Officials have finally changed federal policies allowing churches to apply retroactively for disaster aid funds, almost four months after President Donald Trump suggested that they should be able to do so.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday that it would remove language from its rules preventing religious institutions from applying for aid available to other non-profit groups after several lawsuits were filed challenging FEMA’s limits.
“Private nonprofit houses of worship will not be singled out for disfavored treatment within the community centers subcategory of [Public Assistance] nonprofit applicants,” FEMA Recovery Directorate Assistant Administrator Alex Amparo wrote in a new manual.
President Trump said last September that churches were being treated unfairly by FEMA, Politico reports.
“Churches in Texas should be entitled to reimbursement from FEMA Relief Funds for helping victims of Hurricane Harvey (just like others),” Trump’s tweet from back then read.
Amparo said the recent policy change was driven by a Supreme Court decision finding that the State of Missouri violated the Constitution when it excluded the Trinity Lutheran Church day-care center in Missouri from receiving state funds for playground resurfacing.
“In light of the Trinity Lutheran decision, FEMA has considered its guidance on private nonprofit facility eligibility and determined that it will revise its interpretation of the aforementioned statutory and regulatory authorities so as not to exclude houses of worship from eligibility for FEMA aid on the basis of the religious character or primarily religious use of the facility,” he said.
Three Texas churches sued the federal disaster relief agency in September over what they called its policy of refusing to provide disaster relief to houses of worship because of their religious status. The judge assigned to the case denied the three churches an injunction, arguing that the Trinity Lutheran decision did not mean FEMA was obligated to pay to repair structures used mainly for religious purposes.
However, FEMA’s latest move does not mean an end to the legal saga since several groups have argued that paying taxpayer funds to rebuild churches is unconstitutional.
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