White House: ‘Extreme’ GOP shutdown will hamper 2,000 disaster recovery projects

The White House opened Thursday by again hammering House Republicans for “playing partisan games” ahead of the looming deadline to fund the government for the coming fiscal year.

White House officials distributed a fact sheet Thursday morning warning that a shutdown “would have damaging impacts” on the economy, “including delaying long-term disaster recovery and undermining preparedness in communities across the country.”

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“Their partisan approach stands in stark contrast to the Senate’s bipartisan progress towards keeping the government open and making a down payment on disaster relief funding,” the fact sheet reads. “An Extreme Republican Shutdown would leave the DRF underfunded — delaying nearly 2,000 long-term recovery projects in communities across the country.”

President Joe Biden submitted a supplemental funding request for the first quarter of the coming fiscal year, which included billions to replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund.

White House officials say that the GOP’s refusal to fulfill Biden’s funding request, coupled with a shutdown, would delay tornado recovery efforts in Tennessee and hurricane rebuilding projects in New Jersey and Florida.

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In total, the White House estimates that a government shutdown would delay nearly 2,000 disaster recovery projects across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

“The reason these disaster recovery and preparedness priorities are now at risk: extreme House Republicans’ relentless efforts to slash funding for vital programs rather than work in a bipartisan manner to keep the government open and address emergency needs for the American people,” Thursday’s fact sheet concluded. “House Republicans have turned their backs on the bipartisan budget deal that two-thirds of them voted for just a few months ago and instead proposed a continuing resolution (CR) that proposes devastating cuts to programs that millions of hardworking Americans count on.”