Chet Edwards For Congress - Hurricane Relief

Texas to get most of disaster aid in spending bill

Kat — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:29:58 -0700

Texas to get most of disaster aid in spending bill

AP via the Houston Chronicle | Sept. 24, 2008

Lawmakers to ask Congress for billions to recover

WASHINGTON — Democratic Congressman Chet Edwards says the House will pass a year-end spending bill that will designate most of about $23 billion in disaster recovery aid for Hurricane Ike.

Edwards says the House was to pass the spending bill Wednesday. The money is divided among agencies and programs.

Edwards is the ranking Texan on the House Appropriations Committee.

The sweeping spending bill also increases defense spending and assists automakers. It is intended to keep government running past the October First start of the 2009 budget year.

'Team Texas' fights for funds on Capitol Hill

Kat — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:29:15 -0700

Sept. 16, 2008
'Team Texas' fights for funds on Capitol Hill

By STEWART M. POWELL | Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

Lawmakers to ask Congress for billions to recover

WASHINGTON — Texas' often-fractious congressional delegation, united by hurricane devastation back home, launched a bipartisan drive on Capitol Hill Tuesday to win billions of dollars in emergency assistance by the end of the month.

Citing preliminary estimates, lawmakers said they may ask Congress to send at least $10 billion in federal emergency relief to the Lone Star State, local communities and individual victims of the hurricane. The money would be used for temporary housing, debris removal and eventual reconstruction.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, flanked by lawmakers from both parties, said she expects to have detailed damage estimates in the next week that can be used as the basis for an emergency budget request.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who accompanied President Bush on a three-hour tour of southeast Texas on Tuesday, called damage estimates "an ongoing process," adding: "Nobody really knows at this point. People can't even get back to their homes to make that assessment."

Pelosi on board

The effort on Capitol Hill led by Hutchison and seven House members paralleled an on-the-ground campaign in Texas that gave Cornyn a chance to speak directly with Bush about the need for federal assistance.

"The president seemed to be listening, and I hope he will follow our request," Cornyn said.

Lawmakers said they hoped to attach the request for emergency hurricane assistance to a catch-all funding package expected to be enacted by Congress by Sept. 30. The legislation would continue funding federal government operations into the next fiscal year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., endorsed adoption of an emergency disaster assistance package to help cover the costs of Hurricane Ike in Texas, Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana, western wildfires in California and elsewhere, and flooding and tornadoes in the Midwest.

"Congress will move quickly to pass emergency disaster assistance funds," Pelosi said Monday. "It is unacceptable that the Bush administration and bureaucratic red tape have unnecessarily slowed delivery of these vital funds to the affected regions and individuals."

Pelosi's partisan assessment contrasted to the bipartisan effort undertaken by members of Texas' congressional delegation, who hold key positions on the House and Senate committees than handle appropriations.

In good position

Texas is well-positioned to win emergency assistance. Hutchison serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee includes five Texans: John Culberson, R-Houston, Chet Edwards, D-Waco, Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, and John Carter, R-Round Rock.

"We call it Team Texas," said Hutchison, a prospective candidate for governor in 2010. "When one of our constituents is in trouble, all of us come together in the appropriate committee assignments to help those in need."

Texas lawmakers to push for federal rebuilding aid

Kat — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:49:36 -0700

Sept. 14, 2008
Texas lawmakers to push for federal rebuilding aid

By BENNETT ROTH | Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Texas lawmakers said Sunday that they intend to press Congress to approve a package of federal aid by the end of this month to defray the enormous cleanup and rebuilding costs in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

Members of the Lone Star congressional delegation said they hoped the money could be included in a catch-all funding measure that must be approved to allow the government to operate when the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

The White House took one step to alleviate local cleanup costs when it agreed to a request by Republican Texas Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn for the federal government to pay the entire cost of debris removal for a period of up to 72 hours.The standard formula is for the federal government to defray 75 percent of that cost.

But debris removal is only a small part of a rebuilding effort in the wake of a storm that, by some estimates, will top $10 billion in damages.

Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, said that the must-pass spending bill may be the best vehicle for hurricane funding, since lawmakers need to approve it before their scheduled adjournment at the end of this month.

Green said that he and Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, the senior members of their respective parties from the Houston/Southeast Texas region, will likely take the lead in putting together such a package.

Getting a disaster relief plan through Congress in the next few weeks still faces hurdles. In the past, lawmakers have often used such supplemental funding to add on their own pet projects, which has brought veto threats from the White House and opposition from more fiscally conservative members.

Even the continuing resolution could prove unreliable, with some Republicans threatening to oppose it if does not lift a moratorium on offshore drilling. That would put Texas Republicans in the uncomfortable position of voting against legislation that also would provide post-hurricane aid.

Also at this early stage it is not clear exactly how much money will be needed to deal with the aftermath of the hurricane.

"The biggest part of the problem is knowing what to ask for," said Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, whose district includes areas south of Houston, including the Johnson Space Center.

Lampson said he has been in touch with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office and other key lawmakers, such as Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss,. the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Pelosi's office issued a statement pledging that the House "stands ready to act on making available the resources that are needed to all those who suffer from the cruel blow of Hurricane Ike."

Pelosi's office has not determined whether the funding will be part of the continuing resolution or a stand-alone emergency funding measure.

The speaker has been well aware of the storm damage since her daughter, Jacqueline Kenneally, lives with her family in the Sugar Land area. The family did not evacuate but was without power.

Rep. Chet Edwards, the senior Democrat from Texas on the Appropriations Committee, pledged to help the Houston delegation obtain funding for the hurricane cleanup. But the Waco lawmaker cautioned, "it could require more than one emergency appropriation because more time might be needed to quantify the total damage caused by Ike."

After Hurricane Rita, the Texas delegation faced an uphill fight securing cleanup money, because the Bush administration was reluctant to spend more money following the huge federal bill for Hurricane Katrina.

But the delegation eventually forced the White House to relent. And Hutchison's spokesman, Matt Mackowiak, suggested that the senator, who sits on the influential Appropriations Committee, will exert the same pressure for funding in the aftermath of Ike.