A congressional panel is set to review the Texas General Land Office’s denial of federal flood mitigation funding to Houston and Harris County, the latest in an ongoing spat over more than $1 billion in aid approved by Congress and doled out by the state.
The Democrat-led House Financial Services Committee wants Land Commissioner George P. Bush to testify about the decision during a hearing next week, said U.S. Rep. Al Green, a Houston Democrat who chairs the panel’s oversight and investigations subcommittee. It’s unclear yet if Bush will appear at the July 15 hearing.
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Green said he wants Bush to explain the initial denial, as well as why it has taken so long to get the federal funding out. The funding is part of a relief package that Congress approved in 2018 after Hurricane Harvey.
“This is pretty serious, when you look at the time that has lapsed … then not to have the money spent on people who are still suffering and waiting to have the relief and the money is in the hands of GLO,” Green said. “I think GLO should explain.”
These are all good questions, and we deserve to hear answers to them. We should also recognize that in the tradition of the Trump administration, there’s a decent chance that Bush just blows this off. If that happens, then Congress needs to do the stand-up thing and subpoena him, and hold him in contempt if he continues to defy them. Do not wimp out on this. Either there’s accountability or there isn’t, and enforcement is a key part of that. If he’s not there willingly, make him be there, or else.
I think that I’ve answered these questions, and I am trying to schedule a time to talk to Al Green and explain it to him. Mr. Green somehow got into law school without an undergraduate degree, but he can’t figure this one out.
The facts are that HUD approved the GLO plan for distributing the funding. The City of Houston had an application that didn’t score high enough for funding. The application process may indeed have been more difficult for more populous areas, but my take on it is that the funding is prioritizing lower population communities that have less tax revenue. This isn’t slush money; it is for a specific purpose. It isn’t supposed to take care of all your needs. You should use your tax revenues. There is your answer. I am not sure what more you want to know.
It is further worth noting that City of Houston is not a good steward of HUD money. The agency convicted the mayor and the city of promoting segregation. Also, the city doesn’t do a good job of preventing flooding. It sits back and lets the developers run wild. I have asked the mayor and my city councilman, Mrs. Kamin, to ride their bicycles with me on my commute for one week. If they survive, they could perhaps learn a thing or two about the city and its streets, rather than rolling around in their privilege-mobiles, largely fueled by rage and privilege, rather than gasoline. Every time it rains, the streets flood near all of the new construction that’s ongoing: Dunlavy at W. Dallas, Clay Street right off Dunlavy, Patterson at I-10–the city just lets this building go on and flood the streets, then it cries because it didn’t get federal money.
PS: the Chronicle had reported that applications that scored lower than Houston were funded. I contacted the reporter who wrote this and asked for the information from the FOIA request that showed this information, but no response.
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