Thursday, October 01, 2009

Homeland-Security Waste Part 1   [Veronique de Rugy]

Matt Mayer of the Heritage Foundation just released a very interesting study showing how FEMA has effectively federalized disaster responses across America. His study, "States: Stop Subsidizing FEMA Waste and Manage Your Own Local Disasters," has some interesting charts showing the growth of federal disaster declarations since 1993. For instance, he writes:

As Chart 1 shows, beginning in 1993, the federal government played an ever-increasing role in natural disasters across America. In the short span of 16 years, the yearly average of FEMA declarations tripled from 43 under President George H. W. Bush, to 89 under President Clinton, to 130 under President George W. Bush. With President Barack Obama's current pace of 139 declarations this year — the fifth-highest in FEMA history — despite the absence of any hurricanes or other major disasters, it appears the march toward a de facto national emergency management agency is inevitable. (NEMA — the existing National Emergency Management Association will have to change its name.)

Check out the entire study here and find out the consequences of this trend, who loses and who wins, and what would be a better way to deal with disaster reflief.

10/01 12:22 PMShare