Those early days, post storm, were rough, but what we saw firsthand were a lot of agencies, Federal and state and local, try to come together to get this area back on track.

When they were asked to leave their residences, their refrain to me and to a lot of local leaders was absolutely not, this is my home, and this storm has passed, and we are going to do everything we can to rebuild.

I really want to thank the Chairman for scheduling this hearing today to discuss with government officials from FEMA, from SBA, and from HUD, which are the three main Federal agencies that oversaw Hurricane Ian response from a Federal…

I look forward to this hearing as we take an overall view of the efficiency and the effectiveness of the Federal Government's Hurricane Ian response.

What would you recommend to Congress to essentially alleviate or to make it far more streamlined the regulatory burden you are under for making these disaster decisions?

First of all, Chairman, I really want to thank you and Members of the Committee for coming down to Southwest Florida for this hearing.

But the level of devastation from flooding in particular is something that none of us really could understand the magnitude of.

But the one thing that was always clear about the people of Southwest Florida was their resiliency.

People on Pine Island, as the Matlacha Bridge was washed out, they were on the phone with me 2 days after basically saying, Byron, we are going to rebuild that bridge.

I look forward to having a blunt and open conversation today, which will ultimately improve disaster relief efforts in the future.

What are the regulatory concerns surrounding FEMA taking 45 days--not so much regulatory concerns.

Would Lee County, Florida, have essentially the unilateral authority to make adjustments to an award in CDBG-DR money?

What--what needs to happen to stop that from occurring, because, when people are in a disaster recovery mode, they do not have time to check every dot.

We believe the view should be based upon our actual needs.

And I will say I do agree with you there with respect to Director Guthrie, you know, his work here was exemplary, and I want to state that for the record.

I would like to thank our Federal delegation, especially Representative Byron Donalds, who helped us make today's event possible.

I want to make sure we get closer on this understanding about CDBG money and the things that would flow.

Even his own attorneys have said they expect he will be indicted in Georgia next week.