Houston Reps Urge Biden to Release FEMA Aid

Houston-area lawmakers are pressing President Joe Biden to approve a new round of federal disaster aid that would allow residents of 15 counties affected by Beryl to apply directly for financial assistance from the government.

Houston’s congressional delegation wrote to Biden on Friday asking him to expedite the process of releasing Federal Emergency Management Agency aid to thousands of people still without power days after Beryl.

“Many residents in and around the Houston area have been without power for days, with heat indexes exceeding 100 degrees each day,” said the letter, led by U.S. Rep. Randy Weber, R-Friendswood, and signed by 18 Texans, including every Houston-area Democrat and Republican. “They urgently need the resources FEMA can provide.”

The letter comes after acting Gov. Dan Patrick formally asked Biden on Thursday to approve individual aid for residents of the 15 counties hardest hit by the storm: Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto, Walker and Wharton.

Patrick wrote in his petition that damage assessments required by FEMA to release the funds indicate that many homes in those counties have sustained significant damage or been completely destroyed. The state has validated reports of 85 homes destroyed and 426 homes severely damaged, Patrick wrote.

Patrick’s letter also mentioned other serious problems in Beryl, including hundreds of thousands of homes experiencing power outages lasting days.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the president intends to approve the request. Biden said earlier this week that he was working to cut through the “red tape” to get aid to Texas, and that “we’ll stand with the people of Texas for as long as this lasts.”

The call for individual assistance comes as Biden and state Republican leaders are at odds over a major disaster declaration request the president approved earlier this week that freed up federal resources for initial “life-saving and life-sustaining” assistance, including debris removal and supplies, such as food and generators.

The president said in an exclusive interview with the Houston Chronicle Tuesday that he had to “track down” Patrick, who is serving as acting governor while Greg Abbott is on a business trip to Asia, to get the request, which Biden approved that day.

The governor must formally request federal aid and the president must approve it before FEMA can act. The state has submitted such requests much earlier during previous storms, including Hurricanes Ike, Harvey and Hanna.

Patrick and Abbott have both insisted there was no delay in getting the request to the White House and accused Biden of lying about his attempts to reach them. Patrick said Thursday that the president was trying to “turn FEMA into a political tool” in a post on the social media site X.

Starting Monday, state leaders and the Texas Division of Emergency Management asked residents affected by the storm to submit reports of home destruction and other damage through the Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool (iSTAT), an online survey that helps state officials quickly determine the extent of damage in the area.

“Many Texans have suffered property damage from Beryl. Reporting this information is critical to Texas’ ability to receive assistance from FEMA,” Abbott said on social media Monday.

After the May floods, Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said that typically, officials must prove that an event severely damaged or destroyed at least 800 uninsured homes for a county to be eligible for direct FEMA assistance.