Gov. Bob McDonnell said Tuesday that federal disaster relief for stricken states and localities is a separate issue from the debate over the U.S. budget deficit.
Speaking in a monthly radio call-in show the day after Congress avoided a potential government shutdown over funding of disaster relief, McDonnell said the job of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is to financially assist stricken areas that qualify for the aid without regard to the larger budget debate.
"Let's first take care of the people," he said in response to a question from a caller to WTOP-FM 103.5 in Washington. "Then let's have the legitimate discussion about how to solve the fiscal health of America."
The governor staked a similar position in the same radio call-in show a month ago, after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-7th, said any new disaster-relief money for FEMA should be offset by corresponding cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.
"FEMA's got an obligation under their own regulations and the federal statutes, when certain thresholds are met they've got to provide the money," McDonnell said on WTOP on Aug. 30.
In other comments, McDonnell reiterated his plans for relieving transportation networks in Northern Virginia, which as part of the Washington area was ranked this week as the most traffic-clogged region in the country, ahead of Los Angeles and Chicago.
The governor said the state already has sold $600 million in bonds — part of an anticipated $4 billion over three years — to invest in transportation improvements and a new infrastructure bank created this year.
He also talked tolls, both on Interstate 95 near the North Carolina line and south of Fredericksburg, as well as plans for high-occupancy toll lanes on I-95 south of the Springfield mixing bowl where the interstate meets the Capital Beltway.
"Our job is to continue to find resources to put in there," he said.
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