I see. You find it unfair to blame the so-called Border Czar who failed to hold the number of foreign nationals illegally crossing the border to the level held by the previous administration and the subsequent drain on resources stemming directly from that failure which has manifested as a shortfall to aid to taxpaying Americans effected by the recent hurricane. I find it completely fair to hold the so-called Border Czar responsible for the downstream effects of her abject failure.
Congress approved a funding patch Wednesday without supplemental disaster money, even as Hurricane Helene bears down on Florida.
www.eenews.net
“But some lawmakers from disaster-prone states — on both sides of the aisle — were aghast this week at the lack of additional dollars for FEMA’s already depleted disaster relief fund and other federal disaster programs. Many of them were incensed that the typically bipartisan priority had fallen victim to partisan squabbles at such a dire time.
Indeed, as the House and Senate’s top four leaders met last weekend to negotiate a deal to keep the government funded, they were forced to acquiesce to the demands of Congress’ most conservative fiscal hawks, whose votes were thought to be pivotal for passage. They quietly stripped the CR of almost all supplemental funding, including for FEMA, according to multiple House appropriators.
The closed-door negotiations left many of Congress’ biggest disaster aid advocates surprised and disappointed, and even top appropriators with jurisdiction over disaster funding said they were blindsided.
“I would have thought that if you were going to do something, disaster funding would’ve been one of the starting points. I have no idea how they got to that,” Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), chair of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds FEMA, told POLITICO’s E&E News.
“They didn’t call me in and ask me for any advice,” he said. “Can you believe that?”
The funding omission was made all the more striking by the fact that lawmakers were leaving Washington two days ahead of schedule, in part because of the hurricane.
And some members, like Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican who has resisted efforts to preemptively appropriate disaster dollars, voted against the CR.
“The right-wingers here, the MAGA crowd, even after disasters happen, they have opposed disaster aid for communities in need,” said a frustrated Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.).
“I’m fearful of it because we’ve lived through it a number of times,” she added. “Even members from Florida after a disaster have opposed initial aid going in, and it’s not the way to have a government function, or FEMA function. It’s not right.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) skipped the vote to be in Florida ahead of Helene’s landfall but supports new funding to refill FEMA’s disaster fund”.