(The Hill) As Congress moves to prepare another emergency funding bill to help people hit by Hurricane Michael, budget watchers are crying foul. The level of funding needed to cover disasters each year, they say, is largely predictable, but Congress only includes a fraction of that funding in its annual appropriations. The rest of the money provided nearly every year to pay for the nation’s natural disasters just adds to the
deficit, regardless of what promises or commitments the government has made to keep its spending down. “Disasters aren’t anomalies — they are unfortunately a sure thing, and they are getting more costly every year,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She says funding to pay for the disasters should be part of a regular budget process, or the nation will unsustainably add to its debt. READ MORE
