Political Quotes

“If I may interject. My colleagues may recall that as chairman of the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Subcommittee in the 102d Congress, I supported the original establishment of the Pacific Area Office. At that time, the subcommittee set aside $500,000 in the Senate report accompanying the FY92 VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill for this initiative. The subcommittee's action reflected a concern that a permanent FEMA presence was needed in the Pacific. Until the office was opened in Honolulu in 1993, the agency had no forward-based staff or facilities in these jurisdictions; instead, all disaster activities were conducted directly from FEMA's Region IX office, located in San Francisco, thousands of miles from these jurisdictions. While the creation of this office has clearly improved FEMA's ability to deal with the many disasters that occur in the Pacific, the agency still falls short of fully providing for the emergency needs of our citizens and friends in the Pacific. I think we need to consider seriously making the Pacific Area Office a full-service office, one that can provide robust mitigation, training, and emergency response services in a timely, appropriate fashion. So, I would support the Senator from Hawaii's request that we consider taking this matter up in conference.”