope to get their lives back to something close to normal.
What are we doing as a Congress if we can't even deliver help to our fellow Americans when disaster strikes?
So when we return in November, passing disaster aid has to be the top priority of the U.S. Congress. There is no excuse not to do this.
What is being asked of us is what Congress always does. We simply need to do the thing that we have always done, which is to show up for disaster survivors and get them the help that they need.
And if you are a Member that represents any of the 20-odd States that need this help, we need your help. And if you are a Member from one of the other 30 States, there but for the grace of God go I. It will always come around. Everyone needs disaster help. So consider it your priority, even if your State, thank God, hasn't been hit this year or last--even if you don't have 20 or 30,000 victims waiting for help.
This is an American priority, and we cannot close up shop for this Congress, leaving all these Americans behind.
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