Pressure mounting to pass disaster relief bill

News Herald (Panama City, FL)

May 02-- May 2--PANAMA CITY -- After failing to pass a disaster supplemental relief bill before the Easter break, Congress seems to have returned to session with a renewed interest in passing a bill.

"We're talking about a disastrous failure of the government of the United States of America to respond to the needs of the people," Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia, said in bipartisan press conference on Monday. "That's a terrible indictment, because we are in the Congress. We are part of the bus driving this whole thing."

The next speaker was even more blunt.

"It's not the government, it's Congress," Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, said. "It's members who should go to the floor and vote for relief and vote for it now."

The press conference, which also included Sens. Rick Scott, R-Florida; David Perdue, R-Georgia; and Doug Jones, D-Alabama, was one stage of what seems to be a more focused effort by Democrats, Republicans and President Donald Trump to get something passed within the next two weeks for a growing list of disaster victims, covering Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Michael, the California wildfires, Hurricane Maria and the floods in the Midwest.

The new urgency in the conversation made it the "perfect time" for three Bay County local leaders -- School Superintendent Bill Husfelt, Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki and Panama City Manager Mark McQueen -- to storm Washington.

"They are acutely aware of what is going on in Panama City, Bay County and the affected region," McQueen said. "It is not lost on them that it was a Category 5 storm ... and I think what I saw was a pretty serious commitment that they are going to be doing a lot to help us."

Arriving late Sunday night and returning mid-day Wednesday, the three men walked more than 13 miles going to back-to-back meetings with lawmakers and influencers. Even people in the hallways passing them between meetings weren't safe, as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, learned when Brudnicki gave him an elevator pitch for tax relief in the halls. Others they talked to included members of the Florida delegation, the department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Security Council, the Department of Commerce, reporters at the Christian Science Monitor and Washington Post, and even the staff of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

The people they spoke with were as frustrated with the lack of supplemental funding bill as they where, they said, and on the whole recognized that the inability of Congress to act is causing real consequences. One of the most obvious consequences is that new work has had to stop at Tyndall Air Force Base until the supplemental bill is passed. Projects that already are underway will continue.

"We're north of 200 days ... and we're getting to the point where it's serious," Brudnicki said. "It's always been serious but from a financial situation, it's getting dire."

With the political climate shifting in favor of passing an aid bill, a large focus on the trip was on pushing each agency at play to be ready to move forward once a supplemental bill is passed. Husfelt pushed for federal monies for mental health services -- as about 25% of the student population is showing signs of trauma, post traumatic stress or depression -- and whether the state government will allocate funding for that need is still in question. Brudnicki and McQueen pushed for HUD to be ready to expedite housing programs, and in their meeting with the National Security Council pushed to have the IRS look at the tax program, as well as talking about how to support Tyndall and the schools.

"We were teeing up and preparing for once they get the appropriations to get on with it and not loiter," McQueen said.

They also found that many of the people they were meeting with -- unbeknownst to them -- had visited the area on their own in the immediate months after the storm.

"Things I thought they wouldn't be acutely aware of when we asked certain questions of them, they knew the answers to," Brudnicki said. "They were studied."

As senators said at the press conference, Brudnicki, Husfelt and McQueen returned with the impression that a supplemental disaster package would be passed within the next two weeks.

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