Recovery before red tape

Special to The Leader

June 19, 2009 01:58 pm

— Amid concerns that too much of the first round of federal Hurricane Ike disaster aid was diverted to state bureaucracy, U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady (R- Texas 8th District) urged Governor Rick Perry by letter to send 100 percent of the recently announced $1.7 billion in federal funds directly to impacted communities for their recovery needs.
In the first round of Ike funding in February, the state held back $102 million for administrative and planning activities, an amount sufficient to cover any administrative oversight for the second round of HUD funding, says Brady.
“Congress wants these funds to go to communities, not to red tape,” said Brady, who fought for the funding from Washington and whose district was hard hit by hurricanes Ike and Rita. “The state has an important administrative role, no doubt, but $100 million is more than enough to fulfill that role. Local communities desperately need every penny of these precious funds to rebuild their communities and prepare against the next storm.”
“These additional CDBG funds will be instrumental in helping our local governments rebuild,” wrote Brady in a letter to Texas Governor Rick Perry. “Local communities are relying on these dollars to provide housing, rebuild public infrastructure and mitigate against the impacts of future storms.
“Therefore, in the interest of maximizing their use, every dollar of the second allocation should be dedicated to the impacted communities,” added Brady.