Letter to the Hon. Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader, the Hon. Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, the Hon. Charles E. Schumer, Senate Minority Leader, and the Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader - Pass Additional Disaster Funding

Letter

Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Speaker Ryan, Minority Leaders Schumer and Pelosi:

Last year, a scourge of natural disasters devastated our citizens and economies. While no longer front page news in Washington D.C., ongoing suffering becomes more acute the longer Congress waits to finish its work and pass a substantial disaster supplemental funding package. We urge the Senate to improve and expeditiously pass the supplemental and for Congress to send the bill to the President.

We appreciate the work of Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Small Business Administration and other federal agencies in the recovery process of our jurisdictions. Over the past several months, we have received numerous assurances that adequate disaster funding was imminent. However, it is now 2018 and the supplemental appears to have slowed, despite the fact that the funding is critical to the recovery of our residents, businesses, and local governments. Its continued delay only exacerbates ongoing uncertainty in devastated areas.The Simply put, the communities devastated by these storms cannot be completely put back together until the federal government makes good on its promises to our citizens. If ever there was a time and role for the federal government to urgently help its citizens rebuild communities damaged by epochal disasters, now is the time to step up and fill that role.

We stand ready to work with Congress to address the critical needs of people across storm- ravaged areas and recognize our collective work on this supplemental is only the next step in what will be a long-term recovery effort both at the federal and local level. Thank you for your attention to this pressing issue.

Sincerely,