Last week, Florida Republican U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young requesting an expedited compilation and submission to Congress of the disaster assistance figures related to Hurricanes Fiona, Ian and Nicole.
Congress relies on these submissions to take up and pass emergency disaster funding so communities impacted by storms have all the resources needed to fully recover.
The senators sent letters in the days immediately following Hurricane Ian to U.S. Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the chairman and ranking member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, requesting their support in developing a disaster supplemental to provide much-needed assistance to Florida as Floridians recover from Major Hurricane Ian.
The letter to Young is below.
Dear Director Young:
We write to request your expedited compilation and submission to Congress of the disaster assistance figures related to Hurricanes Fiona, Ian and Nicole. These figures are vital to allow us to quickly take up and pass emergency disaster funding to ensure our communities impacted by these deadly storms have all resources needed to fully recover from their devastating effects.
As you are aware, Hurricane Fiona made landfall on Puerto Rico as a devastating Category 4 storm on September 18, 2022, causing multiple deaths and widespread destruction to the island’s infrastructure. Ten days later, on September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian made landfall on the southwestern coast of Florida as a deadly Category 4 storm, bringing with it catastrophic winds, torrential rainfall and devastating storm surges that wreaked havoc across much of the State. More recently, Hurricane Nicole struck Florida in the early-morning hours of November 10, 2022, causing substantial erosion and heavy damage to coastal communities and raking across the state while adding to the path of destruction Hurricane Ian left in its wake.
With substantial assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), Floridians and Puerto Ricans have begun the long road to recovery from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Fiona, Ian and Nicole, and we stand ready to support those recovery efforts through emergency supplemental appropriations.
To that end, we write to request your expedited compilation and submission to Congress of comprehensive disaster assistance figures related to Hurricanes Fiona, Ian and Nicole, so that we may swiftly take up and pass an emergency disaster funding measure to ensure our communities impacted by the storm have all resources needed to fully recover from its devastating effects. Floridians and Puerto Ricans are resilient and determined, and we are confident that, with full cooperation and support from the Federal government, we will rebuild stronger than ever and recover from the devastation wrought by these devastating storms.
Author
