mr. craig fugate, and especially on your work with hurricane sandy in particular. >> thank you. mr. te, i thank you for appearing before the committee today. i was informed yesterday that those of the state of maryland were denied some assistance. some of the poorest counties in maryland, these individuals are really going to have a difficulty rebuilding. can you explain the specific things that were lacking? >> along a line of trouble, it never addresses the individual tomahawk construction. we will do the availability of other programs such as small business administration disaster loans and, again, the state's ability to redirect grant walks to some of these issues. our hearts go out to those people. it is based upon the impact is the state of all. the president and concurrent at this point the information does not support a disaster declaration. it is not uncommon that in the same storm system, states may find different outcomes, whether it is tornadoes or floods or storms, but it is always based upon our best estimate of the information the state provides against the available p

mr. fugate, thank you for your words. i'm very impressed listening to the senators who have seen in tremendous thing happening to their citizens and we need to stand up and help them house will. we need to learn it from this and get it right. listening to your response on community block grant development, and now we have worked to make that more flexible. i think there have been some proposals of their about making it so, but i would like to go back and ask what issues you have seen in particular that says to you that is what we need to change? >> a number of the thing is have to do with simply the fact? it was envisioned as a block grant for regular course of business, housing, infrastructure, and other community needs. the types of things that we have run into, depending on the nature of the disaster, the incumbent targeting requirements have been an issue at times. there is a broad range of community that have been hit. if we are doing awards to a locality that was hit hard that just happens to be an a higher- income

mr. fugate and you, secretary. and i appreciate your -- [inaudible] it's not only how are we going check the box, and how can we think outside the phlox do two things. one, help people get eligible for assistance and get through the hard time. and then also, you talked secretary have been looking at our county in terms of new opportunities for economic involvement in the restoration of -- [inaudible] that you comment on the . >> yes, senator. there's a joke in staff. i went to town creek elementary school when my dad was station there had. >> right. i think they still talk about you. >> yeah, probably. i grew up as a kid on the river there. i know exactly what you are talking about when the river community people make their living oystering and crabbing. the tourism. these are blue collar community. because you live near the water it's not a sign it's wealthy. our commitment, again, i sometimes struggle when we say no. it's never easy but it doesn't mean we're not going work with the governor and see what we can do

mr. fugate comes. the president said he'll cut the rates and we want him to do it and we want to do a supplemental that will also include maryland. >> thank you, senator mikulski for your passionate and effective advocacy for your constituents. we're going to go into seniority order which is the custom of the senate, i think the most senior senator would be senator schumer. i mean, senator lieberman. >> thank you, i appreciate it. thank you for holding this hearing and giving those of us who represent states and people hard hit by hurricane sandy a chance to describe our states' needs in the supplemental proshe appropriations bill considered now bush appropriations bill considered now by the committee. i want to say that honestly, i can't think of a better person to lead this effort than you. obviously, you have been schooled, unfortunately, in the pain of being hit by hurricane katrina and -- but beyond that, and that understanding and empathy you bring, you've really become the leader in the senate o

mr. fugate as visited to see firsthand to see the damage and secretary donald been has been in contact numeroustimes the federal government has responded promptly to the crisis and we're grateful to them. the storms have created a new normal. this was the fourth in 19 months. the cost is cumulative. we strongly urge we are a included in the supplemental that did not happen the last time but we urge connecticut be made eligible but long term, the mantra has to be in bus now or pay later. these investments to work has shown by the 17-foot high barrier to block the 11-foot storm surge and it saved 25 billion estimated dollars the place had to be operated manually where it is pumped and investment of 1 million saved 25 million. the numbers tell a story of the sea wall, dunes, retreat meant plants come infrastructure, upgrades, re placement of power lines, micro grids. we know what works. and what we have to do and we will have an extraordinary dividend going forward say being in the billions of dollars. i will conclude by addressing a question i am asked often. will fiscal austerity, the fiscal cli

mr. craig fugate eight. abel testified in response and recovery of the storm, and this time, they will be in front of the senate appropriations committee. that hearing is live on wednesday at 10:00 a.m. eastern, also on c-span3. >> c-span, created by america's cable company since 1979 come across you as a public service by your television provider. >> next we have a press release with jay carney. he said u.s. officials are closely monitoring the situation. he also talked about the fiscal cliff negotiations and peace in the middle east. >> is everyone okay with that? [inaudible conversations] [laughter] we are talking about what extent a middle-class tax breaks for me to middle-class families. today at 2:00 p.m., people can ask the president questions on twitter with the hash tag my 2k. after that, this come in this afternoon from the president has a bilateral meeting with the prime minister of bulgaria and this is an important relationship with bulgaria. the president will deliver a speech about 4:00 p.m. co

mr. fugate, the administrator from fema -- and, wow, didn't he do a great job? -- and the creativity of shaun donovan at h.u.d. we all felt we were in it together. and i want to thank them for their work. what does that mean? just in sommerset county alone, 619 people have applied for individual assistance. they were eligible for about a million dollars. when we're talking about all of this money, a million might not mean like a lot in the federal budget but it sure meant a lot in the sommerset county family budget. i'm proud of what i did working with you to help do this and i really am proud of what our colleagues have done to really come to work on this legislation. we have outstanding subcommittee chairs in this, and i'll talk about this into wrap-up. but they did a great job. under president obama's leadership, the executive branch functioned in a primetime way. now it's up to us to function in a primetime way and to move this bill. the supplemental package provides well-tailored resources. yes, $11.5 billion for fema disaster relief, $300 million for commu