Hurricane Irene Aftermath: Storm Will Cost Federal Taxpayers $1.5 Billion

WASHINGTON -- The White House estimated on Monday that Hurricane Irene will cost federal taxpayers $1.5 billion in disaster relief, further ballooning a government account that was already the focus of fresh partisan friction between President Barack Obama and Congress.

The preliminary estimate, released by White House budget director Jacob Lew, is on top of $5.2 billion needed for other recent disasters, including tornadoes that leveled much of Joplin, Mo. Lew said the $1.5 billion should last through next year.

The Obama administration has said last month's debt ceiling deal with Congress allows the government to pay for disaster spending by borrowing, which increases federal deficits. That is a long-time practice for financing emergencies. The House's No. 2 Republican, Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, has said disaster spending should be offset by cutting other parts of the budget.

In a blog he posted announcing the initial estimate, Lew said the administration would work with Congress to finance the disaster spending but he showed no sign that the administration would back down.

"We are one country. A disaster in one corner is felt by Americans all across our land. That is why when it comes to taking care of our neighbors in need, we will not let politics get in the way and will do what is right to help them recover and rebuild," Lew wrote.

The cost estimate comes as Congress is returning from its summer recess. A Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee, headed by Democrats, is scheduled to meet Tuesday to consider a spending bill that includes disaster aid.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has less than $800 million in its coffers to pay for help needed before Oct. 1, when the government's new budget year begins. Because the money is so short, some rebuilding projects have already been delayed to provide Irene's victims with essentials like food, water and housing.

Irene raked the eastern U.S. from the Carolinas to Maine beginning on Aug. 28, causing over 40 deaths, destroying homes, washing out roads, pounding beachfront communities and flooding towns in Vermont and upstate New York. Damage is expected to total in the billions, but federal aid is not for expenses covered by private insurance.

Comments

[JTyroler]

06:30 PM on 09/06/2011

No. It will probably cost Social Security (I am one) recipients $1.5 billion or at least another cost of living adjustment.

[lismore]

08:12 AM on 09/06/2011

Wonder what a one cent tax on fuel would do to help pay for disaster relief? Would Eric Cantor support that? Seems reasonable; help out your fellow citizens by paying one cent per liter more for fuel to go directly to disaster relief treasury- the administration of which would have to be ultra-efficient- i.e. admin. costs would have to be 1% or less of this funds' total.

[gdauth]

08:04 AM on 09/06/2011

If the Rs want to find offsets for disaster relief, may I suggest reducing congress' budget by 75%, that would put their budget more in line with what they are worth.

[Jack Davies]

03:48 AM on 09/06/2011

Wait what? I thought the GOP and tea party have been railing the past few weeks about how Irene wasn't really a disaster and that the gov't was crying wolf? What gives?

[netzwerg]

02:25 AM on 09/06/2011

Nothing against America, but why are the houses made of cardboards and drywalls (see photo), not stones?

[SPQR1052]

08:23 AM on 09/06/2011

Some are made with stone... some.

[Not That Far Left]

10:22 AM on 09/06/2011

Stone is expensive. 2x4s that are only 1.75 x3.25 are a lot cheaper. I live in North Carolina and was stunned to learn behind my drywall and 2x4s is nothing but thin blue styrofoam before you reach the outside plastic siding. Allegedly the corners of my house have OSB to reinforce them, except possibly the corner that has 2 windows in it.

I'm hoping my next house will be more sensible and be based on a design by Buckminster Fuller. Apparently geodesic domes are severely wind proof.

Most of the damage done in the Northeast was water/flood damage.

[HellBank]

12:37 AM on 09/06/2011

You know what kind of government doesn't help in diasters? Well, if the teapublicans get elected, it'll be the first government in the hstory of the world that didn't.

[gdauth]

08:05 AM on 09/06/2011

Can you say banana republic?

[Recalled]

11:54 PM on 09/05/2011

Can we borrow some from Iraq?

[albar]

10:54 PM on 09/05/2011

OOOPS

They are there ...............

[Reading22]

10:09 PM on 09/05/2011

Will we ever catch a break?? Geeeez!

[IsotelusMaximus]

09:44 PM on 09/05/2011

Since when is it taxpayers responsibility to provide food, water and housing for victims of natural disasters. I can understanding repairing damaged roads, bridges, etc. but when did the federal government become the main insurer of private property? The people were warned for a week that the storm was coming, why doesn't anybody have any food? People can call me cold if they want, but I seriously never remember the federal government needing to play such a day-to-day roles in people's lives.

[GeoNorth]

09:54 PM on 09/05/2011

You're a hell of a citizen, IM, a hell of a citizen.

Wow!

[IsotelusMaximus]

10:14 PM on 09/05/2011

When I was a kid, we had a house that was flooded twice and half of the house was destroyed one time after a huge tree came down it. All three instances were a part of a large, widespread damaged area from a hurricane. The federal government never housed us. Our insurance company did. The national guard would come to town and help with the cleanup but absolutely no one received prolonged housing or food.

I knew someone would call me uncompassionate, but I was simply stating that this type of "assistance" never happened in the past.

[Bobjojenn]

10:07 PM on 09/05/2011

More power to the central government is the goal

[IsotelusMaximus]

10:19 PM on 09/05/2011

I'm not sure what is happening. It could be power or it could be something else, I don't get it. Like I said, help with the cleanup is expected but what's the deal with Katrina victims still living in FEMA trailers years after the storm? I never imagined the federal government giving people a prepaid debit card because they were flooded. Things are becoming weird around here.

[dtm410]

01:23 AM on 09/06/2011

Remember when it was the National Guard that was called up to help in these disasters? When/why/how did it change that FEMA does that task now?

[Bobjojenn]

09:32 PM on 09/05/2011

In response to Lew: "We are one country. A disaster in one corner is felt by Americans all across our land. That is why when it comes to taking care of our neighbors in need, we will not let politics get in the way and will do what is right to help them recover and rebuild," Lew wrote.

Hey Lew - I live in Kansas City and I never felt the disaster in Joplin - I felt badly for the people but it truly had no effect on me. Others farther away might understand this too.

[srooge]

09:23 PM on 09/05/2011

Helps on the way as soon as you pay more taxes, Ha Ha HA.

[Recalled]

12:01 AM on 09/06/2011

We all know if we pay more taxes it only goes to war.

[Not That Far Left]

10:26 AM on 09/06/2011

That's not true. Some of it goes to corporations as subsidies.

[17ladyslippers]

09:18 PM on 09/05/2011

Will the fiscally frugal, small government advocate Tea Party members be hypocrites and take Fed money?

As a matter of principle they should refuse Fed money and pay for their own property clean-up and repairs.

[Itsbushesfault]

09:48 PM on 09/05/2011

That is what insurance is for.

[Artanis71]

05:34 AM on 09/06/2011

What insurance policy will pay for and deliver food and water? Good lord you are a mor.on

[Cacey]

09:07 PM on 09/05/2011

Now Perry's going to demand some for Texas.

[Rimser]

07:27 AM on 09/06/2011

Wouldn't be the first time. The past two budgets he "balanced" ... yup, took stimulus money to do so. You won't find that on his campaign brochure.

[eagle17765]

08:41 PM on 09/05/2011

TO: Tim the Enchanter

YOU WROTE
Can anybody find FEMA in the Constituti­on? Any amendments I missed?

ME TO YOU
Read & Learn
Article 1 Section 8 General Welfare Clause of the US Constituti­on

Here's what the Supreme Court wrote on the General Welfare Clause
- Justice Story concluded that the General Welfare Clause is a qualificat­ion on the taxing power which included within it a power to spend tax revenues on matters of General Interest to the federal government­. The Court did limit the power to spending for matters affecting only the national welfare

.(FEMA is a general interest to federal and state government­s as it helps REBUILD parts of the country that otherwise would NOT be rebuilt - which gives rise to FEMA aiding in the National Welfare)

- Alexander Hamilton wrote that Congress could exercise independently to benefit the general welfare, such as to assist national needs in agriculture or education, provided that the spending is general in nature and does not favor any specific section of the country over any other

[Tim The Enchanter]

11:36 AM on 09/06/2011

1. Abraham Lincoln had zero respect for the Constitution and SCOTUS. And if the US taxpayers go around starting wars, they should pay for the damage. The South had every right to secede from a tyrannical federal government. I say this as a Northerner.

2. You certainly have NOT proven that the Feds have any such power enumerated in the Constitution as required by a federal compact. Show me anything about natural disasters. Oh, wait, you can't.

3. We like the US as outlined in the Constitution. Maybe you should move to Cuba.

4. Please show me the power in the Constitution that gives the power to be SCOTUS to determine the Constitutionality of law. The Supreme Court can say that they believe a law violates the Constitution, but more likely, they are going to say they are okay with the government breaking the Constitution. It is the people and the states who have final say and it is both our right and duty to stand against unconstitutional acts of government.

5. Show me the part of the Constitution that Hamilton wrote. You can't. He's a signer.

[Tim The Enchanter]

11:36 AM on 09/06/2011

6. The two primary authors of the The Federalist essays set forth two separate, conflicting interpretations:

James Madison advocated for the ratification of the Constitution in The Federalist and at the Virginia ratifying convention upon a narrow construction of the clause, asserting that spending must be at least tangentially tied to one of the other specifically enumerated powers, such as regulating interstate or foreign commerce, or providing for the military, as the General Welfare Clause is not a specific grant of power, but a statement of purpose qualifying the power to tax.[9][10]
Alexander Hamilton, only after the Constitution had been ratified,[11] argued for a broad interpretation which viewed spending as an enumerated power Congress could exercise independently to benefit the general welfare, such as to assist national needs in agriculture or education, provided that the spending is general in nature and does not favor any specific section of the country over any other.[12]

While Hamilton's view prevailed during the administrations of Presidents Washington and Adams, historians argue that his view of the General Welfare Clause was repudiated in the election of 1800, and helped establish the primacy of the Democratic-Republican Party for the subsequent 24 years.[13] - Wikipedia

IOW, Hamilton argued that government had narrow powers in the Federalist Papers, then once the document was signed, argued that it had broad powers. See how totalitarians work?

FEMA fails the delegated powers test of the 10th Amendment. Period.