|
|
| |
| Sat, Nov. 22, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Arkansas receives Katrina job grant Wednesday, Sep 21, 2005 By Alison Vekshin Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Arkansas leaders said they were encouraged Tuesday when they learned the state would receive $3 million in federal job-creation money to help Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Still, the lawmakers said they would seek more funds, noting the grant was a fraction of the $30 million state officials requested from the Labor Department. "It's not sufficient, particularly under the circumstances now with more evacuees coming in from Texas," said Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark. As Hurricane Rita headed toward the Gulf Coast, some 4,000 Katrina evacuees began arriving at Fort Chaffee on Tuesday from the Houston area where officials were making room for additional evacuees. Arkansas applied for a $30 million grant on Sept. 6 to help 15,000 workers displaced by Katrina. However, last week, officials were told the Labor Department ran out of funds in the national emergency grant program because $191.1 million had been distributed to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. The grant money is aimed at helping hurricane victims secure temporary employment, job training, job-search help and financial counseling. "We're certainly grateful for anything we receive," Gov. Mike Huckabee said. "This does not preclude us from receiving or asking for additional funding toward the $30 million we initially requested." Huckabee said he might raise the issue with President Bush during his visit to the state on Saturday. Lincoln and Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., spoke Tuesday with Emily Stover DeRocco, assistant secretary at the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration. Lincoln suggested alternate sources of funding, including asking President Bush to transfer money to the Labor Department from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Pryor said DeRocco did not tell him why the state received the reduced amount. "She did assure me though that they were doing everything they could to find more money," Pryor said. Pryor said he was told the emergency grant program would be replenished on Oct. 1, the start of the next fiscal year. He urged DeRocco to put Arkansas at the top of the list of states to receive funds through the program. "We worked very hard to get the needed resources to the states that had applied and had been affected first," said Labor Department spokesman David James. "We are working to mobilize all of our resources to help additional states with the resources we've got," James said. Meanwhile, Reps. John Boozman, R-Rogers, Mike Ross, D-Prescott, Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, and Marion Berry, D-Gillett, urged the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee to add money to the fund in the next hurricane emergency spending bill. "Arkansas needs this funding in order to continue to help and adequately provide assistance to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina," the Arkansans wrote in a letter to Reps. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., and David Obey, D-Wis. Congress has approved $62 billion in emergency spending and is expected to consider additional hurricane aid. -- 30 -- |
