Doug Lamalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. TOKUDA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair and my colleagues who have co-led and provided leadership on this important bill: Representative Steube, Representative Thompson, and Representative Panetta.

I rise today, like so many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to honor our friend Doug LaMalfa. He understood that the disaster after the disaster happens when families cannot recover and return to their hometowns because the funding and resources they receive just don't stretch far enough or, worse, are taxed and taken away from people who need absolutely every single dollar to be able to rebuild.

On Saturday, I stood above Lahaina, and for a moment--the briefest of moments--in the darkness, the town almost looked normal. Immediately, you realize that something is missing: no warm glow from homes and businesses, no kids riding bikes, and no neighbors gathering in garages.

The people of Lahaina were not counting on that day. They did not seek or ask to lose their homes, their businesses, their livelihoods, their history, or their loved ones.

They should be able to count on this: that every dollar and every resource meant to help them rebuild, recover, and return home stays with them in their pockets, not in government coffers.

As I stand here today wearing Doug's pin above my heart, I know he is up there smiling right now. Doug believed recovery should not come with a tax bill, and the Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act makes sure of that.

As we all know too well, the burden of those touched by fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, or disaster is already too much to bear. It is already far too heavy. We should not be making it heavier.

Mr. Speaker, for my constituents, and disaster and wildfire survivors everywhere, let's stand with them in this moment and every moment to come. Let's show them some aloha. Let's make sure that we all vote ``yes'' on this bill.

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