Published
November 12, 2024
Today, the U.S. Chamber sent a coalition letter signed by over 270 state and local Chambers calling on Congress to immediately take up and pass a disaster supplemental that will replenish needed disaster response activities across the federal government.
Why it matters: These funds are critical especially for small businesses and main street communities impacted by the recent devastation of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which have caused between $100 and $200 billion in damage.[1] By some estimates 95% of the losses for Helene alone were uninsured.
In addition to immediate disaster funding, the letter also calls on Congress to include predisaster mitigation and resilience policies as elements of how agencies implement their programs and to help companies and communities prepare ahead of the next crises.
Examples include:
- Leveraging and increasing federal cost share and modernizing the benefit-cost-analysis for predisaster approaches.
- Including predisaster and contingency planning (especially for small businesses) as key programmatic priorities. Federal assistance should stipulate that predisaster mitigation should be incorporated.
- Directing resources where they are most needed by leveraging the Community Disaster Resilience Zones designations.
The Chamber’s full resilience policy priorities are here.
The U.S. Chamber, together with the Chamber Foundation and Allstate recently released the Preparedness Payoff, a report which states that for every $1 invested in predisaster mitigation and resilience projects and measures, there are $13 is overall savings. This means that planning ahead and adapting infrastructure to anticipated disaster risks (e.g., rerouting, hardening infrastructure, and nature-based solutions) can decrease losses due to disasters and reduce the impact on the economy, allowing communities to recover more quickly.
The big picture: Predisaster mitigation policies are commonsense, good government policies, that are good for everyday Americans.
Take action: We urge this Congress to take immediate action on these important issues and look forward to working with the incoming Congress and Administration on longer term initiatives.
[1] Hurricanes Helene and Milton may end up costing $50 billion - Fast Company
About the authors
Chuck Chaitovitz
Chuck Chaitovitz is vice president for environmental affairs and sustainability at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
