FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 3, 2018
Henry McMaster Denounced for Inhumane Veto Blocking Millions in Local Disaster Relief
“These folks got left out in the cold”
Columbia, SC – Every Republican and Democrat in the South Carolina State House just voted to override Governor Henry McMaster’s inhumane veto blocking millions of dollars in local disaster relief.
Henry McMaster vetoed a clause he himself had pushed for because it provided some grant money to nonprofits to renovate the more than 50,000 homes that were flooded out by Hurricane Joaquin in 2015. This money was specifically intended for poor communities who couldn’t get government help – and volunteers from church groups and Habitat for Humanity were willing to step up but didn’t have the money for supplies.
“These folks got left out in the cold. It’s not to pay for labor. It’s to pay for materials,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Brian White, R-06 (Anderson).
Local governments from Aiken to Folly Beach are still trying to recover the millions of dollars in costs from the 2014 ice storm and Hurricane Irma. The state budget included a clause directing the state Emergency Management Division to give leftover federal money to local governments so they can pay off the costs from the two federally-declared natural disasters. Aiken County lobbied the legislature to reject the Governor’s irresponsible veto so local governments can be “made whole” again.
The Governor is out of touch with South Carolina. As usual.
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