The Politics Of Disaster Aid Are Starting To Shift
“The ad hoc, blank check approach that we’ve had for the last few decades is not one that we think is working very well,” says Ray Lehmann, a senior fellow with R Street, a conservative think tank.
…R Street’s Lehmann says it might be better if the federal government offered assistance on a sliding scale to states and localities, based on what steps they had taken individually to prepare, such as tightening building codes or improving emergency communication between first responders.
“We’re trying to come up with a new approach that ties any aid to mitigation and smarter building in the future,” Lehmann says.
…”Lots of people like these ideas, in theory,” says R Street’s Lehmann. “The problem becomes, in the immediate wake of a disaster, the political will to stand strong can evaporate pretty quickly.”
