Disaster reports by CRS

Congressional Research reports on national disasters the last 5 years (through Obama's second term) via beSpacific Research.

• Hurricane Harvey and Army Corps: Background for Flood Response and Recovery, CRS Insight, August 29, 2017
• Oil and Chemical Spills: Federal Emergency Response Framework, August 29, 2017
• Introduction to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), July 25, 2017 Federal Disaster Assistance Response and Recovery Programs: Brief Summaries, July 18, 2017
• Private Flood Insurance in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), CRS Insight, June 2, 2017
• Federal Disaster Assistance: The National Flood Insurance Program and Other Federal Disaster Assistance Programs Available to Individuals and Households After a Flood, April 6, 2017
• Major Disaster Assistance from the Disaster Relief Fund: State Profiles, March 29, 2017
• Dam Safety: Federal Programs and Authorities, CRS In Focus, February 23, 2017
• FEMA Disaster Housing: The Individuals and Households Program–Implementation and Potential Issues for Congress, September 2, 2016
• Congressional Primer on Responding to Major Disasters and Emergencies, May 19, 2015
• Deployable Federal Assets Supporting Domestic Disaster Response Operations: Summary and Considerations for Congress, May 13, 2015
• FEMA’s Disaster Declaration Process: A Primer, November 12, 2014
• FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund: Overview and Selected Issues, May 7, 2014
• FEMA Disaster Cost-Shares: Evolution and Analysis, April 4, 2013
• FY2013 Supplemental Funding for Disaster Relief, February 19, 2013
• Federal Involvement in Flood Response and Flood Infrastructure Repair: Storm Sandy Recovery, October 31, 2012

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Although I look at her site every day, she is politically to the left in what she selects to show, although that seems to be the standard for government and civil liberties research.  Still I always find something worth investigating further in her research. She keeps her editorializing at a minimum. All information, all library collections and all librarians have a filter, and that's where information restriction begins.

Federal welfare costs

There's a scary "Anonymous" poster going around the pages of liberals on Facebook showing how terrible the U.S. is in its priorities. Oh, how we must hate the poor and needy, the elderly, the homeless, the Indians and those with HIV. Used it to stir up the riots on Communist Day, I'll bet.

That's not what the Committee on the Budget in the Senate says. CRS identified 83 overlapping federal welfare programs that together represented the single largest budget item in 2011 — more than the nation spends on Social Security, Medicare, or national defense. The total amount spent on these 83 federal welfare programs amounts to roughly $1.03 trillion. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the amount expended on just 10 of the largest of these programs has increased by 378 percent over the last 30 years. That's why a good job is the best program for the poor and low income, not another government program to fatten the bureaucracy. 

So that was $1.03 Trillion on welfare in 2011. Wonder what it was for 2016? For a list of the 83 programs:
Senate Budget Committee