Disaster victims fed up with politics

Associated Press

WATERBURY, Vt.

For disaster victims rebuilding their homes, towns and lives, the anxiety is matched only by anger at Congress for entangling their future in a political battle over government spending.

A sharply divided Congress had repeatedly rejected a deal that included funding federal disaster assistance, raising fears that there would be no plan to continue aid for victims of disasters such as storms Irene and Lee or the tornado in Joplin, Mo.

On Monday, Congress advanced legislation to assure there would be no interruption in assistance through the new budget year, which begins Saturday. But that didn’t do much to appease those who would have paid perhaps the highest price for politics.

They’re spreading the blame both among Republicans, who want cuts in other government spending, and Democrats, who are accused of using the GOP opposition to win political points.

“They aren’t looking so much at what is actually needed as what’s good for their party, and that to me is wrong, wrong, wrong,” said Lawrence Sayah, a Waterbury resident whose home, ravaged by the floods wrought by the remnants of Hurricane Irene, is still stripped to the studs inside.

Sayah already received $18,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, although he and his wife are appealing for more for repairs that will run more than three times that. He worried that an impasse could affect his appeal.

Congressional members trying to appropriate money to keep the government running bickered over federal dollars to help victims of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters.

Some Republicans had been pushing for expenses to be offset by cuts elsewhere. Democrats, such as Sen. Patrick Leahy, who represents flood-stricken Vermont, countered that the same budgeting standards are not enforced when it comes to Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Here you have Americans, and you say you can’t help Americans in America with American dollars,” Leahy told The Associated Press. “It’s ‘Alice in Wonderland.’”

As of Monday, FEMA had $114 million left in its disaster relief fund and expected it to last until Thursday or Friday, agency spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said.