Federal Assistance is Uncertain

Dealing with 2 winter storms in the past week has caused municipalities and counties to rack up expenses for lots of overtime and contracting of private equipment. That doesn't include any damages to public infrastructure and buildings from the storms. However, Congressman Tim Murphy of Allegheny County says a change in FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) rules in November might block local governments from getting any federal disaster assistance because the snow did not fall all at once and the clean up costs were spread over several days. Murphy says he and members of Congress from other states blanketed by the snow are hoping to convince FEMA that while there were 2 storms, it was one incident because communities were still digging out from the weekend storm when the snow began again on Tuesday.
Murphy says the storm-related costs are hitting smaller communities particularly hard...
"Just to go out and hire someone to use a front end loader or a plow to do a road is a much larger percentage of an expense than it is for a city, particularly rural communities where they have long stretches of road where unless they were cleared, people were in absolute isolation for several days."
Murphy says that if FEMA doesn't provide assistance, the president could declare a "disaster" and he wishes that the president "would just do that."
Murphy says the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency is working with local governments to keep good records of expenses to submit to FEMA.

Bill to Aid Those in Kids' Health Insurance Crunch

Two Pennsylvania Congressmen have joined together in a bill that will help families ailing during the economic crisis with supplying health care for their children more effectively. It's called the Children's Health Insurance Accessibility Act, and it would eliminate the waiting period to join CHIP low-income health insurance. Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy says a family should never have to make a choice between paying utilities or providing health insurance for their children, and out-of-pocket medical expense would be no more than 10 percent of the parents' current income. Republican Congressman Tim Murphy says the bill will help those affected by a job loss. Rachel Klein, health policy Deputy Director of Families USA, says states implemented waiting periods in order to prevent users from dropping CHIP to go to a private provider.

Congressmen respond to State of the Union

U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy says he liked that President Obama began his State of the Union address in an optimistic tone, since focusing on the economic turmoil will only hold us back from getting past it. However, in order to move on, he says small businesses should be given a chance and not have their taxes increase.

U.S. Congressman Jason Altmire agrees with Obama's optimism. He says that despite the nation's current challenges, America's best days still lie ahead.

Murphy's other primary concern is about reforming the health care system. He says billions of dollars are wasted every year on having an inefficient program. The doctor and the patient are the most important, not the government getting in the midst of it.

In addition to health care, Altmire says the country's energy independence and its education system are other key issues that he looks forward to reforming with the president as well as colleagues from Republican and Democratic parties.