Disaster Supplemental Appropriations Act - H.R.2157
BACKGROUND: The Appropriations Committee did not act on the measure, which was introduced April 9 by Rep. Nita M. Lowey, D-N.Y.
Numerous hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes and other major natural disasters have impacted the United States and its territories over the past year and have been extremely costly, destroying homes, businesses, public infrastructure and utilities in numerous states and territories.
Hurricanes and typhoons caused the most damage. Hurricane Florence struck the Carolinas last September, with the slow-moving storm delivering heavy rainfall for days that caused extensive inland flooding. Hurricane Michael, only the fourth Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the continental United States, hit the Florida panhandle in October with devastating winds and a storm surge that caused massive damage along the coast and inland, killing 59 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that Michael ended up causing $25 billion in damage, including $1.5 billion in agricultural losses in Florida and more than $2 billion in Georgia, according to state officials.
In the Pacific, typhoon Mangkhut in September caused extensive damage to Guam, while Typhoon Yutu hit the Northern Mariana Islands in October and was the strongest known tropical storm to ever pass over the Northern Mariana Islands. Earlier in the year, Tropical Storm Gita struck American Samoa, damaging power and water utilities.
Meanwhile, wildfires in California became nearly continuous in 2018, with new fires igniting even as firefighters battle existing ones. The massive Camp Fire in November destroyed at least 14,000 homes and killed at least 85 people, becoming the state's deadliest and most destructive wildfire. Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupted for several weeks last year, with lava pouring over major roads and destroying some 700 homes, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. Hawaii was also hit by major storms that caused flooding, landslides and mudslides. And at the end of November, Southern Alaska was struck by a magnitude 7 earthquake, while severe weather during the year also caused damage and destruction elsewhere, including Indiana, Wisconsin and Texas.
In addition to the disasters in 2018, heavy rainfall across the Midwest this March caused catastrophic flooding across Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and other states that damaged infrastructure, ruined farmland, and killed livestock. Farmers were particularly hard hit by these storms as they destroyed harvested crops in storage and disrupted planting. They were followed in April by more severe storms and tornadoes across the Midwest and South.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still recovering from the impacts of 2017's Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria, which caused widespread devastation in those Caribbean territories.
Congressional Response
Following Hurricane Florence, lawmakers as part of the five-year FAA Reauthorization (PL 115-254) provided $1.68 billion in emergency supplemental funding for the Housing and Urban Development Department's (HUD) Community Development Block Grants-Disaster Recovery Program, to be used to help with long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and housing, and economic revitalization in the most impacted and distressed areas following a major disaster declaration. (Earlier in 2018 and in late 2017, Congress provided a total of $141 billion in disaster aid through various programs to respond to and recover from the major hurricanes and other natural disasters that occurred in 2017.)
House Republicans in December 2018 also included disaster relief provisions for 2018 disasters in a couple measures that died at the end of the 115th Congress — including proposed tax relief for individuals and businesses harmed by certain disasters that occurred in 2018, which was part of the House GOP's year-end tax package, and $7.8 billion in supplemental disaster relief funding included in the House-passed seven-week CR that also included money for President Donald Trump's proposed border wall. In addition to opposing that CR because of the wall funding, Democrats criticized the GOP's disaster relief package because it did not include aid to help Puerto Rico continue to recover from the 2017 hurricanes.
Consequently, the new Democratic majority at the beginning of the 116th Congress passed a $14.2 billion disaster relief supplemental funding bill (HR 268) that included aid to Puerto Rico. Passed on Jan. 16 by a 237-187 vote, Republicans opposed it because Democratic leadership added a short-term continuing resolution to the bill in an effort to end the partial government shutdown that was ongoing at the time.
Senate Action
Efforts in the Senate to pass disaster relief legislation quickly stalled largely because of the dispute over additional aid to Puerto Rico, with President Trump opposing further aid and accusing Puerto Rico officials of financial mismanagement. (After Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico in 2017, Congress provided almost $20 billion for Puerto Rico through HUD's CDBG-disaster recovery program; to date, $1.5 billion of that funding has been made available to the island by HUD.)
In late March, Senate Republicans offered a $13.45 billion disaster aid bill that included $600 million to help bolster Puerto Rico's food stamp program, with the White House's consent for that funding. That GOP bill also included an initial tranche of disaster funding to respond to this year's flooding in the Midwest and tornados in the South, but Democrats continued to oppose the measure because they said it included insufficient funds for Puerto Rico. In test votes held on April 1, both the Senate GOP bill and the House-passed bill failed to get the necessary 60 votes to prevent a filibuster, with the GOP bill failing by a 44-49 vote and the House bill failing 46-48.
Senate leaders are now reportedly close to reaching agreement on a disaster measure that would provide additional funding to Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, along with certain financial controls on that spending, which the Senate could take up this week.
Meanwhile, House Democrats in early April introduced this revised version (HR 2157) of their disaster bill that includes an additional $3 billion for the government's initial response to this year's disasters, which will be considered by the House this week. The $17.2 billion package is otherwise very similar to the original House-passed bill, although House leaders are also adding to the measure provisions to extend the national flood insurance program through the end of this fiscal year (i.e., through Sept. 30).
SUMMARY: The Rules Committee is expected to make in order a modified version of the bill; following is a summary of that modified measure as posted on the Rules Committee website.
This bill provides a total of $17.4 billion in supplemental disaster funds to continue response and recovery from damage caused by hurricanes, wildfires, floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters that occurred in 2018 and 2019, as well as further aid to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to assist with their recovery from 2017 hurricanes.
The total includes $3 billion in crop loss assistance to farmers and $500 million to help rehabilitate damaged farmlands, $2.8 billion for Army Corps of Engineers civil construction projects, $2.2 billion for community development disaster recovery grants, $1.5 billion to repair and rebuild military facilities, $720 million to repay non-fire Forest Service accounts from which funds were borrowed to fight wildfires, $693 million for nutrition and Medicaid assistance to Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, and $555 million for various social services, mental health, education and dislocated worker activities.
It provides $3 billion more than the supplemental disaster relief bill (HR 268) passed by the House in January to help respond to the flooding and tornadoes that have occurred this year — including an additional $1.5 billion for Army Corps of Engineers projects, $1 billion in additional Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department community development disaster relief funding, and $500 million for Agriculture Department programs to help rehabilitate damaged farmland.
The measure's disaster funding is designated as emergency funding that is not subject to discretionary caps and is not offset. The bill provides that provisions effecting direct spending are not to be scored under either the statutory pay-as-you-go law or the Senate's paygo scorecard. Federal departments and agencies receiving funds under the bill would be required to provide a detailed spending plan to Congress within 45 days of enactment.
Finally, the bill also extends the authorities of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through Sept. 30. Congress has enacted several short-term extensions of the program since its multi-year authorization expired in September 2017, and questions over its long-term solvency have prevented lawmakers from reaching agreement on a long-term reauthorization. The NFIP's current authorization, which was most recently extended in December, is set to expire on May 31.
Disaster Assistance
This bill's disaster funding would be allocated to more than a dozen departments and agencies to support continued disaster relief and recovery by individuals, businesses and communities harmed by the storms, as well as to repair U.S. government facilities damaged by natural disasters.
Agriculture Department
The bill provides a total of $4.3 billion for Agriculture Department (USDA) disaster-related activities, including $3 billion for losses of crops (including milk and adulterated wine grapes), trees, bushes, vines and livestock caused by hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and other declared disasters in 2018 and 2019. (This total does not include separate USDA nutrition aid provided to Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories; see Puerto Rico section below.)
Unlike the earlier House-passed disaster bill (HR 268), the measure also allows these funds to be used to cover "on-farm stored commodities" in destroyed storage bins. (Crop insurance doesn't cover grain in storage, and farmers generally can't access disaster aid for those losses. Because of lost export sales caused by current tariff policies and large crops yields, many farmers hit by recent flooding had large quantities of grain stored on their farms.)
The USDA total also includes $480 million for the Farm Service Agency to provide emergency forest restoration efforts, $125 million for departmental watershed restoration and flood prevention activities, and $150 million for the department's Rural Development Community Facilities Program, which offers loans and grants to develop or improve essential public services and facilities in rural areas. Unlike HR 268, the measure provides an additional $500 million for USDA's Emergency Conservation Program to help farmers and ranchers rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters. It also allows previously appropriated USDA disaster relief funds for 2017 crop losses to cover peach and blueberry crops that were lost to extreme cold temperatures in 2017.
Under the measure, payments to farmers may not exceed 70% of the loss for producers who did not obtain crop insurance, or 90% for those that did. In order to be eligible for this funding, all producers receiving funds must purchase crop insurance for the next two years. Growers of pecan trees with a mortality rate greater than 7.5% but less than 15% percent also would be eligible for assistance payments.
The measure prohibits payments from the Farm Service Agency's Market Facilitation Program to persons or entities that have average annual gross incomes of more than $900,000 unless they derive 75% or more of their adjusted gross income from farming, ranching or forestry related activities. (That program provides direct payments to agricultural producers that have been directly impacted by retaliatory foreign tariffs, including producers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy and hogs.) It caps these payments at $125,000.
For the U.S. Forest Service, the measure provides $854 million — including $134 million for various non-fire activities and $720 million to repay non-fire accounts for amounts borrowed in FY 2018 to fight wildfires.
Defense Department / Military Construction
The bill provides $1.5 billion to the Defense Department to repair military facilities damaged by hurricanes Florence and Michael, primarily for impacted military facilities in the Carolinas and Florida.
Within the total, $857 million is for military construction projects, including $700 million to help rebuild Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Michael, with funds also to be used for planning and design for basing squadrons of F-35s there (F-22s fighters were previously based at Tyndall).
The military construction total also includes $115 million for planning and design for consolidating certain Marine Corps facilities damaged by Hurricane Florence at installations in North Carolina (New River, Cherry Point and Camp Lejeune), as well as $42 million to rebuild an Army National Guard Readiness Center and Operations facility.
The overall total also includes $400 million for the Air Force and $200 million for the Marines to address the effects of the two 2018 hurricanes on base operations in hurricane-affected states.
The measure includes language stating that the military construction and defense funding provided are to be used only for the purposes specified, in order to prevent those funds from being diverted by the president to build his border wall.
Army Corps of Engineers Civil Construction
In addition to the military construction funding, the bill provides $2.8 billion for Army Corps of Engineers civil construction projects, including $740 million to expedite the construction of projects to reduce the risk of future flood and storm damage in disaster impacted areas and $35 million to expedite studies related to future flood and storm damage reduction projects.
The total also includes $2 billion to repair Army Corps structures, equipment and facilities damaged by storms and floods in 2018 and 2019 ($1.5 billion more than provided by HR 268), including $575 million for facilities along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, $510 million for coastal and flood control projects, and $908 million for general repair to Corps' projects and for dredging.
Housing and Urban Development
The bill includes $2.2 billion for HUD's Community Development Block Grants-Disaster Recovery Program to help communities affected by hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other major disasters in 2018 and 2019 with rebuilding housing, businesses and public infrastructure. Of the total, up to $150 million is allocated for grantees with unmet needs for restoring infrastructure that previously received HUD community development funds for disasters that occurred in 2017.
(Democratic appropriators note that when combined with $1.7 billion provided for the CDBG-Disaster Recovery program by last year's FAA reauthorization law, there will be a total of $3.9 billion available for 2018 and 2019 disasters, of which roughly $1 billion would be available for resiliency and mitigation activities.)
The measure directs HUD to publish, within 90 days of enactment, information on the allocation to eligible recipients of CDBG-Disaster Recovery mitigation funding provided by the 2018 Bipartisan Budget Act (PL 115-123). That law provided $12 billion in such funding for mitigation projects to help communities protect against future disasters.
Transportation Department
The bill provides $1.7 billion for Transportation Department programs and activities, including $1.65 billion for the cost of repairing federal-aid highways and bridges damaged by natural disasters and $11 million for impacted mass transit systems.
It also allows the Federal Aviation Administration to use up to $18 million in previously appropriated relief funds to support operational costs associated with air traffic control facilities affected by natural disasters.
Commerce Department
The bill provides $896 million for the Commerce Department, including $600 million for Economic Development Administration disaster assistance to areas affected by major disasters in 2018 and 2019 — including for flood mitigation, disaster relief, long-term recovery and restoration of infrastructure.
The Commerce total also includes $296 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), of which $146 million would be used for a variety of activities — including the removal of debris ($11 million), updating nautical charts ($32 million), improving forecasting technology and infrastructure ($50 million), repairing damaged equipment ($3 million), and awarding grants to help restore coastal wetlands ($50 million). It also includes $150 million for NOAA aid to commercial fisheries in declared disaster areas.
Homeland Security Department / FEMA
The bill provides $526 million for the U.S. Coast Guard, including $477 million to repair or rebuild facilities and infrastructure damaged by storms and improve resiliency and $49 million to return the Coast Guard to pre-hurricane status, including by repairing or replacing aids to navigation and other damaged infrastructure, facilities and assets.
It also includes provisions, which were not in HR 268, that requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide aid to fully and permanently replace rural medical facilities in counties with fewer than 40,000 residents that were damaged or destroyed by major disasters in 2015 and that remain closed down, with such replacement facilities to be built to meet federal resiliency standards.
Similarly, FEMA generally must provide aid to repair and rebuild certain hydroelectric facilities damaged or destroyed by major disasters in 2015 to federal resiliency standards if the hydroelectric facility is part of a system that provides the primary water source for more than 200,000 people.
Other Departments & Agencies
Major disaster-related appropriations for other federal agencies include the following:
EPA — $914 million, including $849 million for state and territorial governments impacted by 2018 disasters to improve the resiliency of their water and waste systems against future storms, and $62.5 million in grants for state and territorial governments to assess post-disaster water quality, replace monitoring equipment, and inspect and clean up hazardous waste facilities hit by the storms. Of amounts provided, $56 million is for the repair and construction of solid waste infrastructure in the Northern Mariana Islands, and $75 million is to improve water system resiliency in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Health & Human Services — $340 million, including $250 million for Social Services Block Grants to support a range of services and to build or repair health care facilities, child care centers and other social services facilities. The total also includes $30 million for behavioral health treatment, crisis counseling, helplines and other related activities for individuals affected by natural disasters, and $60 million to rebuild and reopen Head Start centers whose services have been disrupted.
Interior Department — $329 million, including $82 million for repair and restoration of Fish and Wildlife Service facilities, $128 million for National Park Services repairs and historic preservation grants, and $99 million for the U.S. Geologic Survey for equipment and facility repairs. It also includes $17 million for Bureau of Reclamation wildfire remediation and firefighting activities.
Education — $165 million to help restart school operations in disaster affected areas and provide assistance to displaced students.
Labor Department — $50 million for assistance for dislocated workers affected by hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, and flooding in 2018 and 2019.
Justice Department — $30 million to repair damaged facilities of the U.S. Marshals Service and Federal Prison System. It separately provides $15 million for the Legal Services Corporation to provide legal assistance in areas hit by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019.
Energy Department — $15.5 million to help restore and improve electrical grids effected by natural disasters.
Veterans Affairs — $3 million to repair VA facilities damaged by hurricanes.
The measure also provides $10 million for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to provide oversight of the bill's supplemental disaster relief spending.
Puerto Rico & U.S. Territories
Within the amounts provided for disaster assistance and recovery, certain amounts are designated for Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands — including $600 million for continued disaster nutrition assistance for Puerto Rico, $25 million for disaster nutrition assistance for the Northern Mariana Islands, and $5 million for such assistance to American Samoa. The measure also provides $5 million for USDA to conduct an independent study regarding the impact of disaster nutrition aid provided to Puerto Rico in 2017.
It provides $36 million in Medicaid funding to the Northern Mariana Islands, and also effectively provides $32 million to support health services in Guam and American Samoa by waiving the local matching requirement for Medicaid funding for the remainder of FY 2019.
(U.S. territories, like states, jointly finance Medicaid with the federal government. Unlike states, however, territories pay a greater percentage of total Medicaid spending, and they must contribute their share up front in order to receive the federal funds. In addition, federal Medicaid funding for states has no cap, while federal funding for Medicaid programs in U.S. territories has an annual ceiling.)
To help initiate school facility repairs in Puerto Rico, the measure also allows funds to be shifted from the Defraying the Cost of Enrolling Displaced Students program to the Emergency Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program. (Appropriators say the first program is underutilized while the second is in heavy demand.)
FEMA Aid
For Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the bill establishes a 100% federal cost share for FEMA Public Assistance grants for emergency debris removal and emergency protective measures taken to save lives and protect public health and safety in declared disaster areas (currently, FEMA grants for those activities can cover just 75% of the cost, with the other 25% to come from other sources).
It also requires FEMA to provide assistance to replace or restore public facilities in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands without regard to the facility's pre-disaster condition, in order to bring the facilities to industry standards. Normally, the level of FEMA assistance is limited to what is required to restore facilities to their pre-disaster condition.
