U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio are calling on Senate leaders to include additional funding in a $7.85 billion disaster aid package the House passed Wednesday for Hurricane Harvey to “account for the additional costs FEMA will likely incur responding to Hurricane Irma.”
“Hurricane Irma is now one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and is currently on track to make landfall in South Florida as early as Sunday,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter Wednesday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Charles Schumer. “This massive category-5 storm has the potential to cause catastrophic destruction throughout the state and we are deeply concerned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will not have the resources it needs to respond if Congress doesn’t act soon.”