7.1 Billion in Hurricane Aid?!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
7.1 Billion in Hurricane Aid?!
21
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 4:40am

All right... where the heck is this going to come from?  Taxes are going to have to be raised to pay for this....


http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040928/D85CHFB81.html


 Bush Seeks $7.1B More for Hurricane Relief





WASHINGTON (AP) - Billions more federal dollars will likely pour into Florida and other Southeastern states as they struggle to return to normal after a series of devastating hurricanes.

In his third request to Congress for supplemental storm aid, President Bush asked lawmakers on Monday for an additional $7.1 billion. Congress has already approved Bush's first request of $2 billion and is considering his second, a $3.1 billion proposal - meaning the price tag for all three could exceed $12.2 billion.

The government will have to borrow to pay for the packages, adding to already huge federal deficits.

The latest request includes $4.5 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides assistance to individuals and to state and local governments.

That means that if the requests are all approved, FEMA would get more than $8 billion for the four storms that have pummeled the Southeast since mid-August. The most FEMA has ever spent for a natural disaster was $7 billion after the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California.

The latest request was coming to Capitol Hill as the remnants of Hurricane Jeanne, the fourth in a row, rumbled north into Georgia after adding to the damage its predecessors caused in Florida.

While the first two requests focused on hurricanes Charley and Frances, the latest was supposed to include damage caused by Ivan - and some initial funds for recovery from Jeanne.

The new package also contains $889 million for the Defense Department to repair military facilities in the affected area.

Other requests in the $7.1 billion package include:

_$600 million to make emergency repairs to hurricane-damaged roads and highways.

_$472 million in Small Business administration loans for businesses and homeowners.

_About $400 million for the Agriculture Department to aid farmers suffering crop and other losses.

_$81 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to restore navigational channels and other repair projects.

_$132 million to repair major federal facilities, including installations of the Veterans Affairs Department and other agencies, including wildlife refuges.

_$50 million in disaster and famine relief assistance to Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica and other countries struck by the hurricanes.

The repeated pummeling has frustrated many in Florida and made some of its lawmakers impatient for more federal assistance.

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

Visit My Website!

Email me!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

Pages

Avatar for claddagh49
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2004
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 8:38am
Well, Hello! The money should be going to help our own people, NOT Iraq!!!! Why can't we think America comes first. Maybe God feels we need to spend money helping our own.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 8:41am
HA!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

Avatar for claddagh49
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2004
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 8:51am
Sorry, I do agree we/Florida and anyone else affected by these natural disasters, we didn't need even more for our government to pay for. People in Pennsylvania are getting aide from FEMA also! a good friend of mine who lives in an apt, whose wife just had a baby early this month has been living in a hotel because their apt was flooded from the result of IVAN and lost almost everything. They had several inches of sewer sludge seep into the downstairs apts, because a pumping station nearby failed. It is truly a mess. When you think poor little me, you thik of people who have lost everything.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 8:58am

OH my gosh!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

Avatar for claddagh49
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2004
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 9:04am
Yep, people living in Easton along the Delaware Canal got it the worst. I have a friend who works at my fave dept. store in my area, told me she had 7 feet of water in her basement,lost everything down there. Pensylvanians had mostly all water damage.One persons Summer home just floated away down the Delaware, and hit a bridge. The Delaware rose 30 feet ABOVE flood stage!
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 9:10am
Oh my gosh!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

Avatar for momeebear
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 10:00am
I know, I saw this on the news this morning, isn't it awful??? Poor Florida, the news said that no state has been hit by FOUR hurricanes in a row since 1886, I think! I agree, I don't see HOW the aid can be provided (but it must) without raising taxes. Not with the humongous deficit we have now......I think they had better forget about making those tax cuts permanent, which would only increase the deficit even more. They can keep my tax "relief"----I think we got about $160! And we are fairly solidly middle-class; didn't really make us OR break us! I'm no economic scholar, but if anyone else sees how all this can be accomplished without raising taxes, I'd be interested to hear... (Although we don't mind paying our fair share!)
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2004
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 10:07am

Super post!

Miffy - Co-CL For The Politics Today Board

Avatar for momeebear
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 10:17am
<<...those victims need it more than I do.>>

Yes! That's what I meant to say in my long-winded post!!! Thanks for putting it more succinctly! :-)

Avatar for schifferle
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 10:30am
...and I heard on the news that this horrible weather pattern is predicted to continue for 10+ years. =(

Pages