House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Saturday traveled to Maui to tour the areas affected by the recent wildfires that killed at least 115 people, calling it “sheer devastation” and vowing to help the island rebuild.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to come here with my family many times before. And knowing that area, spending time there in the restaurants down by the tree, and knowing how much that meant to everyone, and seeing how can we make sure we find all those who are still lost? And how do we rebuild?” McCarthy said during a press conference. “That’s the important part of why we’re here. We want to make sure we do it in the right manner. We want to work with the community.”
“We want to get the resources to individuals that could rebuild their life, we’ve got to focus on the children for the schools, get them back into the education so they don’t miss out,” he added.
McCarthy also took time to thank the residents of Maui that helped their neighbors and others escape from the fires, calling them “heroes.”
“I think there are a lot of heroes out there and individuals who brought their own boats, people that helped pull other people out to get them out of harm’s way,” he said. “We want to make sure that we honor those individuals too. You know, in every devastation in America, they’re tragic, but at the same time, it does show when you… look deep down the caringness of individuals.”
He explained that there are two main goals for recovery of the Island: working together in unity to rebuild and showing respect to the heritage of the area and the lives lost.
“It might not be as fast as everybody likes, but we want to make sure it’s protected,” McCarthy said.
“We will investigate to find out why did it happen, what went right, what went wrong, so other communities won’t ever have to see this,” he added.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee announced last week that it would move forward with an investigation into the federal response on Maui — a plan originally floated by McCarthy.
“I’m very concerned about the response,” the Speaker said at the time. “How could you lose that many Americans in today’s age? I’m going to be working with committees to investigate what went on so this never happens again.”
President Biden — who also visited the Hawaiian island last week — said he would welcome the probe, adding that the House GOP “should go out and talk to every elected official, from the mayors, to the governors, to United States senators” about the situation in Maui.
Asked on Saturday about when Hawaii residents could expect the probe, McCarthy said he didn’t “want to put a timetable on it.”
“Right now we’ve got to get the facts on a lot of different areas. And so we will be gathering that information. I would like to get a lot of that more input in,” he said. “It would be a bipartisan way to look at it.”
He was joined in Maui by a bipartisan delegation, including Hawaii Reps. Ed Case (D) and Jill Tokuda (D), as well as Reps. David Joyce (R-Ohio), Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) and Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.).
“I’m in Hawaii right now with a bipartisan group of lawmakers because tragedies unite us as Americans,” McCarthy posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, prior to the news conference.
“This isn’t a place for partisan politics,” he added. “It is a place to say thank you to the first responders and to act quickly for the survivors as they rebuild after the deadly fire.”