objection the gentleman is recognized mr.smith: thank you, mr. speaker, i rise in support

of h.r. 5863, the federal disaster tax relief act. introduced by my ways and means colleague from bel steube. this legislation w approved last year by the ways and means committee 38-0 because families and communities across theho sus need support. in legislation was so strong that it was a second time by the ways and means committee as part of the tax relief for american families and workers act. this legti not only helps victims of disasters but bad and immediate tax relief for american workers farmers, families and small businesses, which is why the house of rep passed it with 84% support earlier this year. i encourage my senate colleagues disaster victims andlation to

help the millions of americans treading water in today's economy. the federal t relief act provides assistance to communities across the country bringing relief to those recovering and r after tragic floods and tornadoes like those affected communitiesn my home state of missouri in the winter of 2021 summer of 2023. hurricanes hurricane ian that claimed count lives in comnities infires that california and hawaii and the train derailment and toxic in east palestine, ohio. i want to commend representative steube for his leadershi his passion started with his desire to provide help to the families he represents who were devastated by the hurricane.

but in ierest of getting this done, he broadend his to include over 300 storms in 45 states. i encourage all of my colleagues to vote yes on this bill so weeg our fellow neighbors when they are most need. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the genemforn is r. mr. thompson: i yield myself such timas i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: jarngd. mr. thompson: i risetrong support of this legislation and i thank chairmanth the ways and means committee for all of the good work he has done ensure we are able to help our constituents who are suffering as af natural disasters and colleague and friend, mr. steube who without his leadership on the ways and means committee, we wouldn't be here today. and also, mr. lamalfa, my colleague to the north of my district who has m

over the years to address one component that is piece of legi. this has been a long time coming for my constituents, too long, way toozly long. now the second time in five months that this house come together to state plainly andrtt americans should help one another whenisaster strikes. while the senate continues to play politics with what ought to be a bipartisan victory, they have beenithe tax bill for five months. and i join chairman smith the entire bill, because there i much in that for so many of our constituents acrosshe country. and i just want to briefly reiterate howe got here today. in my district, wildfir 2015, 2017 and 2018 devastated

entire communities across my district across the state of california. entire towns were destroyed. thousands of people lost homes. dozens of people lost their lives. in the aer the courts found that pacific gas and electric was lia f causing some of these fires. as part of subsequent bankruptcy proceedings, the utility established a from fire survivors are generally eligible for compensation for losses sustained during these fires. e pause here to say one thing. no disaster survivor is ever madehole. no one is ever made whole. peoplet their homes and everything in their homes. family pictures, family records. they lost buss and as i

said earlier, sadly they lost familyem and while the courts eventually created a path to compensation, it took years to get there, years my have. they couldn't wait around for three, four, s years to get a payment from that trust and then because thetructured in the form of stock shares and because sck shares need to bemon advertised carefully and slowly in order to maximize returns to survirs the payments to survivors came in batches. nobody is getting, repeat, nobody is getting 100% of what they lost. then to add insult to injury, riders our constituents started to get even a little bit of compensation, our constituents are told they may owe taxes on these payments because depending on the taxpayer, the payme may

qualify as income. in four years of working on t issue, i have yet to encounter a single person on either side of the aisle who believes this is that's why we have been so successful in passing this legislation numerous times out of the ways and means committee heloor of this house. this bill has been stalled, advanc then held up. it has been marked up and passed the house and stalled again. the senate ought to stop digitterring on what is a good bill for this coury and just pass it. we are here again t matter up. i'm grateful to my colleaguesn both sides of the aisle. mr. neal, our ranking member on ways and means, has been a great colleague and champion. chairmad mr. steube, one of

colleagues on the committee. i wish s an unusual strategy to get here wasn't necessary. i ammied and i think my lever to get thismitted to bill passed. this is a fundamental question of fairness and i urge all my colleagues to vn favor of this bill. and i reserve. theae:he gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr.smith: i want to congressman thompson for his hid moving it through theomin a ver. i yield such time as he may consume to the author of thislem florida, mr. steube. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognizeds be: stand in support of h.r. 5863. and historic act last week the majority of the house

the house should act to provide tax relief toti of natural disasters all across america. td with me on this fight. on september 28, 2022, southwest florida was ravaged by hurricane no one ranks him as the third costliest hurricane killing 150 people and causing billions of ar in damages. for floridians, the recy far from over. despite experiencing hurricanes, floridians are resilient. i have beenking on legislation to recover from storms that have decimated many storms. --mu the sun coast is still waiting for congress to do its j provide relief. more than a year after fall, congress has to provide

disaster relief. i received thousands of letters, calls and pleas for help who incurred thousands of dollars in recovery expenses and having a hard time getting ahead. on keyings since 2022, congress has provided taxl disasters. since1, 3 1-r disasters have been declared without congress taking action. wildfires across the western united states and maui impacted americans who have received relief. the similarly, victims of the east in train derailment are facing similar issues. this bill helps and allows them to deduct aid for natural disasters from their taxes. it will provide relief for

millions who have been affected by natural disasters, in the northeast, victims of wildfires will be -- will get the relief they deserve. those who face wr storms will get protection. our friend in texas who have experienced a variety ofer incl, flooding and fires. this doesn't just impact california, it congress must act to provide them relief. i'm grateful to be supported by many of comie colleagues on both sides of the aisle to lead the fight for americans all acros cr relief. disaster relief is not a democrat problem or a r problem, it's something that all of us face. i would like to give a sincere thanks to staff who have worked tirelessly on this bill. i would like to give a special thanks california congressman mike thompson, jimmy panetta, doug lamalfa, as well as congresswoman joe wilson tokuda of hawaii for their leadership on this effort. i'd like to congressman bill johnson who played an

important role with this bill dci thanks to ways and means committee chairman jason smith for passing this bill out of the commi. the constituents in my district and the districts each of you represent are in n oelp. and today i urge swift passage of this bill on the house floors consideration in the senate so that americans all across america can get much-needed relief. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida yields back.n from missouri reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from hawaii, ms. to w knows firsthand the tragedy of wildfires, her constituents experienced a horrific, horrific disaster in her district, in her home state. and she has been there with thes here on their behalf again tonight. thank you for your support and i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from hawaii is recognized for to min. ms. tokuda: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of h.r. 586 3-rbgs the federal

disaster tax relief o it will keep survivors' hard-earned money in their pockets andelp them in getting their lives back to normal as soon as possible. whatever thatht lk like. seeing the overwhelming challenges faced by the survivors of the maui wildfires, i introduced h.r. 5873, the natural disaster tax relief act of 2023, lastober, to lessen the tax burden faced by disaster survivors and eey have the financial resources to support their ohana. sincen, too many people continue to struggle with recovery costs that no one cudg. across our country, through all disasters,urre, those to come and so far in the past, they've reached deep into theiro feed their kids, to cover their mortga to pay for education and healthe costs and rebuild their homes, businesses and livelihoods. i want to thank my friends and colleagues for incorporating elements of my legislation into

this bill, as continue to fight for its critical passage. like me, they know all t well that there will never be enough to replace all that peopleost. as the good congressman from california mentioned, no one will be made whole, but that being said, anything, anything we can do lighten the tax burdens and the financial struggles they face will it a long way t lives and rebuilding communities. i am proud toessm steube, lamalfa and thompson on the floor today to pass this bi the house, and i implore the senate to embrace and pass this bill. disaster does not discriminate. it doef you're democrat, independent or republican. but when it hits, pe help. we must pass this critical bipartisan piece of legislation now. thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield back.thspeaker pro e gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from california reserves. and the gentleman from missouri is recognized.

>> thank you, mr. speaker. i yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from california, mr. lamalfa. the speaker pro tem: gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lamalfa: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you so mucirn smith, for helping us with ourne and i'm very grateful also to mr. steube for allowing our bill to be piggybacked with his in this effort here as well as the 7024 tax relieor american families and workers act, which is still waiting over in the senate. i hope we can i'm very grateful for everybody to join this e here today. a strong bipartisan effort to move this narrower, much more -- very important disaster relief package to help people all across the country, as has been said. my,ike thompson, thank you so much for our partnership on this. it's taken se time and we're getting there. glad to see. you know, with the losses we've

sufferedlo constituent, our constituent, of course, especially, it's very painful to see and to not be able to go back to them and say, we've gotten the result yet. but my own constituents, i commend gteful for them, they've been very, very he victims of the camp fire where 85 lives were lost. my neighbors in santa rosa area, and of course my good friend, ms. tokuda in lahaina, who suffered greatly loss of life than what ours had been, a record in paradise. we don't want toet rords, we want to get results. it's been a great partnership on top of disaster and heart ache. so just picture this,hough. as i talk about paradise. you wake up in the morning, you hear the's fire. all of a sudden there's an evacuation. people arewd the narrow roadways trying to get up the hill or down the hill, out of. barely making it in some cases. scorched vehicles.

all that.fire. they're seeing in rear-view mirror their neighborhoods engulfed in flames, their houses goi dn, all their m momentos are in the. they're wondering, did their did the elderly laid upthe street -- lady up the street ge? maybe there was a firefighter or neighbor who helped that lady get out justn time so there wasn't worse loss of life. the resilience of these folks in the fires that i've had in myrir neighboring states, is just as they've stuck with us on this. so as settlement happened with the utility, somehow partly compensate and won't ever be made whole, they can never be made whole, lot of money, that settlement shouldt e event. break that down for a minute.ren paying off your mortgage, maybe it's already paid off.

you've got yurek your home -- your equity in your home. so this disaster happens. you lose your to rearrange your life, you have to rebuild your life. on of that equity that now is going to be compensated for partly by the settlement thn of your home is now a newly xa event. because of the i.r.s. interpretation on that. how is that fair at all that you have ripped out of your l your home, your family, whatever may have happened to you personally, and now you have a taxable event on top of that piece of equity that was your home because of a bad interpretation here? that'shy this legislation is necessary. that's why it's been so strongly supported on both sides of the aisle, all through the process here. that's why we need evercome these hurd -- overcome these hurdles we have to get this done. people deserve to have that predictability, that sustainability of their life, to

be able to put it back and put themselves back into a good way again. so, fire camp fire in my area, zog fire, our other neighbors there i on the way here. this has been a tremendous effort. a little out of the ordinary to get this legislation back to this floor here tonight. and i think it will pass so hope so. i ask for everybody's aye vote. again, i appreciate all myes,ote aisle, for stepping fard and doing right by tire victims, by the hurricane victims, by the folks east palestine and others who are going to be added into this. this is how legislation s this is how the country pulls together. i'm glad to be a part of ik. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back. the gentleman from missouri reserves. the gentleman from califor recognized. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers and i'm pr close. mr. smith: we're prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recogni. thompson:. speaker. again, i'd like to thank

mr. st, mr. lamalfa, chairman smith and all of our colleagu on ways and means who worked so hard to bring this bill to fruition not once, not twice, but now three times and our friend from know how difficult that is in your state in aa, what a devastating fire that was and i your constituents and thank your for being on the floor today. mr. speaker, florida, texas, south carolina, louisiana, kentucky, oregon, new york, california and over a dozen other states have been devastated by disasters. ther ng a single colleague in this house who should have to go through a disaster to know how bad it is. this devtaple's lives, it

disrupts communities, it disrupts people's lives. people are kled, businesses are lost, homes and h are lost and destroyed. the least that we can doo come to the aid of our constituents, our fellow americans, in times ofis and in times of great need and that's what we're doing today. this is commendable by the ways and means committee and every m this house should be proud to come to the floor and vote to support their friends, their nghbors, their constituents in these very, very dark t i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back. the gentleman fro m speaker. mr. speaker, i would once again just commend the great work and advocacy that mr. steube,

mr. lamalfa, mr. thompson -- i can tell you, they've been advocating since i've chairman that this is an important piece of get across te and let's hope that the united states senate does the same thing.with that, i urge all memo supp remarks are about half an