State House News Service: Warren, Cruz Team Up On Disaster Relief Bill

As a bill to attract more federal dollars to the Bay State moves to the governor, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is filing her own federal bill meant reform the way disaster relief is distributed to states -- changes she says could benefit Massachusetts as weather-related emergencies become more frequent.

Sens. Warren, Ted Cruz of Texas and Congressmen Brian Babin of Texas and John Garamendi of California filed the bill Thursday to amend the law that dictates that the federal government can provide funding to communities recovering from major disasters.

Currently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency distributes dollars to states that reach a certain threshold of need. FEMA intervened in New York and Vermont last summer after severe flooding across the Northeast, and though there was significant damage in parts of western Massachusetts that qualified for some federal help, most of those towns didn't access the same FEMA grants as parts of other states that hit damage thresholds.

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Read the full story here.

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