Only two weeks after Federal Emergency Management Agency funding was diverted from flood and tornado relief efforts in Missouri to aid relief programs on the east coast, FEMA has announced that it will amend federal disaster declarations so that money will return to northeastern Missouri damaged by flooding.
“I promised these communities I would fight to ensure they got the resources they needed to recover,” Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said in a statement. “I’m pleased that despite trying times these communities have remained resilient and now this crucial assistance will only further aid the rebuilding process.”
The amendment will provide Public Assistance grants to Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Carroll, Cooper, Holt, Lafayette, Platte, Ray and Saline counties, according to a news release.
Concern that FEMA’s funding was dipping below comfortable levels forced agency officials to transfer funding from long-term recovery efforts, such as those in Joplin, to focus on immediate aid to parts of the nation that were affected by Hurricane Irene.
With FEMA’s resources falling below the $1 billion threshold, some speculate that disaster relief projects will be slowed down or even halted while Congress decides on how to replenish the agency’s budget. On Capitol Hill, the issue has become one of heated contention between Democrats and Republicans.
“It’s been a brutal year for these kinds of disasters and politicians should not use political games as an excuse to shirk our responsibility to the people who have suffered through no fault of their own,” McCaskill said in a statement.
The Senate voted on a measure Tuesday, 61-38 (with one senator abstaining), that would form legislation to increase FEMA’s budget by $5.1 billion, with $500 million to prevent the agency from running out of money by the end of September.
McCaskill and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., both voted in favor of the bill.
Despite the political slugfest on how much should be used to replenish FEMA’s relief efforts, McCaskill said she will continue to push for increased FEMA aid in the state.
“I will continue to do everything I can to prioritize the funding of emergency declarations in this country,” she said. “These are not man-made problems. These are natural disasters. The people of Joplin, northwest Missouri, southeast Missouri and St. Louis — all of whom have suffered from extreme weather events this year — deserve to know that FEMA is going to live up to its obligations and the commitments it has made.”
