Sen. Bernie SandersBurlington, Vermont - September 22, 2011
Vermont is banking on help from the federal government to help bounce back from Irene. But Congress still has not approved funding national disaster relief, which right now is slated to run out of money at the end of the month.
The House rejected a $3.7 billion plan Wednesday. Democrats voted against it because the measure called for spending cuts to offset the expenditures. Conservative Republicans voted no because there were not enough offsets.
Vermont Congressman Peter Welch was one of just a few Democrats to vote for the bill.
"No Vermonter has ever complained to me that we used their tax dollars to help out in Texas, to help out in Ohio, to help out on the Gulf Coast. We didn't make it conditional on getting our way. My offset, that might Afghanistan, yours might be some environmental program. We knew that was not the time to do it," said Welch, D-Vermont.
Sen. Bernie Sanders says the House plan doesn't go far enough. The Senate has already passed a nearly $7 billion plan.
"Totally inadequate... and will not address the magnitude of damages inflicted by Hurricane Irene or the backlog of FEMA funding that existed before it," said Sanders, I-Vermont.
Sen. Patrick Leahy is pushing a separate $1.9 billion bill that would pump new emergency funding into the transportation budget. The bill cleared a key Senate committee Wednesday. It still needs full Senate and House approval.
WCAX News
