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Floor Speech
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Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, today, I rise in support of H.R. 8219, the Lahaina National Heritage Study Act. I also want to lend my support to the bill that is proposed by my esteemed colleague from Nebraska.
H.R. 8219 requires the Secretary of the Interior to study the potential of Lahaina to be designated as a National Heritage Area. The August 2023 wildfires brought to the forefront how special Lahaina is to Maui, to Hawaii, to our country, and, indeed, the world. The National Heritage Area designation could bring important Federal resources to help protect and manage the historic natural and cultural resources that are unique to Lahaina.
I thank Senator Fischer for her partnership in supporting this measure, and I ask my colleagues to join me in passing this bill today so that the President can sign it into law, and the National Park Service can begin working with local partners on this effort.
I just want to mention that it is very clear that both Senator Fischer and I have worked very closely with our communities in garnering support for these two bills, and no one is raising any substantive objections to these measures. So as we rush to finish the work of the Senate, I think it would be a very positive decision on our part to support these bills that nobody substantively objects to. So I hope that we can UC these bills.
I yield to the Senator from Nebraska.
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Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, I would just like to note that I certainly recognize that the esteemed chair of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is working very hard to put together a bill that contains dozens of these kinds of bills that have been worked through the committee as well as by the proponents. However, the reality of time is that there are serious concerns as to whether or not we are going to be able to get the kind of agreement that the chairman seeks.
Therefore, here we are with the actual two bills. And, believe me, if all of the other people who have similar kinds of legislation come to this floor and ask for unanimous consent, I will be happy to give it. That is all we are asking at this point--that these two bills are ripe today. Whether or not the chair is able to succeed in putting together this massive legislation that he referred to, I think, is very problematic, and I think we should, at least, take positive action on the bills that the Senator from Nebraska and I have worked very hard on.
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