It has told churches (an other religious organizations) that they may be eligible, so that they should apply. They may be eligible if they have some non-sectarian purposes (homeless shelter, soup kitchen). Not sure what today's vote is about.

to make sure it is without religious qualifications and no fucking handing out propaganda with it.

Suppose for a moment that a church took out flood insurance. Maybe they're located in a floodplain and it's mandatory or maybe they just wanted to have flood insurance just in case. NFIP funds are paid by FEMA, as I understand it, so wouldn't a church with a valid claim of flood damage be entitled to get those damages settled?

Just thinking out loud here, but this might be a case of just fixing some otherwise relatively minor problem in a law or something like that.



But, again, I don't know anything about the legislation at hand, so this is just spitballing.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr592/text

Track Gov gives it a low chance of passing. It doesn't seem that controversial, except that it is specifically applicable to churches, who have as their primary purpose worship.

According to the Republican Survey - "Unlike previous disasters, Congress did not clarify that religious nonprofits, including houses of worship, are eligible to receive disaster funding when providing aid for victims and communities impacted by Hurricane Sandy. As a result, the Administration is interpreting current law to preclude houses of worship from being eligible for funding on the same terms as similarly impacted nonprofits. H.R. 592 clarifies that houses of worship are eligible. "

I don't know much more than that - as I said, it seems non-controversial to me, except the bit about Obama basically shutting Church's out. I suspect reality is a bit more nuanced then that.

Bryant

Let me have a read