By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves applauds passage of a $19.1 billion federal disaster aid package, which contains money to offset losses from this year’s floods.
“This is going to go a long way toward helping us in terms of damage control for levee systems, roads systems, public assistance, everything that goes along with that,” Graves tells St. Joseph Post. “One of the things we did in there too was, grain crops that are stored have never been covered before and this is something that we were able to change.”
Slightly more than $3 billion has been allocated to offset agricultural losses due to floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters. Money will be provided to compensate for the loss of stored grain, which Graves says was added specifically for northwest Missouri, which saw floodwaters surround grain bins, break them open, causing them to spill their contents. Graves says floodwaters along the Missouri River rose so fast farmers didn’t have enough time to move grain to higher ground.
The federal disaster relief package also includes $435 million to help states and local partners restore watersheds.
Nearly $2.5 billion has been allocated to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to repair damage to Corps projects. An additional $740 million has been given to the Corps to accelerate construction of projects to reduce the risk from future floods and hurricanes; $35 million has been set aside to study ways to reduce the risk of future floods and hurricanes. Also included in the package is $1.65 billion to reimburse states for the damage done by natural disasters to federal highways.
Graves says he’s satisfied with the amount appropriated to offset flood losses.
“I am at this point. The problem is we don’t know what’s coming down the road. We don’t know how much worse it’s going to get,” Graves says. “The situation is if we don’t have those levee breaches fixed, then that leaves us vulnerable to the river coming up again and restarting this process all over again.”
Partisan bickering delayed passage of the disaster relief package. President Donald Trump and many Republicans in the House objected to the $1.4 billion allocated to aid Puerto Rico in its ongoing efforts to recover from 2017’s Hurricane Maria. The president accused the U.S. territory of not efficiently using existing disaster relief funds. Democrats countered that the president downplayed the devastation left in Maria’s wake.
Some conservative Republicans in the House held out for money to extend the wall along the southern border of the country, but a provision in the bill effectively blocks any defense funding for being used for border wall construction.
Graves says a deal should have been reached earlier.
“It is a frustration, because you have people out there their lives and their livelihoods and their businesses and everything are hanging in the balance, but the good news is we were able to get it done.”
The bill has been sent to President Trump for his signature. He is expected to sign it.