The government’s main disaster aid account is running woefully short of money as the Obama administration confronts damages from Hurricane Irene that could run into billions of dollars.
With less than $800 million in its disaster aid coffers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been forced to freeze rebuilding projects from disasters dating to Hurricane Katrina to conserve money for emergency needs in the wake of Irene. Lawmakers from states ravaged by tornadoes this spring, like Missouri and Alabama, are especially furious.
The shortfalls in FEMA’s disaster aid account have been obvious to lawmakers on Capitol Hill for months — and privately acknowledged to them by FEMA — but the White House has opted against asking for more money, riling many lawmakers.
“Despite the fact that the need … is well known,” Reps. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., and David Price, D-N.C., wrote the administration last month, “it unfortunately appears that no action is being taken by the administration.” The lawmakers chair the panel responsible for FEMA’s budget.
FEMA now admits the disaster aid shortfall could approach $5 billion for the upcoming budget year, and that’s before accounting for Irene.
As a result, funds to help states and local governments rebuild from this year’s tornadoes, as well as past disasters like hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the massive Tennessee floods of last spring, have been frozen. Instead, FEMA is only paying for the “immediate needs” of disaster-stricken communities, which include debris removal, food, water and emergency shelter.
“Going into September being the peak part of hurricane season, and with Irene, we didn’t want to get to the point where we would not have the funds to continue to support the previous impacted survivors as well as respond to the next disaster,” FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told reporters at the White House on Monday.
Republicans controlling the House and the Democratic-controlled Senate may be headed toward a battle over whether to cut spending elsewhere in the budget to pay for tornado and hurricane aid.
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2 Responses
“The shortfalls in FEMA’s disaster aid account have been obvious to lawmakers on Capitol Hill for months…” Months? How about years? The overpayment and mismanagement of funds was evident in the response to Katrina and Gustav. It has continued, like most government agencies, virtually unchecked, left to its own idealistic, overspending devices.
Common you guys…stick to your Holy Conservative principles…government is too big and continued funding for FEMA is just unsustainable! Or…just perhaps…is the issue really a question of what gets funded? No…persish the Socialist Liberal thought!!