Trump Just Denied A Red State Desperately Needed Hurricane Relief Funding
Apparently, it doesn’t matter to President Trump if a state adopts a conservative agenda or if it voted for him to become president. While defense gets billions, human needs continue to take a low priority in the Trump White House
The latest example is North Carolina. Trump won the state’s 15 electoral votes last November. That should matter since Trump has made it clear he favors those states that voted for him.
However, that doesn’t seem to have done the swing state any good when it needs help. They still got Trump’s one percent solution.
Still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Matthew seven months ago, North Carolina turned to the federal government and asked for $929 million to help rebuild areas that are recovering from the high winds and flood waters that hit last December.
The money was to repair public buildings, help homeowners, assist farmers and others among more than 800,000 people who filed claims with FEMA after the disaster.
While the state legislature and most of the elected officials are Republicans, they all came together with the recently elected Democratic governor to seek what they felt was a conservative amount, compared to total damages estimated at over $5 billion.
They just learned the Trump administration’s response. North Carolina is getting just over $6 million, or about one percent of what they requested.
Governor Roy Cooper said he was “shocked and disappointment in the lack of federal funding for Hurricane Matthew recovery efforts,” according to WRIC-TV, the ABC affiliate in Raliegh.
“Families across Eastern North Carolina need help to rebuild and recover,” Cooper said in a statement to the press. “It is an incredible failure by the Trump Administration and Congressional leaders to turn their backs.”
A spokesman for HUD told CBS in North Carolina that they analyze unmet needs across the country and allocate funds proportionately. He noted North Carolina got $198.5 million in relief at the time the hurricane hit last November.
The HUD response added that a lot of money went to other states that were also hit by the hurricane, most notably Louisiana.
In a letter sent yesterday to Trump, HUD Secretary Ben Johnson, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), Cooper invited them to visit North Carolina and see the extent of the damage and the great need in the state.
The reality is that there will be no visits, no more funds, and no sympathy. Trump is too busy with his own problems and his pro-military, anti-people agenda to care if those who voted for him in North Carolina need help.
We can only hope the people in that state will remember this in November 2018 and beyond when they go to the polls.
