After Irate Sandy Rhetoric, Long Funding Process Await
By Tom Curry, NBC News national affairs writer
“Disgusting ... outrageous ... callous indifference to the suffering of the people of my state,” fumed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in his protest over the House not voting Tuesday night on an emergency bill for states hit by last October’s superstorm Sandy.
Republican House members from New Jersey and New York joined him in an angry chorus – but the rhetoric has obscured a couple of vital facts:
• There are some Federal Emergency Management Agency funds now available even without any congressional action.
• More importantly, relief funds can take months or even years to flow to disaster-hit states. Disaster recovery can be a slow, cumbersome and mind-numbingly complex process. More than seven years after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, officials in Louisiana are still administering FEMA Katrina aid.
--CLIP
On Friday the House and Senate voted to provide $9.7 billion in additional borrowing authority for the National Flood Insurance Program which insures property owners in flood-prone areas. The program collects premiums from the insured, but borrows from the Treasury when premiums are insufficient to pay claims. The funds must be repaid with interest – although the program isn’t now in any position to repay.
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http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/04/16353403-after-irate-sandy-rhetoric-long-funding-process-awaits?lite
