Senate Democrats continue to block $100 million in ice storm aid — 90 days and counting

90 days after the Repub­li­can-con­trolled House passed dis­as­ter relief fund­ing for north­ern Michi­gan, the Demo­c­rat-con­trolled Sen­ate has tak­en no action and the peo­ple of north­ern Michi­gan con­tin­ue to suf­fer.

Via The Mid­west­ern­er:

It’s been 90 days since House Repub­li­cans approved $100 mil­lion in dis­as­ter relief fund­ing for Michi­gan­ders dev­as­tat­ed by severe ice storms in March, and still no move­ment in the Sen­ate.

“We got fed­er­al help before we got state help,” Rep. Park­er Fair­bairn, R‑Harbor Springs, told WWTV. “You’d think the more local and the more close to the impact, you’d see help com­ing from them – and we haven’t seen that help from the state.” […]

Law­mak­ers in the state House vot­ed 107–1 on May 7 to approve anoth­er $100 mil­lion in dis­as­ter relief grants to reim­burse local com­mu­ni­ties for emer­gency man­age­ment assis­tance, warm­ing cen­ters, emer­gency sup­plies, cleanup, and recov­ery efforts, ener­gy assis­tance, and repair or replace­ment of dam­aged pub­lic infra­struc­ture. […]

The leg­is­la­tion, House Bill 4328, was referred on May 13 to the Sen­ate Com­mit­tee on Appro­pri­a­tions, where it has lan­guished ever since…

Read the full sto­ry at The Mid­west­ern­er.