Schatz leads bipartisan group of 10 senators urging additional disaster relief funding

US Sen. Brian Schatz led 10 bipartisan senators on Friday in calling for additional disaster relief funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund and Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) ahead of the governments’ Sept. 30 funding deadline.

Schatz was joined by US Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai‘i), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).

The senate dedicated $16 billion to FEMA’s disaster relief fund in September of last year. However, new and ongoing recovery efforts require further funding, wrote the senators in their letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine). 

The senators wrote, “Our states experienced varying degrees of damage and have unique recovery needs. While we appreciate the federal support through existing permanently authorized disaster recovery programs, there is no one federal program that will directly address the distinct unmet needs of our communities in these difficult times. That is why over the past 30 years, Congress has allocated nearly $100 billion in CDBG-DR funding to disaster-impacted communities in nearly every state and territory. This tried-and-true program provides flexible financial support that communities can use to address unique outstanding needs unmet by other federal streams of assistance. Our states require this federal support to rebuild.”

The full text of the senators’ letter can be found below and is available here.