Free Republic

The Biden administration asked Congress on Tuesday for at least $24 billion in disaster relief and urged swift passage of a short-term funding bill as a government shutdown looms at the end of September. White House Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Shalanda Young requested "urgent" spending in a blog post to respond to natural disasters and the relocation of Afghans who partnered with the US during the war in Afghanistan. Specifically, the administration is asking Congress for $14 billion for natural disasters that occurred before Hurricane Ida, $6.4 billion for the Afghan relocation, and it anticipates another $10...

That accusation leaves out critical context which will undoubtedly arise in any effort to appropriate money for emergency recovery efforts. The Hurricane Sandy bill appropriated $60 billion, but a significant amount of the bill didn’t have anything to do with emergency recovery efforts. Billions of dollars within the bill didn’t go to the New York and New Jersey areas affected by the hurricane. among other items, $2 billion for highway upgrades across the country, $150 million for fisheries in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, a boost to Amtrak subsidies, and $16 billion in block grants to 47 states and...

The European Union in recent days has been quick to pledge rapid aid to Germany and other Central European countries as they seek to battle record flooding this week. But on Wednesday, European Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski said that the promises may have been a bit premature. The bloc’s Solidarity Fund, he said, is empty. “The scale of the catastrophe is absolutely beyond the reimbursement (possible) in these countries. We are without resources, for sure, for the European Solidarity Fund,” Lewandowski told journalists in Brussels on Wednesday. “In 2013 it is not possible.” … The shortage is a direct result...

<p>The former number two official in Saddam Hussein's Iraqi air force claims the former Iraqi dictator moved weapons of mass destruction from Iraq to Syria in the months preceding the current Iraq war.</p>

Bishop Gerald Barnes, leader of the Diocese of San Bernardino, is urging federal legislators to extend disaster aid to illegal immigrants uprooted by Hurricane Katrina, and not to deport undocumented immigrants who fled the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast. "Now is the time to serve our common humanity and not discriminate against victims of the disaster because they are not U.S. citizens," Barnes, the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration, said in a Tuesday letter to federal lawmakers. "Like U.S. citizens, noncitizens have suffered from the hurricane and its aftermath, having lost their loved ones, their...

San Ramon oil giant Chevron Corp. said it will give $5 million to disaster-relief charities in states hit by Hurricane Katrina. Chevron (NYSE:CVX) will give $3 million to the American Red Cross for aid in Mississippi and Louisiana. It will also give $2 million to different charities in the affected area, particularly those close to Chevron businesses. Chevron has many operations in the Gulf of Mexico area affected by the storm. The company has asked affected employees in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to call an 800 number to let the company know their current situations. It has about 3,000...

A close political ally of President George W Bush has launched a fierce attack on the United Nations' ability to handle the aftermath of the tsunami disaster, declaring that some of its agencies had "terrible, terrible records in dealing with people in need". David Frum, a prominent Republican and former speech writer to Mr Bush, said America's reluctance to allow the UN too free a hand in the relief operation, was based on its poor management record. "We are not arguing about money, we are arguing about control," he said on BBC Radio 4's Today programe. "It is humane and...

As the sun rose over Tel Aviv this morning I again woke to the grumbling noise coming from the television about the tsunami disaster. The top stories every quarter hour this morning was no longer the death toll or that America is stingy, all that changed yesterday when the UN backed down from that idiotic remark. No the issue today is that President Bush is spending time on his ranch and that is insensitive to the victims of the disaster. Presumably the BBC, and the other news stations took former President Bill Clinton’s comment, “It is really important that somebody...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and other Senate Democrats urged the GOP House leadership on Wednesday to provide disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers ravaged by drought and floods.</p> <p>Daschle, D-S.D., was joined at a news conference by a half-dozen Senate Democrats from the Midwest, including three facing competitive re-election campaigns: Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Tim Johnson of South Dakota. All three stand to gain by delivering assistance to farmers and ranchers in their states.</p>