In the bill to cover expenses related to the devastation from Hurricane Sandy, the Obama administration is requesting $13 billion to cover storms to be named later.
“Mitigation Projects: In addition to the funds necessary for recovery and repair of damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, the Administration estimates an additional $12,970 million [thousands of million] is necessary for mitigation projects to reduce the risk of damage from future disasters,” writes Office of Managment and Budget director Jeffrey Zients in a letter to House speaker John Boehner.
That’s $12,970 thousands of million, so about $13 billion for “future disasters.”
Here’s the agency program amount (in millions of dollars), as outlined by Zients:
Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, Watershed and
Flood Prevention Operations
$ 150
Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
Operations, Research, and Facilities
$ 360
Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction
$ 100
Department of Housing and
Urban Development
Community Planning and Development, Community
Development Fund
$ 2,000
Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, Resource Management $ 400
Department of
Transportation
Federal Transit Administration, Public Transportation
Emergency Relief Program
$ 5,500
Corps of Engineers Investigations $ 30
Corps of Engineers Construction $ 3,820
Environmental Protection
Agency
State and Tribal Assistance Grants $ 610
TOTAL FY 2013 ESTIMATED NEED $ 12,970
A senior congressional aide familiar with the request writes, “This isn’t the baseball winter meetings. The people of New York and New Jersey need aid to recover from Hurricane Sandy, not some storm to be named later.”
The Republican aide continues, “The more goodies these Washington bureaucrats pile onto the core relief package, the harder it’s going to be to get it quickly to the people who need it most.”
