This isn’t the sort of headline and lead paragraph you want to read in the local paper if you’re a freshman House member in a marginal district: “Hayworth seeking to withhold disaster money unless it is offset by budget cuts: Only days after a record-setting storm destroyed her district, Rep. Nan Hayworth and her House colleagues threatened to withhold disaster money if lawmakers don’t cut additional spending from the federal budget.”
But that’s exactly what the New York freshman woke up to this morning after saying she would only vote to replenish FEMA’s disaster relief fund if the money is offset with spending cuts elsewhere in the budget, according to the paper. Her constituents, and officials in her district, don’t want to hear about conditions — even Republicans.
New Windsor Supervisor George Green, a conservative Republican, warned he’ll need federal help to repair a road that was completely wiped out in the Butterhill subdivision. Hayworth toured damage in New Windsor earlier this week, and Green said his congresswoman better not let the town’s devastation become the rope in a political tug of war.
“People have to come first,” Green said. “Don’t tell me that you have to take money from another part of the budget to balance out FEMA money when you’re talking about people who’ve lost sewer and water, and people who’ve lost their goddamn houses.”
Congress will likely have to step in and provide emergency funding for states and municipalities damaged by Hurricane Irene. FEMA’s disaster fund is dangerously low — below $800 million — and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo expects damages in New York alone to cost over $1 billion.
