The Federal Emergency Management Agency is temporarily suspending some payments to rebuild roads, schools and other structures destroyed during spring tornadoes in Joplin, Mo., and Southern states and other recent natural disasters to pay for damage caused by Hurricane Irene. With initial damage assessments from the storm potentially in the tens of billions of dollars, the Obama administration will need to request supplemental funding from Congress, possibly provoking another fight over federal spending as a new congressional “supercommittee” prepares to identify trillions of dollars in government spending cuts. Read full article >>