On Saturday, the Senate approved a stand-alone spending measure (HR 3672) that would, among other things, provide $8.12 billion in disaster-related aid.  This will ensure that local governments will be able to file claims and receive public assistance for damage incurred during nationally declared disasters.

Although the debt limit law allows for almost $1 trillion in emergency assistance funding compromise, the House sought to pay for any spending above the original spending cap through a separate bill (H Con Res 94) that would have required across-the-board cuts to domestic spending accounts in 2012 spending bills to pay the cost of the disaster relief.  The Senate successfully defeated that effort 43-56.  This is a return to regular order, where Congress provides the Disaster Relief funding without offsetting it with cuts to annual spending. 

In September we put out a statement telling Congress not to force cuts in spending elsewhere to fund Disaster Relief, as “Americans should not have to choose between rebuilding their communities and rebuilding the American economy.”  The passage of Disaster Relief funding without offsets marks a success in pushing back on what amounted to playing politics with disaster funding.