Lawmakers vow action after Ida floods Gulf Coast, Northeast

WASHINGTON – Shaken by haunting images of surging rivers, flooded roads and subways and different harm caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, lawmakers from some parties are vowing to upgrade the nation's aging infrastructure network.

As the deadly tempest moved from the Gulf Coast done the Northeast, members of Congress said the deluge offered irrefutable grounds that powerfulness lines, roads, bridges and different infrastructure are deteriorating adjacent arsenic storms and different utmost upwind are strengthening. At slightest 50 radical from Virginia to Connecticut died arsenic tempest h2o from Ida's remnants cascaded into people’s homes and engulfed automobiles, overwhelming municipality drainage systems incapable to grip truthful overmuch rainfall successful specified a abbreviated time.

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At slightest 16 deaths deaths were blamed connected the tempest successful Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

“Global warming is upon us," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “When you get 2 grounds rainfalls successful a week (in New York City), it’s not conscionable coincidence. When you get each the changes that we person seen successful weather, that’s not a coincidence. ... It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, unless we bash thing astir it."

Schumer and different lawmakers said the catastrophe is the latest illustration of wherefore the federation needs the astir trillion-dollar infrastructure measure passed by the Senate past month. He and different Democrats besides are calling for transition of President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion, partisan rebuilding plan aimed astatine helping families and combating clime change.

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“It’s truthful imperative to walk the 2 bills," Schumer said.

Democrats anticipation to walk some bills by the extremity of this month, but enactment connected the bipartisan measure whitethorn beryllium hard until the larger bundle is ready. Progressives person said they won’t enactment a bipartisan measure without beardown companion authorities to beforehand their priorities.

Biden made a transportation Friday for the bipartisan bill, saying it “is going to alteration things connected our streets crossed the country." He cited the bill's “historic investment" successful roads, obstruction and bridges, arsenic good arsenic cleanable energy, cleanable h2o and cosmopolitan broadband.

“It’s astir resilience," Biden said. “Make our roads and highways safer. Make america much resilient to the kinds of devastating impacts from utmost upwind we’re seeing successful truthful galore parts of the country."

The program includes $110 cardinal to physique and repair roads and bridges and $66 cardinal to upgrade railroads. It besides includes astir $60 cardinal to upgrade the electrical grid and physique thousands of miles of transmission lines to grow usage of renewable vigor and astir $47 cardinal to accommodate and rebuild roads, ports and bridges to assistance withstand harm from stronger storms arsenic good arsenic wildfires and drought.

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“If we're going to marque our state much resilient to earthy disasters, immoderate they are, we person to commencement preparing now," said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.

Cassidy, a pb negotiator connected the bipartisan bill, has touted the infrastructure authorities arsenic a boon to hurricane-prone states specified arsenic his. “I’m definite hoping that Republicans look astir my state, spot this harm and say, ‘If there’s wealth for resiliency, wealth to harden the grid, wealth to assistance sewer and water, past possibly this is thing we should beryllium for,'" helium told CNN.

Ultimately, repair and replacement of roads, bridges and different infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Ida and different earthy disasters are apt to beryllium funded by Congress arsenic exigency alleviation money. But the bipartisan measure volition beryllium invaluable successful providing large investments successful “future-proofing” infrastructure against clime alteration and utmost upwind specified arsenic Ida, according to Jeff Davis, a elder chap astatine the Eno Center for Transportation, a Washington deliberation tank.

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The measure would beryllium the archetypal to give wealth for “climate resilience,” including $17 cardinal for the Army Corps of Engineers to code backlogs successful national flood power projects.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would person $492 cardinal to representation inland and coastal flooding, including “next-gen” modeling and forecasts. Another $492 cardinal would spell toward improving the resilience of coastal communities to flooding by restoring earthy ecosystems.

The authorities besides provides $3.5 cardinal for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assistance communities trim the hazard of flood harm and $8.7 cardinal for the Transportation Department to grant grants to states to amended resiliency successful ports and different coastal infrastructure.

“We person to commencement readying for what the aboriginal mightiness clasp and bash modeling that’s going to assistance america foretell what these aboriginal risks are going to be,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told “Fox News Sunday," calling the expanding frequence of terrible storms that intensify much rapidly “a caller normal" due to the fact that of clime change. “These threats aren’t going to spell away, and we request to commencement to trim those impacts.”

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The U.S. had 22 clime and upwind disasters successful 2020 with losses exceeding $1 cardinal each, with 8 specified disasters this twelvemonth arsenic of July 9, according to NOAA. Ida and its remnants volition apt outgo successful the tens of billions, analysts say.

Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., said a bipartisan infrastructure measure is needed, but the measure approved by the Senate could harm oil-producing states specified arsenic Louisiana by freezing retired benefits for states that promote fossil-fuel production.

The Democratic-only measure is adjacent worse, Graves said, calling it “a last nail successful the coffin” to the offshore lipid industry, which is already struggling due to the fact that of the pandemic and the hurricane.

“All this does is payment Iran," Graves said. “It benefits Russia. It benefits China.”

In an interview, Graves said helium would similar to usage exigency spending to assistance Louisiana and different states deed by the hurricane. That way, wealth “is tailored to the disaster” and based connected need, not ideology, helium said.

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But Ed Potosnak, enforcement manager of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, said exigency spending, and adjacent the bipartisan infrastructure bill, is not capable to code the menace of clime change.

“We person not taken the bold measures we request to support our families and our mode of beingness and our communities that we cherish," helium said.

Potosnak, whose cardinal New Jersey vicinity was flooded by Ida, said storms are expanding successful strength and frequency, with astatine slightest 7 “100-year storms” successful the past fewer decades.

“I anticipation this tempest is simply a reminder to each our elected officials: This is what clime alteration looks like,'' Potosnak said. “Congress needs to enactment to lucifer the situation we face.”

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