House eyes $81 billion disaster funding package as shutdown deadline looms

WASHINGTON » House Republicans are proposing to direct $81 billion in taxpayer funds to respond to this year’s hurricanes and wildfires in what would be the single largest emergency spending bill since 2009.

A bill filed Monday by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, RN.J., includes $28 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency programs, $26 billion in disaster recovery block grants and $12 billion for infrastructure repairs as well as billions of dollars in funding for agriculture, education and small business loans.

If passed, it would represent the third installment of federal disaster aid aimed at victims of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as more recent wildfires in California and other western states. Congress previously appropriated $15.2 billion in September and $36.5 billion in October; the House bill would bring total disaster funding for the year to more than $130 billion — far outstripping the federal spending in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The new proposal nearly doubles a $44 billion request made by the Trump administration — a proposal that lawmakers of both parties slammed as wholly inadequate to meet the needs in Texas, Florida, California, Puerto Rico and other afflicted areas.