Letter To Robert Byrd, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, and Thad Cochran, Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations
Letter
November 14, 2008
The Honorable Robert C. Byrd The Honorable Thad Cochran
Chairman Ranking Member
United States Senate United States Senate
Committee on Appropriations Committee on Appropriations
135 Dirksen Senate Office Building Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Byrd and Ranking Member Cochran:
As we move towards a possible stimulus measure, we believe that additional attention is needed for states adversely affected by natural disasters this year. While the Committee has already appropriated funds for many key programs, we believe that the following disaster related items should be included in any measure.
The matching requirements for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance for states that have experienced significant natural disasters in 2008 should be eliminated. States and localities across the nation are moving into very severe economic circumstances. One such indication of these difficulties is that Congress is considering a reduction in Medicaid matching requirements. Similar targeted FEMA relief is required for states that experienced significant natural disasters in 2008. While all states face challenges during this economic downturn, states that have suffered natural disasters have an even greater task, given the damage these storms and floods inflict on state economies and infrastructure. The added burden of attempting to match FEMA assistance could prove detrimental to the states recoveries. Accordingly, we urge that the elimination of all matching requirements for FEMA assistance be included in the legislation.
We are concerned that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has indicated that it will allocate Community Development funds under a formula that leaves out costs needed for economic revitalization and infrastructure repair from its allocation formula. The legislative language surrounding these Community Development funds in the FY2009 Continuing Resolution stipulated that the money was to be used in part for economic revitalization and infrastructure repair. However, by their own admission HUD does not plan to use these categories in determining how it will allocate the initial amount, and has not committed to using this category when the final tranche is allocated.
We believe that further legislative language is needed to ensure that HUD adequately considers economic revitalization and infrastructure damage not currently eligible for assistance, nonphysical losses to businesses, and the cost of the business interruption that resulted from the natural disaster as factors in determining its final allocation of Community Development funds.
We recommend that the Department of Commerce conduct a survey of losses that estimates the total economic output lost in the disaster impacted communities as a result of the disaster and the economic revitalization funds needed to recover from such event, and provide that information to HUD so that HUD can use that information in its final allocation of Community Development funds provided in the FY2009 Continuing Resolution. This survey would be provided to HUD within 60 days of enactment.
We believe that an additional sum of $294 million is needed for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Emergency Watershed Program.
Due to the fact that the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 passed three months after the crop insurance sales closing date for spring-planted crops, many farmers were not aware of the benefits that would be available in the new standing agricultural disaster program. Therefore, we also believe that language should be included providing aid to farmers in the affected disaster areas who had crop insurance and who suffered qualifying losses, to be paid out under the same format as the last agriculture disaster package passed for the years 2005-2007.
We request the inclusion of language that requires FEMA to only use flood risk maps that have been adopted by local communities as the standard for making decisions about where to deploy temporary housing units to disaster victims. FEMA policy prohibits the placement of temporary housing units in a floodplain. However, in some communities, FEMA is basing its determination about where to place housing units on new flood maps that have not been adopted by the local jurisdictions in need. Many of these are rural communities without rental resources. Draft maps often contain inaccuracies, and residents and local officials have a right under the law to review new maps and challenge inaccuracies where they may exist.
We ask that the $5 million dollar cap on Community Disaster Loans be waived for communities that are eligible for these loans from disasters declared in 2008. The Community Disaster Loan Program provides essential funding to local governments impacted by declared disasters in order to meet unmet operational needs. FEMA has activated this program for several disasters that occurred in 2008, and a number of communities have demonstrated their need and expressed interest in applying for these loans. The Stafford Act normally limits loans to $5 million, which is insufficient to meet the needs of communities that were hit hard by major disasters.
We appreciate your consideration of these needs.
Sincerely,
Senator Tom Harkin
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Senator Mary Landrieu
Senator Charles Grassley
Senator Pat Roberts
Senator David Vitter
Senator Sam Brownback
Senator Evan Bayh
Senator Claire McCaskill
Senator Amy Klobuchar
http://harkin.senate.gov/pr/p.cfm?i=305055
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