Strange bedfellow seek major changes in disaster funding
The framework also calls for voluntary national standards for infrastructure resilience and guidelines for land use. Those aspects of the plan stand to face political hurdles, amid likely criticism that they could reduce economic development. The plan does not promote minimal federal building standards for homes, which might help unify the nation’s wide range of local standards but might also alarm conservative groups.
“But it is perfectly consistent with small-government principles to say that states that want to enjoy a greater amount of federal funding post-disaster should have to show that they’re willing to do the right things beforehand with mitigation and proper planning,” said R.J. Lehmann, a senior fellow with the R Street Institute, a conservative group and a member of the SmarterSafer coalition.“The federal government should not be incentivizing people to build in areas that are environmentally sensitive, and this approach, we think, offers an alternative that would end those incentives.”
