Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill

Order Description “President Obama signed in" rel="nofollow">into law a $50 billion recovery package for states hit by Hurricane Sandy. Much of the proposed spendin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in the law, however, is simply wasteful and will not go toward helpin" rel="nofollow">ing the immediate victims.” “While providin" rel="nofollow">ing for some worthwhile items, such as $5.4 billion for repair of tunnels and other damaged in" rel="nofollow">infrastructure, much of the act is aimed at either mitigatin" rel="nofollow">ing future events or repairin" rel="nofollow">ing or replacin" rel="nofollow">ing federal assets, not assistin" rel="nofollow">ing the immediate victims. Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that at least half the funds will be disbursed after 2015—not exactly time-sensitive, emergency spendin" rel="nofollow">ing.” “This is unacceptable at a time when the U.S. is runnin" rel="nofollow">ing trillion-dollar budget deficits. While the catastrophic scope of Sandy merited a federal response, Congress missed an opportunity to establish clear requirements for when a disaster warrants a federal response. Failure to deal with this serious problem will contin" rel="nofollow">inue to erode preparedness for future catastrophic disasters.” “In less than two years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has issued a stunnin" rel="nofollow">ing 353 disaster declarations—despite the absence of major hurricanes or earthquakes (except Hurricanes Irene and Sandy). This high operational tempo keeps FEMA in" rel="nofollow">in a perpetual response mode, leavin" rel="nofollow">ing little time and few resources to prepare to handle a real catastrophic disaster, such as Hurricane Sandy.” Answer the Followin" rel="nofollow">ing 1. What do you thin" rel="nofollow">ink of the timin" rel="nofollow">ing of the Hurricane Sandy bill (passed months after), and the amount of the bill (overdone)? 2. Has the number of disaster declarations (353 in" rel="nofollow">in two years) overdone?