EDITORIAL: Federal funds vital to Texas’ recovery

Sept. 01--America's important Community Development Block Grant program just became more important.

The CDBG initiative was created in 1974, and since then Congress -- whether under Democratic or Republican control -- has sustained it for good reasons.

As we wrote earlier this month, President Donald Trump's first proposed budget proposes eliminating the CDBG program. Bad.

Properly administered and directed by local governments, the grants have helped stabilize and improve depressed areas, provide vital social services, subsidize water and sewer utilities in low-income neighborhoods, offer housing assistance and generate economic development.

Furthermore, the grants have provided aid to areas devastated by natural disasters -- long after the emergency crews and temporary assistance have departed.

New Orleans officials, for instance, maintain that the federal grants played an integral role in the long-term redevelopment of their city and surrounding areas in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In New Orleans, the funds were used to repair infrastructure, rebuild a library and other civic buildings pummeled by the 2005 storm and provide assistance to first-time homebuyers, many of whom purchased and fixed houses that had been damaged by Katrina and abandoned. The experience in New Orleans showed that, when the first responders are gone, a lot of challenging reconstruction will be required, with low-income areas demonstrating the greatest long-term needs.

The grants total $3 billion nationwide -- a small percentage of the $4 trillion federal budget.

The case for maintaining and enhancing the program has become stronger since Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coast and dumped record-breaking rainfall on Houston, flooding the fourth-most populous city in the United States and causing untold damage and human suffering. Through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and an array of other programs, the U.S. government will provide substantial resources.

But it's not even certain, at this moment, that the government will have sufficient funds on hand to adequately respond to Harvey in the short term -- unless action is taken quickly.

FEMA officials on Monday said the early response to Harvey is "quickly drawing down" federal-disaster balances, which have dropped recently to $2.3 billion, according to The Associated Press, from $3 billion.

The fund's condition could get worse. A pending reduction to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief account is part of a massive spending bill that Congress is scheduled to consider next week. An $876 million cut to FEMA's disaster relief account is included.

That proposal should be a nonstarter.

Some Republicans and most Democrats in Congress have already been noting that the cut is equivalent to about half the amount Trump wants in the budget for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Choosing between the wall and disaster relief is an easy decision. Adding to the disaster fund and pledging to protect the CDBG program should be among congressional priorities starting next week.

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