RALEIGH – State lawmakers in a government oversight committee blasted the administration of Gov. Roy Cooper for the painfully slow, bordering on incompetent effort to distribute relief funds piling up in state coffers toward those affected by Hurricane Matthew two whole years ago.
“State lawmakers called out North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and his administration Wednesday for what they say has been a failure to distribute aid to North Carolinians.
“State law and regulations have not caused any delay. The same cannot be said however for the shocking incompetence on display from Governor Cooper’s failing effort to deliver federal aid to our residents,” said District 13 Senator Danny Britt, who represents Columbus County. “Hurricane Matthew and the resulting floods struck our communities 674 days ago today. Congress appropriated its first round of CBGDR funding 612 days ago. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development which oversees CGBDR funding informed the state of North Carolina about the rules it had to follow in dispersing the aid 573 days ago. Our question is simple. What has the governor been doing for 573 days?”
Senator Britt and District 13 Representative Brenden Jones requested the state senate hold an oversight hearing to look into “Governor Coopers failure to deliver aid to constituents.” “
At the committee lawmakers voted to form a subcommittee that would look into distribution of relief funds directly. Many lawmakers recounted still homeless constituents’ stories and drew attention to North Carolina’s poor administration of relieffunds compared to Virginia and South Carolina.
“”Folks, I still have a town without people. I still have vacant homes. I have broken families, and I have a broken town. All because of a lack of any interest in taking care of these folks,” he said.
Senator Britt also addressed the lag North Carolinians have seen in recovery compared to some just miles across the border in South Carolina.
“I’d like to add the same requirements the Federal government has placed on North Carolina to get those monies have been placed on South Carolina,” Britt said. “South Carolina has been moving farther ahead of North Carolina since day one and we continue to lag behind South Carolina in the re-building effort and that is because of how the money has been distributed in North Carolina verses South Carolina. There are no other excuses beyond that.””
The executive branch of state government is currently sitting on hundreds of millions in federal grant dollars and has for months failed to adequately explain or resolve the bottleneck in disaster relief distribution.
Cooper is from Eastern North Carolina. It is astounding that he has dropped the ball so much on this issue, especially in his home territory, when it is a core function of the branch he leads. Instead of finding expedient solutions that would also boost his general political approval around the region, he would apparently rather spend his time suing the legislature at every turn and catering to the Far Left agenda emanating from Chapel Hill and Asheville.
In response to the hearings, Cooper’s spokesman reportedly called Tuesday’s hearing a “sham” and an embarrassing waste of the legislature’s time.
Surely the people of Eastern North Carolina don’t think of it as a ‘waste of time,’ and the only ‘sham’ so far may be Cooper’s self-promotion as a ‘trusted leader’ North Carolinians can count on.
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