The 2011 hurricane season ends today. Other than Hurricane Irene, which was nearly just a tropical storm when it hit land, no hurricanes hit the United States in 2011. Of the 455 FEMA declarations issued by the Obama Administration, only Hurricanes Irene and Alex (August 2010) have qualified for Major Disaster Declarations, FEMA’s highest disaster declaration. That is great for America. The problem is that, despite the rare appearance of hurricanes and only three declarations for earthquakes—yes, the weak tremor that hit Virginia and Washington, D.C., in September earned two …
Heritage’s Jim Carafano appeared on CBS’s “Early Show” to discuss the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) wanting a blank check. FEMA says it has too little money in the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) due to its federalizing a record number of natural disasters this year. (Watch the video here.) As Carafano notes, FEMA needs to save its resources—funding especially—for truly catastrophic events, and get out of the business of bailing out states for natural disasters that occur with fairly predictable regularity. This issue of federalization of disasters is vividly illustrated …
Liberals are busy trying to drum up controversy over Representative Eric Cantor’s (R–VA) calls for spending cuts in exchange for more aid to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Cantor is spot on, and we are thrilled to see someone finally trying to curb FEMA’s growth. Hurricane Irene provides Cantor with the ideal case for his positions. Despite the mass media’s hysterical fear-mongering over Hurricane Irene, the hurricane weakened as it got closer and closer to land. By the time it hit North Carolina, the eye had largely disintegrated and …
On August 8, President Barack Obama’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a disaster declaration for flooding in Utah. With that declaration, FEMA hit 158 declarations in 2011 and in so doing surpassed the 15-year record of 157 declarations, set in 1996 by President Bill Clinton’s FEMA, led by James Lee Witt. At this pace, FEMA will end the year with roughly 288 declarations, or almost twice the previous record. When FEMA issues a declaration, costs shift from the state where the declaration occurred to the federal government—which really means …
It is heartbreaking to see the destroyed homes, scattered possessions, and lives shattered by recent tornadoes in Alabama, Missouri and elsewhere. Many have lost loved ones and businesses while large parts of communities have been tragically leveled. Yet creating a new federal program would not be a worthy response to the plight of those affected by the twisters. However, the Obama Administration—known for, in the words of former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, not letting “a good crisis go to waste”—wants to use the recent disaster to grow …
Critics of state and local government action on immigration fail to keep in mind one simple but critical point: The states have these rights. It is preposterous to take the position that, short of federal action or the commission of a crime, governors and mayors are constitutionally powerless to deal with illegal immigrants within their states and cities. The argument that state and local governments must incur enormous fiscal and societal costs, asserting that all aspects of immigration (legal or illegal) are entirely the purview of the federal government, is …
In President Barack Obama’s first two years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) averaged 108 disaster declarations per year. In less than six months, FEMA already has issued 100 declarations in 2011. The record year remains 1996, when President Bill Clinton issued 157 declarations. If FEMA maintains this pace for the rest of the year, it will exceed 200 declarations and push President Obama’s yearly average to 139 per year. This figure would continue the trend started by President George H. W. Bush of presidential Administrations exceeding the previous Administration’s …
It appears that Georgia Governor Nathan Deal will sign legislation passed by the Georgia House and Senate that adopts the Arizona SB 1070 framework for controlling illegal immigration. With the influx of 425,000 illegal immigrants into Georgia over the last two decades, this two-pronged legislation will help curb that flow. The two elements of the Georgia legislation involve permitting law enforcement to check the legal status of individuals they stop and requiring the use of the E-Verify system for businesses with more than 10 employees. Unlike Arizona’s SB 1070 “reasonable …
As I wrote in April 2009 and in July 2010, “The Obama Administration’s worksite audit policy is resulting in illegal immigrants simply moving to different jobs elsewhere in America.” In today’s Wall Street Journal, that outcome is confirmed in spades. The story details what happened to the roughly 1,200 illegal immigrants terminated in Minnesota after a worksite audit occurred at two companies, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Harvard Maintenance. A representative of the union that covered most of the workers noted that “most workers stayed in the area and began hustling …
With the recent devastation in Japan, the paragon of earthquake preparedness, Americans are rightfully questioning the readiness of the United States to handle a large-scale national disaster. In spite of the supposed progress the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has made since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there is wide spread doubt that FEMA could respond effectively and efficiently to a crisis of Japan-like magnitude. In a recent report, Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard L. Skinner echoes The Heritage Foundation in his assessment of FEMA’s ability to handle to …
