House lawmakers question FEMA in New Orleans

Jessi Turnure
·2 min read
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(NEXSTAR) — House lawmakers traveled to a coastal hotspot Tuesday to question FEMA and other emergency response officials about better ways to prepare for disasters.

The field hearing in New Orleans comes as President Joe Biden’s latest request for disaster aid is stalled in Congress.

“There’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen. What can we do better?” asked U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-NY, who chairs the Homeland Security subcommittee.

When disaster strikes, federal agencies like FEMA and the Small Business Administration (SBA) spring into action, but in the aftermath, lawmakers said the help is often not equal.

“The lack of equitable resources during a disaster is appalling,” said U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-MS.

Thompson and D’Esposito traveled to the district of U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-LA, to try to change that. Carter said small businesses in coastal cities like New Orleans need help.

“They continue to be strangled with loan after loan after loan,” he said.

Carter wants to create a loan forgiveness program.

“We can’t by law forgive loans,” said Francisco Sanchez Jr., the associate administrator of SBA’s Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience. “But we’re looking for ways to reduce that impact.”

Congress could step in and allow that, but in the meantime, Sanchez said SBA is prioritizing loans focused on preventing damage rather than cleaning up.

“It’s always in the best interest, but sometimes those resources are not allocated to the places they really should be,” D’Esposito said.

Casey Tingle, the director of the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, told lawmakers the process to apply for federal funding is still too complicated.

“It’s, in many cases, a turnoff to communities,” Tingle said. “They’re afraid of accessing. They’re afraid of doing something wrong. They’re afraid of the clawback.”

Pamela Gonzales Granger, the president and owner of McBade Engineers & Consultants, LLC, said it would also be easier if the money went directly to the local communities and federal programs were required to meet payment deadlines.

“We have time limits. Contractors have time limits with liquidated damages. I’m just saying putting it on folks to have time limits on what they do as well,” Granger said.

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