Immeasurable Travesty. Trump blocking FEMA funeral assistance for CV victims

[Laura PourMeADrink]

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/05/02/fema-m02.html

Demonstrating that there is no expense the criminal oligarchy will not foist onto the back of the working class, President Donald Trump has barred the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from using any of the $45 billion Congress appropriated to the agency through the CARES Act to help families and relatives pay for funerals costs incurred due to COVID-19.

While an ocean of new funds have been made available to the agency, an April 28 White House memorandum directed to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Administrator of FEMA, sharply curtailed how the funds could be appropriated. Language within the memo prohibits “individual assistance,” that is funds provided to the states and then distributed to individuals through FEMA assistance programs, except for “crisis counseling services.”

From FEMA website:

https://www.fema.gov/disaster-funeral-assistance

FEMA Funeral Assistance is provided to help with the cost of unexpected and uninsured expenses associated with the death of an immediate family member when attributed to an event that is declared to be a major disaster or emergency

.

[jimfields33]

1. Never even knew they provided this.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

2. Evidently up to a president how much gets released

In previous “disaster” situations such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy in 2005 and 2012 respectively, FEMA, at the direction of the president, had provided meager assistance to help defray the costs of funerals. A September 2019 report from the Government Accountability Office revealed that the agency paid out approximately $2.6 million in funeral costs for just under 1,000 applicants for three 2017 hurricanes—Harvey, Irma and Maria—paying out roughly $2,700 per applicant.

[tanyev]

3. How about stacking up the body bags in front of the White House?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

4. We gotta do something. AOC introduced bill 5 days ago

To release funds. Hope it has bipartisan support. Trying to write people now. My Dad's simple graveside service will be $10,500.

I never knew that a president could just play with funding like this. It's sickening.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

8. Mar-a-Lago has some green grass. Should make a fine cemetary.

[Tanuki]

10. That is a great idea, and would follow the precedent of Robert E. Lee's

Arlington estate being forfeited and used as a cenetery.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. That rotted old man has a lot of blood and grief on his hands.

[crickets]

5. There is no low bar for this administration.

If there's anything they can do to make a situation worse, they'll find it and do it. Ugh.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Yet our Dems need to band together and stop him in some way.

Not dissing...it's just there are some things SO important if they can do something...scream it from rooftops work every last rep and senator

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. Kick..only because this is important to 90k families

[Laura PourMeADrink]

9. Again. This is an unadulterated travesty.