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Senate Dems' funding move dares GOP to insist on FEMA offsets
By Erik Wasson | The Hill | September 6, 2011
Senate Democrats on Tuesday moved forward with legislation providing $6 billion in new funding for relief from Hurricane Irene and other disasters, all but daring Republicans to insist the money be offset with other spending cuts.
Organizers bringing Walk of Flags to Cullman
By Loretta Gillespie | Cullman Times | September 6, 2011
Safe Room Problem Must Be Figured -- Soon
Times-Journal | September 5, 2011
The Times-Journal's Lindsay Slater reported last week that it remains to be seen whether a "temporary" safe room will remain on the Plainview School campus after portable classrooms are gone.
The back story on this: The Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed to pay the majority of the cost for safe rooms - essentially buildings made of reinforced concrete - at four Alabama schools affected by the April 27 tornado outbreak.
Battle over disaster aid brewing in Congress
By Andrew Taylor | MSNBC | August 30, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — A political battle between the tea party-driven House and the Democratic-controlled Senate is threatening to slow money to the government's main disaster aid account, which is so low that new rebuilding projects have been put on hold to help victims of Hurricane Irene and future disasters.
FEMA funding faces now familiar congressional wrangling
By Xuan Thai and Tom Cohen | CNN | August 31, 2011
Washington (CNN) -- As rescuers raced Tuesday to free people trapped by floodwaters caused by Hurricane Irene, Washington politicians bickered over how to pay for it.
The same budget arguments that nearly brought the first government default in history earlier this month now raise questions about whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will have enough money to deal with Irene's aftermath.
Fema's Budget Disaster
By David Stone and Laura Colarusso | The Daily Beast | August 27, 2011
It’s been a busy year for America’s disaster agency, and that may soon spell disaster for its budget.
City asks full reimbursement for cleanup
By Trent Moore | Cullman Times | August 27, 2011
Obama: 'This is not over'
Mackenzie Weinger | Politico | August 27, 2011
Hurricane Irene left millions without power and significant flooding in its wake — and on Sunday, President Barack Obama said, “this is not over.”
Obama delivered a statement on Hurricane Irene at 5 p.m. on Sunday in the Rose Garden, offering his condolences to those that had lost loved ones and calling Irene “a dangerous storm that continues to produce heavy rains.”
Hurrican Irene set to bleed FEMA, inflame budget scraps in Congress
By Eric Wasson | The Hill | August 27, 2011
Shortly after Hurricane Irene blows through Washington, Congress will blow back into town and start fighting about how to pay for the storm and all the other natural disasters that have struck the United States this year.
If the hurricane is truly historic, as President Obama has warned, an emergency disaster appropriations bill would be necessary in September to get the government through to the beginning of fiscal 2012 on Oct. 1, aides said.