Congress may dole out Hurricane Harvey relief in stages
Senior GOP lawmakers say they don't want to provide one big aid package, as they did after Hurricane Sandy.
By BURGESS EVERETT and SARAH FERRIS 08/29/2017 05:48 PM EDT
Congressional Republicans may send Hurricane Harvey aid in multiple installments rather than one large lump sum as Congress did in response to Hurricane Sandy. And it could take months for Congress to deliver, according to Republican lawmakers.
As the storm continues to ravage the Texas coast, talks are underway in Congress on delivering money to help Houston and other areas around the Gulf Coast recover from the devastating storm. But Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of GOP leadership and a top appropriator, said it may make more sense to deliver the money as needed, rather than in a catch-all bill like the $50 billion Sandy measure.
Blunt said he preferred Congress’ handling of the tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, in 2011 over its approach to Sandy, which included millions for other disasters and money aimed at mitigating future damage that many Republicans viewed as wasteful. Blunt was among the 36 Senate Republicans who opposed the Sandy bill, including both Texas GOP senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. A majority of House Republicans also opposed the bill.
“My view has always been that multiple bills are fine, but you’re better off to pass multiple bills knowing what the costs are [rather] than some number that no one can really justify. Years later, we are still trying to figure out how to spend all this Sandy money,” Blunt told reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday. “With the Joplin tornado, I think we had four different bills over a period of time as we knew what the costs were. That would be my preference.” Of course, the recovery needed for Joplin was significantly dwarfed by the relief required for the East Coast.
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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/29/hurricane-harvey-republicans-relief-aid-packages-242136?lo=ap_b1
= new reply since forum marked as read
Senator Blunt is really not very bright.
2011 Joplin tornado was a catastrophic EF5-rated multiple-vortex tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, late in the afternoon of Sunday, May 22, 2011.
Duration: 38 minutes
Damage: $2.98 billion (Costliest tornado in U.S. history)
Number of casualties: 1,150 (of those about 160 fatal)
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/22/us/joplin-tornado-anniversary/index.html - 5 years later
2012 SuperStorm Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as "Superstorm Sandy"
was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, and the second-costliest hurricane in US history.
In the United States, Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states, including the entire eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine and west across the Appalachian Mountains to Michigan and Wisconsin, with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York.
Its storm surge hit New York City on October 29, flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city.
Damage: in the US amounted to $71.4 billion as of 2013 USD. In Canada, two were killed in Ontario and an estimated $100 million (2012 CAD) in damage was caused throughout Ontario and Quebec.
Number of casualties - fatalities at least 233 people were killed across the United States, the Caribbean, and Canada. Not sure of total casualties
My source - Wikipedia
