As Hurricane Irene bore down on the East Coast on Saturday, FEMA decided to temporarily bar new funding requests for public works projects stemming from previous disasters. The agency said the move to what it calls “immediate needs funding" was necessary because its disaster relief fund had fallen below $1 billion.
The impact on communities devastated by the April 27 tornadoes appears to be minimal, according to Georgia officials, because most rebuilding projects have already received FEMA approval. Money for such projects should not be interrupted.
Damon Raines, Catoosa County Public Schools Director of Operations, said in a statement that he's received no indication that funding to rebuild portions of school facilities has been put on hold.
Catoosa County sustained extensive damage to three schools, including Ringgold High School and Ringgold Middle School, as well as to its athletic and maintenance facilities.
Officials from Rabun and Meriwether Counties also said they have received FEMA appropriations following the April storms, and expect additional funding to be delivered as scheduled.
Bartow County has received the bulk of its reimbursements from FEMA, around $420,000. However, some funds for equipment purchases may be put on hold, because as the county only recently submitted another request for about $200,000, said county administrator Steve Bradley. As of this week, the county had not yet received approval from FEMA.
"That could be in jeopardy if they put everything on hold," Bradley said.
Ken Davis, spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, stressed that individuals receiving assistance to recover from the tornadoes will continue to do so.
This is the sixth time since 2003 that FEMA has temporarily stopped taking new requests for long-term projects such as roads, bridges and other infrastructure, agency officials said. Doing so allows it to continue providing coverage for immediate needs, including debris removal and emergency protective measures, such as tarps, barricades, and road blocks.
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said that the agency must keep some money available as the country heads into the height of hurricane season.
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said in a statement that he believes FEMA is managing its budget as necessary as the fiscal year winds down.
“Although our country has experienced Hurricane Irene on top of the tornadoes in Missouri, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, I am confident that the federal government will meet the needs of people, including Georgians, who were affected by tornadoes earlier this year. FEMA has always been able to manage its cash flow, and they’re managing their cash flow in this situation."
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said in a statement that he and his staff have been in close touch with FEMA "to ensure that the immediate needs of Georgians who were affected by the tornadoes this year are met."
Months ago, some members of Congress called attention to the possibility that the disaster fund would run dry. But a supplemental infusion of disaster funding got snarled in the larger disagreements that dominated Congress in the interim.
In June the Republican-controlled House added $1 billion to the disaster fund to respond to tornado damage across the South and Midwest, taking unused money from a Department of Energy loan program. But the Democrat-run Senate has yet to act on the measure, amid the wider Congressional debate about how to cut government spending.
Congress traditionally has been quick to approve emergency disaster funding, but Republicans now are insisting that the extra money be offset with cuts elsewhere in the budget.
“Yes, there is a federal role. Yes, we’re going to find the money,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Monday in an interview on Fox News. “We just need to make sure there are savings elsewhere so we can continue to do so.”
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