U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) wants the federal government to pay 100 percent of the cleanup costs from the Joplin tornado.
The federal government typically covers 75 percent of the costs of responding to disasters, with state and local governments picking up the rest. But Blunt says he has asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to pick up more than that in Joplin’s case.
"I think they’re going to get beyond their normal starting point which is 75-25. In Alabama they got to 90-10, at Tuscaloosa, and I would expect at least that to happen in Joplin," Blunt told reporters today.
Blunt also said that losses in Joplin could total close to $3 billion by the time all the assessments are finished. That may result in higher insurance rates for all Missourians.
"I think that generally there is a community rating for property damage and these tornadoes of this spring may very well be figured into that to some extent," Blunt said. "I don’t think they’ll have great impact because so much of the country can be affected by this kind of storms."
Governor Jay Nixon has signed an executive order temporarily prohibiting insurance companies from raising rates on Joplin area residents.