By Kevin Diaz, April 18, 2018 | READ ONLINE WASHINGTON – One of the lessons Houstonians learned from Hurricane Harvey last August was that urban flooding often happens outside recognized floodplains. Congress, awakened by the torrent of floods and hurricanes in 2017, is now looking at legislation that would update local flood maps and help the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) manage future floods. The bipartisan Flood Mapping Modernization and Homeowner Empowerment Pilot Program Act of...
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Washington D.C. - Representative John Culberson (TX-07) released the following statement today after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the allocation of over $5.035 billion in Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) to Texas for housing, infrastructure, and businesses impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Of this funding, $652 million is for remaining unmet disaster-related needs and $4.383 billion is for mitigation to prepare for future stor...
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Washington D.C. - Today Representative Culberson (TX-07) released the following statement after the House passed H.R. 1625 (115), the omnibus appropriations bill: “The FY18 omnibus makes critical investments to the safety, security and prosperity of our nation. While this bill is by no means perfect, it includes many critical conservative priorities and fulfills Congress’s most vital responsibility to provide for the common defense. This funding bill provides the largest increase in defense spen...
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By Rebecca Elliot | Originally Published in the Houston Chronicle Five Houston-area congressmen are urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency to accept Houston's idea of using volunteer hours as an alternate way to pay the city's required local match for federal disaster grants. The letter sent Tuesday to FEMA Administrator Brock Long is signed by U.S. Reps. John Culberson (R-Houston), Brian Babin (R-Woodville), Pete Olson (R-Sugar Land), Gene Green (D-Houston) and Al Green (D-Houston). "We...
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Washington D.C. - Representative John Culberson (TX-07) today led a Houston delegation letter to FEMA Administrator Brock Long to express strong support for the City of Houston’s proposal to utilize volunteer hours as a local match for FEMA funding for Hurricane Harvey recovery across all categories of disaster assistance. The City of Houston’s plan proposes an expansion of FEMA rules to allow volunteer efforts to be counted toward the local match requirement for reconstruction efforts to repair...
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Washington D.C. - Representative John Culberson (TX-07) released the following statement today after the City of Houston announced winning a $9.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to improve 40 flood-prone traffic intersections with new technology that alerts drivers when high water is present. Rep. Culberson previously sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Cho to express strong support for the City of Houston’s 2017 application for the TIGER (Transporta...
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By Lise Olsen | February 23, 2018 | READ ONLINE Rep. John Culberson called on the U.S. Justice Department Friday to investigate whether the Army Corps of Engineers violated civil or criminal laws by failing to alert the public to its own forecasts showing that Hurricane Harvey could cause the Corps' two West Houston reservoirs to flood suburban neighborhoods. "If it is accurate that (the Corps) knew in advance of this threat to lives and property yet failed to adequately warn, I believe those re...
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By Kevin Diaz | February 15, 2018 | READ ONLINE WASHINGTON – Houston and the Gulf region came out well with an $89.3 billion disaster relief package signed earlier this month by President Donald Trump, but a group of Texas lawmakers warned Thursday that there is still work to be done to recover from Hurricane Harvey and prepare for future floods. "This legislation addresses all of the concerns that we have now," said Houston Democrat Al Green. "Whether it will totally, completely and absolutely ...
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By Mario Diaz, Reporter | Watch online KRPC 2 | February 14, 2018 HOUSTON - Philip Whitaker retired on a Friday in 2015. His home in Meyerland flooded that weekend. His life has been pretty much underwater ever since, “For the last three years I've done nothing in my retirement but deal with floods." Whitaker recently met with Channel 2 Investigates in what is the shell of his home, "We took a hit, we took a big hit, between the three floods. It cost us a lot of money." It's not only taxing thos...
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By Fox 26 Houston | February 13, 2018 | Click here or on the image below to watch the video HOUSTON (FOX 26) - A massive budget package signed by President Donald Trump to fund the government through March 23 also included $89.3 billion in disaster relief. FOX 26 News Reporter Greg Groogan talks with Representative John Culberson about what the funds mean for recovery and rebuilding, as well as preventing future disasters, in Texas and the Houston area.
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