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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26), member of the Economic Development, Public Buildings & Emergency Management Subcommittee of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, pressed a senior FEMA official on why South Florida and the Florida Keys have yet to receive significant portions of disaster relief funding almost two years after Hurricane Irma.

“Parts of my district got destroyed after Hurricane Irma,” said Mucarsel-Powell. “It’s going to be almost two years ago, but our community is strong, resilient, we helped each other out, and we got back up and running very quickly. But we’re not fully recovered – and it’s been almost two years. And it’s in large part, due to the lack of FEMA funding.”

Mucarsel-Powell cited three examples in South Florida where FEMA disaster recovery funds have yet to be released:

“Keys Energy is the public power utility for the Lower Florida Keys. After the storm, Keys Energy was supposed to receive $42 million from FEMA. As of today, FEMA has only provided $15.5 million to the Florida Department of Emergency Management, and of that, only $2.2 million has been paid out to Keys Energy. … Another example, the Florida Keys Electric Cooperative – a small utility at the top of the Keys – also suffered significant damage to their community by Irma, and their total FEMA bill is $19 million. To date, not one single dollar has been released from FEMA and reached the utility. Not one. This is unacceptable. Miami-Dade County as a whole has submitted reimbursement requests to FEMA to the tune of $299 million. However, to date, FEMA has only provided $1.5 million, out of the $299 million, and only $782,000 has reached Miami-Dade County. Which means that FEMA is sitting on roughly $297 million of the $299 million that the county needs. Can you please explain to us what is taking so long for FEMA to release the funds?”

For a full video of Mucarsel-Powell’s opening statement and her line of questioning, click here.

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