U.S. House Dems pass $28.6B in disaster aid for recovery from hurricanes, wildfires, floods

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats unveiled a short-term spending measure on Tuesday that would keep the federal government operating through Dec. 3 and provide $28.6 billion for costs related to recent natural disasters.

The bill was passed by the House on a party-line vote Tuesday night, 220-211. But it faces a battle in the evenly divided Senate, where Republicans are opposed to a provision raising the debt ceiling.

That disaster relief money is slightly more than the $24 billion that the Biden administration asked Congress to approve for extreme weather events during the last 18 months, including hurricanes, floods and wildfires.

A summary of the new legislation specifies that it would include aid to states related to Hurricanes Ida, Delta, Zeta, and Laura, wildfires, severe droughts and winter storms and other natural and major disasters declared in 2021 and prior years.

https://twitter.com/RepMcEachin/status/1440423608380055558?s=20

“The relief is provided to virtually all corners of the nation, because all corners of the nation have been suffering,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, (D-Conn.), said during a Rules Committee meeting Tuesday morning.

“It helps to rebuild in the wake of these disasters, and provides a lifeline to families struggling to get back on their feet.”

The spending bill also would lift the limit on federal borrowing through the end of 2022, which would prevent a default on the federal debt that otherwise will occur in the coming weeks.

“Particularly as we rebuild from the damage caused by the pandemic, a government shutdown would be beyond reckless,” said U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Henrico. “While I continue to speak out against these Groundhog Day, short-term government funding processes, keeping our government open and preventing our nation from defaulting on its debts is the responsible course of action for Central Virginia and the country. Doing otherwise would be a dereliction of our basic duty as lawmakers.

The short-term funding measure is needed because Congress is unlikely to finish its work passing full-year spending bills before the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30.

But the measure’s fate is complicated by the multiple urgent components packaged into one piece of legislation. Republicans have said they will not support raising the debt ceiling, even though not doing so risks significant fiscal consequences.

Continuing resolutions prevent Federal agencies from properly budgeting for the year, wasting massive amounts of time and money. This, coupled with Democrats’ plan to raise the debt ceiling to pay for their $3.5 TRILLION tax and spend spree, is the epitome of poor governance. https://t.co/vazpEbbAtQ

— Congressman Ben Cline (@RepBenCline) September 21, 2021

Democrats had sought to push past that opposition by including the money needed to avoid a government shutdown, as well as billions in disaster relief that would help a number of states with Republican legislators in Congress.

The disaster relief money would be allocated through a broad range of agencies. It includes:

• $10 billion for crop losses due to devastating storms in 2020 and 2021;
• $2.6 billion to reimburse states for repairs to roads and bridges;
• $1.2 billion in low-interest loans to businesses, homes and renters; and
• $5 billion for Community Development Block Grants for restoration of housing and infrastructure, or economic revitalization.

It also includes funding for drought and disaster response related to Western wildfires, including fire remediation and a waiver on the annual pay cap for emergency wildland fire suppression workers at the Department of the Interior and U.S. Forest Service.

Other money in the bill is intended to reduce the effects of future extreme weather events, through research on forecasting hurricanes and detecting wildfires, and the construction of flood and storm damage-reduction projects.

The House just passed legislation to suspend the debt ceiling and keep the government open.

Defaulting on our debt would be catastrophic for #VA10 families.

Read my full statement here ⬇️https://t.co/9uImTSk4Zx

— Rep. Jennifer Wexton (@RepWexton) September 22, 2021

The Biden administration issued a statement of support on Tuesday night, saying the measure “would keep the federal government open, provide disaster relief, and avoid a catastrophic default so that the government can continue serving the American people without interruption as we continue to confront a pandemic, recover from and respond to disasters, and power an economic recovery. “