As Harvey continues to ravage Houston, there's a bit of good news amid the deluge: Congress looks likely to help out its victims without much fuss.
Providing relief to victims of natural disasters was once a fairly noncontroversial function of government. Every state recognized that it would need such help at some point. Petty politics were typically set aside in times of tragedy, and basic decency argued for helping those in need.
That broad consensus changed--or seemed to--after Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc along the East Coast in 2012, at the eventual cost of $75 billion. For months, Congress delayed an emergency relief measure, leaving victims in limbo. When the main aid package finally did come up for a vote, it passed amid fierce opposition from Republicans in unaffected states. They objected to spending in the bill that they considered wasteful or unrelated to the storm, including outlays for some preventative measures and aid for victims of previous disasters. Some insisted on commensurate cuts elsewhere in the budget--an unprecedented demand for such a bill.
Houston is already in dire shape, and the waters are still rising. In addition to the grim human toll, much of the city may need to be rebuilt. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reckons that 450,000 people may need help. Costs could eventually exceed $100 billion. Faced with a flood of such dimensions, squalid political bickering makes even less sense than it normally does.
The truth is that severe storms like Harvey are likely to become more common in the next few decades, and disasters of that magnitude can only be navigated with federal help.
Editorial on 08/30/2017