Emergency aid won't be affected by partisan dispute
By Philip Brasher
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – A partisan dispute that threatens to hold up passage of a disaster relief package would have no impact on most emergency assistance, but Clinton administration officials say it could delay help for rebuilding businesses and public services.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides temporary housing and other forms of emergency aid, has $2.1 billion in its accounts, more than enough to handle disaster needs in the upper Midwest, agency officials said Thursday.

But the government can’t release $100 million in community development grants authorized by the legislation until the bill passes, said Charles Kiefer, congressional liaison for the White House budget office. Those grants are considered important to long-term rebuilding efforts.

Aid to rebuild roads and railroads, and money to reimburse farmers and producers for dead livestock also could be held up.

"I feel a real sense of urgency about getting this money to individuals who are going to fall through the cracks otherwise," said Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn.

The potential delay hinged on a dispute over a Republican provision in the Senate’s disaster relief bill that is designed to prevent a government shutdown in case there is an impasse over the budget this fall.

The provision would be removed from the bill under a budget agreement being worked out Thursday, lawmakers said.

President Clinton has threatened to veto the disaster legislation if the budget measure isn’t removed, and Democrats from the upper Midwest have urged GOP leaders to drop it.

Republicans insist there will be little impact on disaster aid even if the legislation is delayed. "We’re comfortable with the situation and confident that people who need assistance can get it," said John Raffetto, a spokesman for the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota alleged Thursday that aid for temporary housing needs could be held up because of political squabbling over the Senate’s disaster relief package.

But FEMA spokeswoman Val Bunting said a delay in the disaster bill wouldn’t affect her agency. FEMA is counting on the legislation to pass in time to replenish its accounts before hurricane season hits later this year.

"The current budget deliberations are not going to impact the delivery of disaster relief to individual victims," Bunting said.

As of Wednesday, the agency had issued 6,794 housing checks totaling $4.6 million in North Dakota and 4,798 totaling $4 million in Minnesota.

FEMA reimburses displaced families for the cost of renting temporary housing or will provide them with travel trailers where they can live while their homes are being repaired.

To press the need for passing the disaster bill without the budget measure, Daschle arranged for the mayors of Grand Forks, N.D., and Watertown, S.D., to talk via telephone with reporters gathered for his daily news briefing Thursday.

The region needs federal aid as quickly as possible, the mayors said.

"There is devastation in cities and communities," said Watertown Mayor Brenda Barger. "This is a time when those folks certainly are not thinking in terms of parties, Republican or Democrat. These are folks who are devastated, who have suffered great losses, and quite frankly, just simply need assistance."

Owens fears people will move away unless they get the help they need in re-establishing homes and businesses.

"We have a great quality of life, but we do need the jobs and the housing and so forth here to keep these people in our area," she said.