A ray of hope from the dysfunctional – though the U.S. House of Representatives has been dragging its feet over the last few months in making any decisions on Hurricane Sandy relief appropriations, there is a vote pending in the House next Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013 regarding several extensive appropriation measures for long-term relief and rebuilding efforts.
Some the strongest appeals to Congress, especially to the House, to pass an appropriations package have come from New York and New Jersey – two of the hardest hit states.
Earlier this month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie sent several joint appeals (more like scathing criticism) to the House, among them saying that the “continued inaction and indifference by the House of Representatives [was] inexcusable” and that “President Obama put forth a responsible aid proposal that passed with a bi-partisan vote in the Senate while the House has failed to even bring it to the floor.”
As for the upcoming vote next week, the governors sent a joint letter to the House saying they are “trusting Congress to act accordingly on January 15th and pass the final $51 billion instrument for long-term rebuilding.”
Cataloging the damage caused by the hurricane across multiple states, Cuomo said:
Twenty-four U.S. states were in some way affected by Sandy. The storm killed at least 131 people in eight states, including at least 60 in New York, at least 35 in New Jersey, and dozens in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Connecticut, Virginia, and North Carolina combined.
Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed in our region, leading to billions in economic disruptions and losses.
Cuomo also rallied at the House that, “Every time there has been a storm or disaster even close to the size and scope of Sandy regardless of the region of the country, the House has approved billions of dollars in supplemental aid – $290 billion in total since 1989 as part of 35 separate supplemental appropriations bills. North, South, East, West, the House has always acted and acted quickly. Expect now.”
Christie, in his State of the State address earlier this week, also assessed the damages to his state saying, “Sandy was the worst storm to strike New Jersey in 100 years. 346,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. Nearly 7 million people and 1,000 schools had their power knocked out. 116,000 New Jerseyans were evacuated or displaced from their homes. 41,000 families are still displaced from their homes.”
A damage and assessment report by the New Jersey Office of Recovery and Rebuilding found that, “The widespread damage caused to personal property, businesses, transportation and utilities infrastructure, the impact on the state’s tourism industry, and mitigation and prevention costs has been assessed at $36.9 billion.”
While waiting for congressional reimbursal, the state hasn’t been sitting on its hands, with Christie giving a rundown during his address of some of his administration’s relief efforts, saying:
We have worked with the Small Business Administration to secure nearly $189 million in loans for thousands of home and small businesses, and through our New Jersey Economic Development Authority, we have provided lines of credit for businesses awaiting insurance reimbursement, grants for job training, and benefits for displaced workers.
We have helped get temporary rental assistance for 41,000 New Jersey families, and where necessary, secured transitional shelters in hotels or motels or even in Fort Monmouth.
Yesterday, the Christie Administration announced that FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program has been extended for 14 days through Jan. 25, 2013, with a check-out date of the next day. People who have questions regarding their eligibility should contact the FEMA helpline at 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA) or visit disasterassistance.gov.
Also in effort to help displaced people, the Christie Administration also said that as an emergency measure to assist survivors of Hurricane Sandy, it will set aside 1,000 vouchers from the state-administered Section 8 Housing Voucher (HVC) program to assist low-income households that were displaced by the storm to move into permanent housing.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the program will provide vouchers that will be used as “special admissions” for households that cannot return to their homes. The vouchers have a government cost of about $9,900 per year per household, which will total $9.84 million.
As part of New York’s latest efforts to help its residents, the Cuomo Administration has announced a series of tax relief measures for residents and businesses still recovering from Hurricane Sandy.
“New Yorkers affected by the storm will have their tax returns counted as on-time even if they are filed late, businesses temporarily relocating to New York to help with recovery efforts will not have to pay several state taxes, and employers will be granted a tax exemption for the value of leave they donate to Hurricane Sandy efforts,” said the administration.
New York has also been working hard on debris removal, announcing late last month that it received another grant for $20 million from FEMA to help pay for costs incurred from cleaning up after the hurricane. So far, New York has been awarded about $318 million in public assistance funds from FEMA.
Christie says that he has “formally requested federal approval of 100 percent reimbursement for state and local government costs associated with debris removal and emergency protective measures that continue in the aftermath” of the hurricane.
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