Chet Edwards For Congress

Houston Chronicle Texas on the Potomac: Area lawmakers praise Chet Edwards on hurricane relief

Houston Chronicle
June 12, 2009

Texas Democratic lawmakers are crediting Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, for helping to seal a deal to provide 100 percent federal reimbursement for Texas' communities' continued debris removal following Hurricane Ike.

Cities like Galveston are going to regain the 100 percent coverage that they lost on April 26 -- a setback that had forced hard-pressed Gulf Coast communities to come up with a 25 percent local share of the costs.

That weighed heavily on communities like Galveston that lost much of their local tax revenue from the damage inflicted by the hurricane last September.

Galveston alone has faced an estimated $500 million in costs from the storm, including $55 million for debris removal.

Texas has received more than $2 billion in federal assistance as a result of Hurricane Ike - including $466 million for debris removal.

Edwards helped negotiate inclusion of the 100 percent formula during the House-Senate conference committee negotiations on a $100 billion budget supplemental measure to help pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through Sept. 30.

Edwards "helped keep pressure on to secure funding formula for our region," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.

Houston-area members of Congress including Reps. Gene Green and Al Green also are praising Edwards for his help in securing the added federal help.

"I would like to especially thank Rep. Chet Edwards for representing the needs of the Texas Coast on the Appropriations Committee and on the conference committee," Gene Green said. "Too many areas are still trying to finish cleaning up and the 100 percent federal reimbursement for debris removal will go a long way towards helping the coast recover."

Green said 100 percent reimbursement and the $1.7 billion in promised relief for Texas through the Community Block Grant Program "will help ease the burden on communities that were struggling to meet the previously required match."

The revised formula potentially saves Galveston from having to come up with some $16 million between now and the end of September to cover the local share of the costs.

The congressional sets aside Obama administration resistance to full reimbursement for debris removal and puts Texas on a par with assistance provided Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.

In a related development, two Houston-area Republican lawmakers -- Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin -- have asked the House Committee on Homeland Security to convene a hearing to look into alleged disparities between the number of individuals served and the amount of federal assitance provided Texas after Hurricane Ike compared to the relief provided Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.

Changes in federal hurricane assistance may have "increased efficiency and decreased waste," the two lawmakers wrote the committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. But the disparity in assistance for victims of the two storms "suggests a possible overcorrection resulting in lack of assistance and diminished quality of service."