(BIVN) – The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee is holding a committee hearing with top officials from key federal agencies today, discussing urgent funding needs for communities harmed by natural disasters, including last year’s fires on Maui.

U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaiʻi) is participating in the hearing, and planned to press officials from the Department of Transportation, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Department of Agriculture on funding.

“While a strong federal response to the fires has helped complete the cleanup process ahead of schedule, much more help – and a different kind of help – will be needed in this next phase of recovery,” said Senator Schatz earlier this week. “As cleanup gives way to rebuilding, survivors will need significant financial assistance over a period of months and years. Building a home, building a store, building a community takes time and it takes resources. These things don’t magically appear overnight nor do they happen without enormous investments. Which is why it’s essential that Congress, as part of any forthcoming disaster aid package, includes flexible, long-term assistance in the form of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding.”

“Survivors in Lahaina and in more than 20 other states aren’t asking for a miracle,” Senator Schatz continued, “All they want is to return to life as they knew it. To go to work, to drop their kids off at school, to come back to a home of their own. A life of stability and safety and security. And to do that, they need our help. They need Congress to do the thing we’ve always done, which is to show up for survivors and stick with them for as long as they need help. It’s my understanding that the Administration will, in the coming days, submit to Congress an updated request of disaster needs. And I want to be very clear that we cannot and must not leave town for the holidays next month without passing the long-term relief that survivors need and deserve. This is not optional. We need to get this done.”

The Senate committee hearing, A Review of Disaster Funding Needs, was ongoing as of Wednesday morning.