Kerry, Kennedy, Tsongas Urge Help for Fire Victims

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today Senators John
Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy and Representative Niki Tsongas urged the Bush
Administration to deliver timely disaster loan assistance to victims of the
recent fire in Lawrence, Massachusetts. At least 150 people were left
homeless after the blaze on Monday morning, which leveled most of a city
block.

"The families and businesses in Lawrence devastated by this fire need
help right away so that they can get back on their feet, and they need the
Small Business Administration to do its part," said Senator Kerry, Chairman
of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. "The community
will rebuild, and we will help them every step of the way, but we've got to
start by getting them the federal relief they need now."

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Senator Kerry has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation with Senator
Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) to improve the disaster loan programs for
homeowners and small businesses. The provisions, most recently passed by
the Senate in December as part of the Farm Bill, will establish a Private
Disaster Loan program to be used in the aftermath of catastrophic
disasters, create a new expedited disaster assistance business loan
program, create a new presidential declaration of "Catastrophic National
Disaster," provide key tools for processing disaster loan applications more
quickly, and increase the maximum size of a disaster loan from $1.5 million
to $2 million. Republican leadership has refused to appoint Senators to
negotiate differences between the House and Senate passed bills.

More here

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1. For those not from around here, this was a really devastating fire

A total of 16 buildings were destroyed, with dozens of families were left homeless. They've lost everything, and have nowhere to live in the middle of winter. Most of the buildings were multifamily houses or apartment buildings, some with small businesses on the first floor. Lawrence is a city with a lot of low-income immigrants, many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck.