WASHINGTON – Congressman Robert Pittenger (NC-09) released the following statement after WBTV’s Nick Ochsner reported that Governor Roy Cooper’s Office of Emergency Management has not spent any of the $236 million in Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grants appropriated to North Carolina last fall for Hurricane Matthew recovery efforts.
“These revelations are shocking and infuriating, but much more so for the many Bladen, Robeson and Cumberland families still in desperate need of help and assistance. Hurricane Matthew recovery efforts have been a top priority of mine since I-95 was underwater,” said Congressman Pittenger. “We appropriated almost $200 million in additional disaster relief last December, and I led a successful effort to secure $125 million more in February. Meanwhile, Governor Cooper attempted to play politics with hurricane funding last fall. Homes in South Carolina have already been rebuilt . The money is available. He needs to focus on getting North Carolina families back in their homes.”
Of the $236 million referenced in the WBTV report:
- Congressman Pittenger helped secure $198.5 million in HUD recovery funds for North Carolina in December 2016. This money was released to the North Carolina Department of Emergency Management in August 2017, but has not yet been distributed to affected counties.
- An additional $6.1 million in HUD funding was approved in May 2017.
- Congressman Pittenger helped secure a further $32 million in July 2017 following conversations with HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson.
Congressman Pittenger successfully led a bipartisan, bicameral effort to secure $125 million in additional Hurricane Matthew relief funding in the Bipartisan Budget Act, which was passed in Congress on February 9th, 2018.To date, Congressman Pittenger has helped secure over $1.4 billion in federal funding for recovery efforts. Much of that money is released to the State of North Carolina, which is then responsible for distributing it to affected counties and municipalities.
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