(Houston, TX) – Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher’s (TX-07) issued the following statement after Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) objected to the passage of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, which was agreed to in the Senate and set to be signed by the president:

“I am disappointed that a member of the Texas delegation has further delayed desperately needed funds for communities across Texas, including my own. Since I arrived in Congress, I have worked closely with my colleagues in a bipartisan way to make sure that we get Harvey relief funding as quickly as possible,” Congresswoman Fletcher said. “This delay—at the start of hurricane season, no less—is an affront. Blocking this bill is nothing more than partisan gamesmanship—the very thing my constituents have told me they want to end in Washington. Here, the House has already passed a substantively similar relief bill to help the many Americans who have been waiting to rebuild and need to prepare for future storms.”

The Senate version of the Supplemental Appropriations Act included language from Congresswoman Fletcher’s bipartisan legislation to require the release of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program (CDBG-DR) funds for mitigation projects in Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and Puerto Rico be published in the Federal Register.

In 2018, Congress appropriated $28 billion in CDBG-DR funds to rebuild after disasters and mitigate against future storms. $4.383 billion of those funds were allocated to Texas. More than a year later, Texas does not have the funds Congress appropriated because HUD has not published the rules governing their use in the Federal Register. Fletcher’s bipartisan amendment sets a time frame for publication to ensure that the rules are promulgated quickly and CDBG-DR funds can reach those they are intended to help as soon as possible.