Missouri Senator Roy Blunt wants to know how often federal disaster declarations are being made, and he says he will ask the Congressional Research Service to look into it.

He wants to make sure that federal resources are available in situations when they are truly needed. He says more declarations are being made in recent years and he doesn’t know if that is because the criteria of a disaster have become easier to meet.

Blunt also acknowledges that elected officials in stricken areas often call for a federal declaration…

AUDIO: Senator Blunt discusses elected officials calling for federal disaster declarations [mp3 :28]

Blunt says he will ask the Congressional Research Service to study declarations made over the last 20 years to see if more disasters could be dealt with locally.

From the 1950s to the past decade, the number of federal declarations made each year have increased from about 14 to almost 60.