Jill Tokuda: “This is my 30th Maui minute. After months of delay, three successive requests from President Biden, and unnecessary…”

“This is my 30th Maui minute. After months of delay, three successive requests from President Biden, and unnecessary anxiety for millions of Americans courtesy of the richest man in the world, Congress will now finally send much-needed disaster recovery funding across the country. For over a year, I have led bipartisan efforts pushing to deliver this aid to Maui. We have delivered speeches in this Chamber and we have sent letters to leadership to introduce amendments that were blocked. Finally, we got this done. This disaster recovery package will provide a much-needed boost to meeting all our people's needs. The package will send over $2.1 billion in Federal disaster relief to Hawaii, including about $1.6 billion in the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Fund, or CDBG-DR, $350 million to rebuild drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, and $72 million to rebuild roads and bridges. It will replenish the Small Business Administration's disaster loans program so homeowners and small businesses can continue to recover. For my Maui constituents still recovering from the deadly fires, it has been far too long of a wait, but our work will not stop here. We will use these dollars to rebuild housing and infrastructure, restore our `` `aina,'' ``land,'' and bring our Maui `` `ohana,'' ``family,'' home. ____________________”