[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 61 (Wednesday, April 10, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2685-S2686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Domestic Supplemental Appropriations

  Mr. SCHATZ. Madam President, it has been more than 5 months since the 
President submitted a domestic supplemental appropriations request to 
Congress. And, among other things, it called for funding recovery 
efforts in communities across the country struck by disasters, 
including Lahaina Maui.
  Every one of these affected communities in Florida, in California, in 
Vermont, in Mississippi, in Alabama, in Arkansas, in Alaska, in South 
Dakota, in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessee need help. Each 
one of them is in the middle of a long and difficult process of 
rebuilding and getting back on its feet.
  Recovering from a disaster--whether natural or manmade--it is hard, 
it is time-intensive, and it is incredibly expensive; surveying the 
damage in the immediate hours and days following the event; undertaking 
the complex and often dangerous process of debris removal; rebuilding 
homes and roads and schools and other essential infrastructure that 
were destroyed; providing financial assistance to people, families, and 
small business owners who lost their jobs and livelihoods overnight. It 
takes months and years and tremendous effort from thousands of people 
to return these communities to anything close to normal.
  Today, another community is, unfortunately, confronting the colossal 
task of rebuilding--this time in Baltimore in the wake of the tragic 
collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Our hearts go out to the 
families of the six men who were lost that day. They were fathers; they 
were husbands; they were brothers; immigrants who worked day and night 
to provide for their families. And their losses break our collective 
hearts.
  As Baltimore recovers, we stand ready to support all of the 
communities and businesses that relied on that bridge and the Port of 
Baltimore every day to get around and move goods through. And as the 
Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, I am 
committed to doing everything I can to help pass the necessary funding 
to rebuild.
  As we do that, we also have a responsibility to support every other 
community that has been devastated by a disaster because we are all in 
this together. No State or county--big or small, red or blue, wealthy 
or not--can shoulder the burden alone.
  When a disaster is so big, so catastrophic for any one State or 
locality to handle, it falls on the Federal Government to step up and 
help. It is central to the promise of the Federal Government. We can 
argue about the size and the scope of the Federal Government all we 
like--which programs to fund, what levels to fund them at--but even the 
most libertarian among us can agree that helping our fellow Americans 
when they are in crisis, when they have lost everything, when they are 
desperate for support--helping them is patriotic and essential to our 
roles in the Congress. It is why funding disaster recovery has 
historically been bipartisan--because people on both sides of the aisle 
have recognized, rightly, that disasters do not discriminate between 
red and blue and purple areas. Accidents don't pick and choose their 
victims. Every community that has had the misfortune of being struck by 
a disaster needs and deserves help.
  Maui is just one example of what these communities are facing. Eight 
months on from the devastating fires, the needs remain enormous. 
Thousands of people are still living out of hotels and vacation 
rentals, unable to rebuild their lives. Roads and water systems have 
yet to be repaired. Small businesses and their employees continue to 
struggle without tourism.
  For Lahaina to recover, thousands of homes will need be to be 
rebuilt. Critical infrastructure will need to be restored. Businesses 
will need to get up and running again. So Congress needs to step up and 
help. That includes providing funding for the Community Development 
Block Grant Disaster Recovery--or CDBG-DR--Program, as the supplemental 
request calls for. CDBG-DR funding has long been a lifeline for 
families and small businesses recovering after disasters. Maui and many 
other communities nationwide are waiting on this aid.
  It has been nearly 6 months since the President called on Congress to 
help communities recover from disasters. We have waited a long time, 
and we can't wait much longer. The disasters keep piling up and, with 
them, the urgent needs of the survivors. People need help.
  We need to pass this supplemental and make sure all the survivors are 
getting the relief they need. This is not each against all; we are 
truly all in this together. Every community that has been hurt by a 
natural disaster deserves help, and Congress must provide it.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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