New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is demanding the federal government pick up the tab for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s COVID-19 related expenses in New York.
Under the current arrangement, the agency is only on the hook for 75% of the billions of dollars its projected to spend in the Empire State. New Yorker taxpayers would have to pick up the rest.
“I write today to urge you to provide 100 percent federal funding for any emergency work performed under New York’s March 13 Emergency Declaration or subsequent March 20 Major Disaster Declaration,” Schumer said in a letter to President Trump on Saturday. “This is not an unprecedented move, this waiver was granted after Superstorm Sandy and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.”
The missive was the second such communication Schumer sent to Trump insisting the feds pick up FEMA costs. The note also revealed the pair had spoken “multiple times” by phone over the issue in the last two weeks.
“As the COVID-19 pandemic has reached alarming new levels, our health care system is being strained to the max,” Schumer wrote. “Our economy is strained to the max. New York State, doctors and nurses, and all front line workers are putting their lives on the line every single day to fight this disease and save others.”
If the feds do waive the FEMA expenses, the state would save as much as $2 to $3 billion, Schumer’s office said.
Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro told The Post the president was well aware of the issue and looking into it, but was so far noncommittal.
Reps for the White House declined to comment.