Sick Again

I was reading the Monday edition of the Wichita Eagle today and noticed an article regarding FEMA diverting funds originally set aside for the Joplin tornado over to the East Coast hurricane relief. As I read through the article, it was apparent that FEMA funds for disasters were beginning to run low.
This past Saturday, according to the article, House Appropriations Committee Chair Harold Rogers of Kentucky said this of the Obama administration: He said that the Administration “has let the fund reach critically low levels, putting continued recovery at risk, without a plan for the future or a clear method for dealing with new disasters.” Mr. Rogers is, it seems, lambasting the Executive for not having more funds in the FEMA account.
OK. Let’s have a Civics lesson here. Last time I knew anything, it was the Congress that authorizes expenditures, appropriates money, and lays and collects taxes in order to fund those appropriations. The Executive branch, to my knowledge, although it may request funding, does not have the authority to provide that funding. The job of the Executive is (in a perfect world) to see that the laws of the United States are “faithfully executed”. The Executive doesn’t make laws; it enforces them.
“Well,” you might say. “If the Congress doesn’t know that the Executive needs more money, how can it appropriate more?” Good question. Except the article goes on with these words: “In anticipation of a shortfall, FEMA began providing congressional appropriators with weekly updates on funding levels in May; daily updates began this month.”
So, if the article is to be believed, Mr. Rogers has known since May on a weekly, and now daily basis, that FEMA funding is running low; yet he blames the Administration for allowing the account to go under the recommended amount (one billion dollars). Business as usual.
This is what I talk about when I say I am sick to death of the politics going on right now. I don’t care if Mr. Rogers is a Republican or Democrat; nor do I care if the Administration is Democrat or Republican. This kind of talk serves no useful purpose. It only inflames. It is counter-productive. It does not provide more funding for disasters. It only tells part of the truth. It is deceptive.
The more truthful comment from Mr. Rogers would have been something like this: “Although the Administration has provided weekly, and now daily updates on the status of FEMA disaster funding, Congress has not yet acted to fill that gap. I call on the Congress to shorten their month-long congressional vacation, and provide funding for the natural disasters that have plagued our nation this year, and do so as quickly as possible.”
No wonder the congressional approval rating is sitting at 13%.