Why the wait?

Here is the letter sent March 5 by Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, joined by Governor Arnold Schwarzennegger. They ask President Bush; why the wait in federal assistance from FEMA?
From the letter:

We write to follow up on our February 2nd requests for a federal disaster declaration in counties that were devastated by the January agricultural freeze in California and urge you to immediately grant the declaration. The unprecedented freezing temperatures in California destroyed $1.323 billion in crops and left thousands of citrus industry workers unemployed. It has been over a month since our initial request, and as the State continues to wait for your decision, more and more farm workers and their families are struggling every day to deal with the ongoing impacts of the freeze on their lives.On February 2nd, Governor Schwarzenegger requested that you provide federal disaster assistance for the impacted workers in the form of Disaster Unemployment Assistance, Food Coupons and Distribution, Crisis Counseling, and Legal Services.
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State and local groups can only provide so much assistance during disasters, and it is the responsibility of the federal government to help shoulder the burden in times of crisis. The urgency of the need for federal assistance to help these farm workers and their families cannot be underestimated. Francisco Torres, a 26-year veteran citrus worker whose son is serving in Iraq tells of how his fellow citrus workers are struggling to pay the rent because there is not enough work, and citrus grower Marc McBroom has had to lay off 120 of his harvesters because of the freeze.
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It is our understanding that last week Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff gave you the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) certification of California’s eligibility for disaster assistance. Your signature is the last hurdle to clear before federal assistance can begin flowing to the thousands of workers and their families whose livelihoods have been devastated by the freeze.We urge you to immediately declare a federal disaster in the 31 California counties impacted by the freeze and to task the appropriate federal agencies to do all that is necessary to deal with its tragic impacts.


TK: A spokesman for the USDA's Farm Services Administration said that Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has already declared disaster designations for California, here for 2 counties and here for 18 counties. Those links take you to news releases that describe those declarations. Other declarations are pending for five additional counties, including Los Angeles, Marin, Solano and Ventura and Sonoma.

California is waiting on the Presidential declaration of disaster through FEMA.
A California citrus industry source said that the Presidential declaration is expected. Once that presidential declaration is in hand, disaster relief legislation in Congress will be hammered out, which will likely provide the most meaningful relief.

Meanwhile, here is a link about how the disaster relief is being brought into the debate over funding for the war in Iraq.