[continued from previous message]   
      
   >> previously. But it’s never happened all at once.   
   >>   
   >> The current strains are the result of long-standing weaknesses in the   
   >> programs colliding with the increasing damage from disasters due to   
   >> climate change and development.   
   >>   
   >> “The frequency and intensity of disasters continue to increase every   
   >> year, and the number of federal disaster declarations continues to rise   
   >> in parallel,” said Carrie Speranza, president of the International   
   >> Association of Emergency Managers.   
   >>   
   >> Carlos Martín, director of the Remodeling Futures program at the   
   >> Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, said the FEMA is now facing   
   >> problems paying not just long-term disaster rebuilding expenses but   
   >> also short-term emergency costs.   
   >>   
   >> “When you’re questioning that, and that becomes a question of whether   
   >> the federal government will play the role that it has over the last 50   
   >> years, that’s a huge concern,” Martín said.   
   >>   
   >> FEMA’s multibillion-dollar Disaster Relief Fund faced problems in early   
   >> August when it ran low, and the agency imposed restrictions that led it   
   >> to temporarily cut off $9 billion for rebuilding projects.   
   >>   
   >> Although FEMA lifted the restrictions Oct. 1 when Congress allocated   
   >> $20 billion for the current fiscal year, the agency could burn through   
   >> that money quickly and be forced to reimpose the restrictions if   
   >> lawmakers do not provide extra money in the coming months.   
   >>   
   >> Mayorkas warned last week that FEMA “does not have the funds to make it   
   >> through the [hurricane] season,” which ends Nov. 30.   
   >>   
   >> White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed a similar theme   
   >> Monday, saying: “The FEMA disaster relief fund faces a shortfall at the   
   >> end of the year.”   
   >>   
   >> “The recovery from this is going to be very costly,” said Zimmerman,   
   >> the former FEMA official. “These response efforts are very costly with   
   >> all this search-and-rescue.”   
   >>   
   >> FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, could run out of   
   >> money because of weaknesses when Congress created the program in 1968   
   >> and did not require insurance premiums to reflect a property’s   
   >> potential for flood damage. The inadequate premiums forced FEMA to   
   >> borrow $20.5 billion from the U.S. Treasury after Hurricanes Harvey,   
   >> Irma and Maria in 2017.   
   >>   
   >> FEMA has paid billions of dollars in interest on the debt, which it   
   >> says it cannot repay. That has left FEMA able to borrow only an   
   >> additional $10 billion to pay insurance claims.   
   >>   
   >> “I don’t think the NFIP needs to dig into its borrowing authority for   
   >> Helene,” said Sridhar Manyem, senior director of industry research at   
   >> AM Best credit ratings agency. “But Milton is another story. That could   
   >> be a game-changer.”   
   >>   
   >> Hurricane Milton “could exhaust the NFIP and require the government to   
   >> have to provide more funding for payments to be made to NFIP   
   >> policyholders,” AM Best Associate Director David Blades said.   
   >>   
   >> FEMA said it has the ability to pay $14.8 billion in NFIP claims   
   >> “without seeking additional assistance from Congress.”   
   >>   
   >> The only disaster to exceed that level is Hurricane Katrina, which   
   >> resulted in claims payments exceeding $16 billion while killing more   
   >> than 1,300 people in New Orleans and elsewhere. Like Katrina, Milton   
   >> has surged to Category 5 fury over the warm waters of the Gulf of   
   >> Mexico, and it is expected to remain dangerous even if its winds   
   >> slacken somewhat before striking land.   
   >>   
   >> Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at the climate   
   >> risk modeling firm First Street, offered a more optimistic take: Helene   
   >> and Milton “are not likely to exhaust NFIP’s borrowing authority,” he   
   >> said, in part because few residents have national flood insurance   
   >> policies in the hard-hit areas of Georgia and North Carolina.   
   >>   
   >> https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/07/hurricanes-eroding-   
   >> washingtons-disaster-programs-00182784   
   >   
   > Totally solvable problem if the majority of members of both houses of   
   > Congress were compassionate.  It's called a supplemental appropriation.   
   > Unfortunately, in this highly politicized environment, a significant   
   > number of Representatives and Senators would prefer not to do so in   
   > order to blame the opposition party.   
      
   That seems to be the crux of the problem.  The electoral penalties of   
   the past are forgotten lessons to the bunch on both sides.  Hopefully   
   this election gives them all a jolt.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)