WASHINGTON — The Biden administration’s request for nearly $100 billion in natural disaster relief and recovery funds is on track to pass the U.S. Senate after both Republicans and Democrats expressed mighty support at a hearing Wednesday had expressed.
But members of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee expressed concerns about how the federal government is preparing for and responding to natural disasters, especially as they become more habitual and severe.
“We all need to think about how we can address a disaster response system that, in my opinion, does not reflect the current state of affairs,” said Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski.
Federal departments and agencies responsible for natural disaster response and recovery efforts are struggling and overwhelmed, she said.
“Instead of achieving a better rebuild, it essentially achieves a similar rebuild,” Murkowski said. “And when you’re threatened by coastal erosion and you know that next year’s disaster will be even worse than last year, that doesn’t make anyone feel safe in their homes.”
The three-hour hearing Much of the focus has been on how the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Transportation have handled damage from natural disasters in recent years.
The hearing focused on Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which devastated Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
But lawmakers also talked about tornadoes, mudslides, the Maui wildfires and other natural disasters that have devastated communities across the country.
Hard-pressed farmers, rural communities
Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff urged the committee to pass an emergency spending bill this year that addresses the damage caused to farmers “who are in dire need.”
He said Hurricane Helene damaged more than 1.5 million acres of forestland and caused widespread destruction in poultry, cotton, cattle, blueberries, pecans, peanuts, tobacco, vegetables, citrus and soybeans.
“The numbers are staggering, but this isn’t about numbers,” Ossoff said. “It’s about families and rural communities. And without our lend a hand, the uncomplicated fact is that many of these family farms will collapse, and possibly soon.
“You stare at devastated farmland and orchards. They are deep in the red and under enormous stress. If they go under, our rural communities will go under, the local tax base that funds schools and infrastructure will be destroyed, and the rural way of life in Georgia is at risk of disappearing entirely.”
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis detailed the hurricane’s impact on his home state, saying there were 102 deaths, 151 homes destroyed and 500,000 businesses affected in disaster areas. There were 5,000 miles of roads, 163 water and sewer systems and 20,000 farms damaged, he said.
Tillis, who previously lived in states like Florida and Louisiana that were accustomed to hurricane damage, said the destruction in North Carolina was unlike anything he had experienced.
“We have to respond to storms differently,” Tillis said. “This may be the first, but it will not be the last as we have seen in North Carolina. And we owe it to the American people to be willing to do better.”
Climate change
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told lawmakers the federal government must address the impact of climate change on natural disasters as it prepares for the future.
“Weather events that were once thought to occur once in a century are now occurring every few years,” Buttigieg said. “It’s not a coincidence. It’s not a coincidence. And most importantly: it won’t go away.
“We need adequate and sustainable funding to ensure our communities have what they need to rebuild roads and bridges, make them more resilient to extreme weather and other disasters, and to help people respond quickly to return to a normal life as possible.”
Several senators on the panel, including Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran and North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven, both Republicans, raised the drought’s impact on their states and the need for natural disaster programs to ease the impact on farmers.
“Drought is a depressing thing that weighs on a farmer every day,” Moran said. “I’ve been here on the Ag Committee or the Ag Appropriations Subcommittee the entire time, and this is as dire a circumstance as I can see in my time trying to deal with saving rural America.”
Congress, he said, should give USDA direction on when and how it can spend disaster funds on drought-related problems.
Hoeven said 48 states have reported some level of drought this year and called on the USDA to work with Congress to find solutions.
“Everyone knows about the hurricanes and disasters and all that; you see it on TV and everything else. But (the drought is) the rest of the story that really left our farmers and ranchers facing drought,” Hoeven said. “So the key here is that we not only provide this disaster relief, but that you work with us, that the USDA works with us so that we structure it properly.”
Hoeven said the U.S. is losing farms “at a high rate” and that natural disasters and drought are only making that problem worse.
National parks and countries
The hearing also addressed the question of whether natural disaster damage to national forests, national parks, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management should be repaired.
Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley criticized the Biden administration Application for emergency expenseswhich was sent to Congress earlier this week for failing to ask lawmakers to provide money for these areas.
“We have a long history of caring for our public lands,” Merkley said. “It is in the hearts of every American, but this (request) does not live up to that responsibility.”
The recent hurricanes destroyed more than 900 miles of roads and bridges in North Carolina’s national forests, “caused dozens of landslides or rockfalls on the Blue Ridge Parkway” and “destroyed or damaged more than 40 rail trestle bridges.” -to-trails Virginia Creeper Trail.”
That damage, which Merkley said amounts to about $10 billion, could be remedied if lawmakers decide to include it in their natural disaster supplemental bill, likely to be put together in the coming days and weeks.
Possibly more lend a hand
While the White House can request funding from Congress, only lawmakers have the constitutional authority to approve federal spending.
Members can issue the emergency spending bill in any amount. They can also provide clarity or modern direction on how the federal government prepares for and responds to national disasters.
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said after the conclusion of the hearing in the States Newsroom that the committee was discussing whether to augment the White House’s request for nearly $100 billion in emergency natural disaster relief spending should be.
Last updated on November 20, 2024 at 5:19 p.m
