Florida’s two Republicans in the U.S. Senate–Marco Rubio and Rick Scott–are looking to change the federal Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to “authorize the president to reimburse local governments for qualified interest payments on loans from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for recovery and mitigation efforts as the result of emergency natural disasters.”
Rubio introduced the “Fairness in Disaster Relief Act” this week with Scott as a cosponsor.
“Natural disasters, including Hurricanes Irma, Michael, and Matthew, have caused catastrophic destruction throughout Florida and disrupted the lives of millions of Americans,” Rubio said on Thursday. “I remain committed to ensuring that the federal government adequately supports our state and local governments when they need it most. Too often, it can take many years to conclude the accounting and federal review of the recovery efforts and our local governments face significant financial burdens from the loans needed to respond to a crisis. I thank Senator Scott for joining me in this effort to significantly reduce the burden of interest payments on FEMA loans to hard hit communities.”
“Throughout my time as governor of Florida, I saw firsthand the devastation and destruction massive storms can cause to families, communities and businesses,” Scott said. “And while we’ve worked incredibly hard to help our communities fully recover, many are still struggling. I’m proud to sponsor the Fairness in Disaster Relief Act, which will expand the resources available to local governments to help with recovery efforts, and I will always fight to make sure Floridians have every resource they need to move on from these storms.”
The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday. So far, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. House.
Reach Kevin Derby at kevin.derby@floridadaily.com.
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