Hurricane Relief Efforts in Congress

October 12, 2005 Katrina Fed Update:

The following laws have been enacted (Congress passed; President signed):

Appropriate $10 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s quickly dwindling disaster relief account and $500 million to replenish Defense Department operations and maintenance accounts.

Appropriate $51.8 billion in fiscal 2005 supplemental spending for disaster relief to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. The bill would provide $50 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, $1.4 billion for the Defense Department and $400 million for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Provide tax breaks to Hurricane Katrina victims, including provisions to waive penalties allowing hurricane victims access to their retirement funds, increase deductions for charitable donations by individuals and businesses and allow low-income workers to maintain benefits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Give more flexibility for a Labor Department program that provides temporary disaster relief and training of up to six months to individuals who take part in projects that assist victims of a disaster. It would allow National Emergency Grant (NEG) program funds to be used for employment projects outside the Hurricane Katrina disaster area and expand fund eligibility to include individuals displaced by the hurricane who are currently unemployed and those who have no prior work history.

Allow the Education Department to waive the repayment requirement for any federal student grant assistance provided to students under Title IV of the Higher Education Act if their school attendance is interrupted because of the impact of a major disaster. To qualify for the waiver, students must have lived, worked, or attended schools in an area designated by the president as a major disaster.

Allow the Education Department to waive the repayment requirement for Pell Grant recipients whose school attendance is interrupted because of the impact of a disaster if students were living, working, or attending school in an area designated by the president to warrant major disaster assistance.

Provide vocational rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities affected by Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita. Give preference to affected states that contain an area, or that received a significant number of individuals who resided in an area, in which the President has declared that a major disaster exists.

Temporarily waive work requirements and time limits imposed under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program for families displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Congress has cleared and President should sign bills that would:

Provide $750 million for a program to loan money to local governments to maintain services such as police and fire protection in the aftermath of the hurricanes. (This money would come from previously appropriated funds which could not be used for this purpose without special approval. This money is loan, not a grant.)

House has passed bills that would:

Authorize the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to waive several limitations on the rent voucher program known as Section 8 in order to assist displaced hurricane victims. Under the bill, HUD would be prevented from canceling contracts with government-subsidized apartment complexes that were damaged or destroyed by Katrina or Rita, and federal agencies would be required to compile an inventory of government property that could be used as emergency housing.

Allow the Agriculture Department to redirect money used to subsidize rural public housing that was damaged or destroyed by the hurricane to rental assistance for tenants.

Suspend a 15 percent cap on community development grants that could be spent to provide “public services” in hurricane-afflicted areas

Grant “special immigrant status,” which is permanent, to people who had visas pending when the storm hit. Those visas would otherwise be nullified because the place of employment was destroyed or the sponsor of the visa died. Grandparents of orphans who lost their parents in the storm would also receive special immigrant status. Those eligible for citizenship would be allowed to take their oath in any federal court if the court they filed in was destroyed. The bill also would extend a number of filing and re-entry deadlines, including an additional 180 days to file for an extension or change of status for those affected by the storm. It would provide relief for surviving spouses and children of citizens or legal permanent residents, and let foreign students with visas remain in the country until Feb. 1, 2006, so they can enroll in a new school.

Senate has passed bills that would

Allow states to forgive the principal on clean water loans in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Under the law, the federal government provides states with money to loan public water systems for improvements.

Allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay for extra school supplies and new teachers in school systems that have taken in students evacuated because of Katrina.

Members of Congress have introduced legislation that would:

Create a “Gulf Coast Recovery and Disaster Preparation Agency,” that would centralize the planning and execution of rebuilding activities in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The agency would be authorized for only three years, though the president could decide to extend its authority for an additional three years. Sponsored by the Republican chairman of the Senate Budget Committee (Judd Gregg) and a prominent Senate Democrat (Ted Kennedy). The director of the new agency would be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and would be physically based in the Gulf Coast region. The director would submit an annual redevelopment budget to the president and have full budget authority over Gulf Coast rebuilding appropriations. Within the new agency, the bill would create a public-private redevelopment authority named the “Gulf Coast Revitalization Authority” to develop a comprehensive plan, in conjunction with local leaders, for the reconstruction of the region. The authority’s 19-member board would be composed of state and local officials, including the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas and the mayor of New Orleans, as well as leaders from the business and non-profit sectors in those states, and the new agency’s director.

Louisiana delegation is still pressing for wetlands restoration funding, waivers from new bankruptcy laws for hurricane victims, and additional restoration funding