CRISIS/POLITICS/TEXAS: “As Texas continues to attempt managing the destruction from Hurricane Harvey, Congress is due to consider an appropriations package that, as is, would rescind nearly $876 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund.
But with the proposal written prior to Hurricane Harvey, lawmakers are now expected to pivot funding directives to match the needs of the programs aiding recovery efforts.
The spending cuts in the initial package were intended help cover costs of administration priorities in the homeland security bill, which includes President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.
Trump assured Texans that areas affected by Hurricane Harvey would see swift action from the government…
Insistent that Texas would get the funding it needed for recovery, Trump added that he thought it would come from outside the larger budget package.
GOP leaders are working on sending additional funds through a supplemental spending bill, and if spending legislation is passed in September, the disaster relief fund will get additional money, according to a GOP aide.
Federal Emergency Management Agency director Brock Long predicted on Saturday that the agency will be in Texas ‘for years’ following the devastation from Hurricane Harvey.”
-Sophie Tatum and Deirdre Walsh, “Congress switches gears on proposed FEMA cuts post-Harvey,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Aug. 30, 2017 05:33pm