Quick Hit: Continuing Resolution's hurricane relief
$29B marked to replenish FEMA's dwindling relief money
Congress passed its Continuing Resolution (CR) spending package, titled the ‘‘American Relief Act 2025." The final package is 118 pages, down from the pork-filled first version of 1,547 pages.
North Carolinians main interest in the CR is Hurricane Helene aid.
$100.4 billion is in the main disaster relief package, $29 billion of which is for the FEMA disaster relief fund. The replenishment of FEMA funds in the ACT follows testimony in November by FEMA's chief Deanna Criswell, who said the agency's disaster relief fund was down to $5 billion.
An additional $10 billion is included for economic assistance for farmers.
Breakdown of some of the spending:
$21 billion - Farmer crop/livestock loss assistance
$8 billion - Highway and bridge repairs
$12 billion - HUD community recovery block grants
$2.2 billion - Low-interest loans for rebuilding
There are also funds earmarked in the Act for other disasters, such as $1.5 billion for the New Mexico Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire, the Lahaina, Hawaii fire, and the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key bridge near Baltimore that collapsed after a ship collision.
President Joe Biden asked for $114 billion back in October. Governor Roy Cooper's ask was around $9 billion aside from additional FEMA requests.
NC Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd pushed for more Helene relief in the CR, with Tillis promising to filibuster any measure sent to the Senate that did not include relief aid.
Per Tillis' press release following passage of the CR, key provisions of his that were put into the Act include:
Requiring the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to issue a Federal Register notice by January 15, 2025, of enactment for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) so funding can flow to North Carolina more quickly. Federal Register notices have often taken 12-24 months after previous authorizations.
Replenishing funding for the SBA’s disaster loan program to help homeowners and small business owners rebuild, which Tillis has been pushing since funding expired. There are currently 2,338 applicants waiting for their application to be processed, totaling $172 million.
“I'm proud to have worked alongside my Senate colleagues to secure this critical funding for Western North Carolina,” Tillis said in the press release.
“I remain committed to working with the outgoing Biden Administration and the incoming Trump Administration to ensure these resources reach Western North Carolina as expeditiously as possible,” said Tillis. “This is a significant downpayment to help make Western North Carolina whole again.”