Lawmakers say $100 billion in disaster aid still not enough
18/11/2017 18:56
The White House has sent Congress a $44 billion disaster aid request that's already under attack from lawmakers from hurricane-hit regions as way too small.
The request issued Friday, President Donald Trump's third since hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria slammed the Gulf Coast and Caribbean, would bring the total appropriated for disaster relief this fall close to $100 billion — and that's before most of the money to rebuild Puerto Rico's devastated housing stock and electric grid is added in.
The new installment would add $24 billion to the government's chief disaster account and establish a new $12 billion grant program for flood risk mitigation projects. Smaller amounts would go to small business loans and to aid farmers suffering crop losses.
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