The Senate voted 79 to 12 last night in favor of an agreement on spending for disaster relief, that will avert the government shutdown that many feared might happen this week. Funding for government agencies like FEMA will now be extended for six weeks. Senate leaders are hoping the House will pass the deal later this week.
A vote scheduled by House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on a stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution, to keep the government funded through November 18 has become unexpectedly controversial. The government could be headed for a shutdown, as Democrats have vowed to block a provision of the bill concerning funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The bill includes $1 billion in immediate funding for cash-strapped FEMA, but offsets the spending with cuts to the Energy Department's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway's Washington correspondent, has the latest on the story.
As residents of the East Coast begin putting their lives back together after Tropical Storm Irene devastated homes and businesses across the region, questions are being asked about how prepared communities were for the onslaught and whether they have the resources needed to recover quickly. Craig Fugate, administrator of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is in charge of preparing and responding to natural disasters like Irene. He's been visiting the areas impacted the most by the storm, and discusses the recovery process.
Hurricane Irene's rumble through the East Coast over the weekend is another natural disaster for FEMA deal with this year. At least 30 people have died, and that number may rise as flodding continues to cause problems in Vermont and upstate New York. Previously this year, the Mississippi River's had record-breaking floods and tornadoes ravaged through hundreds of miles of land, across numerous states. Already, FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund is running seriously low, with only $800 million to $1 billion left.
Some parts of the country are recovering, other parts are still grappling with the consequences of Irene. And nowhere is the problem more acute than in Vermont, rivers are over-flowing some towns entirely covered by water. Governor Peter Shumlin says Vermont faces a full-blown flooding catastrophe. We get the latest from there from Mark Bosma, is spokesman for Vermont Emergency Management and Ross Sneyd, is News Editor for Vermont Public Radio.
Joplin, Missouri is trying to pick up the pieces from last week’s massive tornado. In addition to killing 134 people, more than 8,000 homes and apartments were destroyed or damaged in the 200 mile an hour winds — between 25 and 30 percent of the housing market. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, says more than 7,000 Joplin residents in Jasper and Newton counties have registered for assistance so far, and they are still assessing how to best assist them.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, better known as FEMA, is asking thousands of Americans to return more than $22 million in government aid. The agency claims that it doled that money erroneously, to disaster victims ineligible for the support. In some cases, individual claimants will be asked to return up to $27,000.
This weekend marks five years since Hurricane Katrina swept through and ravaged New Orleans. Earlier in the week, we spoke about recovery efforts with the mayor of Biloxi, Mississippi, and Grammy award winning Jazz musician Terence Blanchard explained how the rich musical community in New Orleans has evolved since. Many Katrina victims are still very much in the recovery process. Five years after Hurricane Katrina there are 12,000 homeless people New Orleans. That’s double what it was before the storm.
One of the worst blunders of the government's widely-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina has resurfaced in the Gulf region. Trailers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency provided to victims of the hurricane that were later found to contain dangerous levels of formaldehyde by the Environmental Protection Agency, and subsequently banned by the federal government, are making a comeback.
Cleanup workers are snapping up the toxic trailers from companies and individuals who have purchased them from government surplus auctions. Dave Cohen, news director at WWL in New Orleans, joins the program with the latest.
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