[StBernard] Melancon Announces Supplemental Includes Significant Hurricane Relief Funding

[Westley Annis]

	WASHINGTON, DC- U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon announced today the first
full draft of the Iraq Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill includes
funding for a number of hurricane relief and recovery needs he had requested
from House appropriators.  The Emergency Supplemental will be voted on by
the full House Appropriations Committee later this week and could reach the
floor of the House of Representatives as early as next week.  
	 
	"Our recovery and rebuilding needs in south Louisiana and the rest
of the Gulf Coast are critical and merit being included in an emergency
funding bill," said Rep. Melancon.  "Over a year and a half has passed since
Katrina and Rita tore through our homes and communities, and we are still
struggling to get back on our feet and prepare for the next storm.  This
Emergency Supplemental bill recognizes the urgency of our needs in south
Louisiana and I thank Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Whip Jim Clyburn, Appropriations
Chairman David Obey, and other members of the leadership for making
Katrina/Rita recovery a major priority when drafting this bill."
	 
	House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn added, "Thanks to the
leadership of Charlie Melancon and our Gulf Coast members, and their
coordination with our Democratic Committee Chairman, the House of
Representatives is moving quickly to bring assistance to the region.  It
took eighteen months after the hurricanes hit, and a Congress willing to
act, but we're finally providing the means and resources to our fellow
Americans to rebuild and recover."
	 
	Among the needs Rep. Melancon had called for that are included in
the supplemental are: funding for additional agriculture and fisheries
disaster relief, funding construction of the levee protection system on both
the east and west bank in New Orleans and surrounding parishes, money for
K-12 teacher recruitment and higher education assistance, the extension of a
federal grant program for critically needed social services, and billions in
funding for FEMA disaster recovery grants, with no local or state match
required.  Also included in the supplemental is language forgiving all
community disaster loans, an initiative Rep. Melancon has been working on
with House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn and other Member of Congress from
the Gulf Coast.
	 
	Specifically, the Emergency Supplemental includes the following
funding priorities for Gulf Coast recovery:
	 

	*	$260 million for agriculture and fisheries disaster
assistance for all 2005 hurricane affected areas.  This includes:

		*	$120 million for fisheries relief.  A significant
portion of this funding will go to Louisiana for direct relief for the
shrimp and menhaden industries, surveying, and debris removal along
traditional fishing grounds.
		*	$100 million for citrus disaster assistance
		*	$25 million for livestock disaster assistance
		*	$15 million for rice saltwater intrusion disaster
assistance 

	 

	*	$1.3 billion for east and west bank levee protection system
in New Orleans and surrounding parishes.

	 

	*	$30 million for K-12 education recruitment assistance
(similar to Miller-Melancon RENEWAAL Act introduced in early March)

	 

	*	$30 million for higher education assistance (similar to
Miller-Melancon RENEWAAL Act introduced in early March)

	 

	*	Extension of FEMA utility subsidy program for essential
parish employees (identical to H.R. 858, which Rep. Melancon introduced in
early February).  Will extend for one more year FEMA's authority to
reimburse parish governments for the cost of paying utility bills for
essential government employees still working and living in temporary housing
(i.e., FEMA trailers).  Devastated parish governments have used this program
as an incentive to encourage essential employees, such as law enforcement
officers, to stay in the community and continue working for the parish.

	 

	*	Community Disaster Loan forgiveness. (similar to language in
the Hurricane Katrina and Rita Federal Match Relief Act of 2007 introduced
by Majority Whip Clyburn, Rep. Melancon, and other members of the Gulf Coast
delegation in February).  

	 

	*	$4.3 billion for FEMA disaster recovery grants.  The state
and local match for these grants will be waived, meaning the federal
government will finance 100% of the grants.   

	 

	*	Social Services Block Grant extension.   SSBG grants will be
available for hurricane-affected areas along the Gulf Coast for an extra
year, until September 30, 2008.  Rep. Melancon is working to alter the
language so that SSBG funding is extended even further - September 30, 2010
- before the final supplemental bill is passed. SSBG funding provides
critically needed social services including programs for mental health,
child welfare, and the treatment of addictive disorders.

	 

	*	Extension of education waiver (identical to H.R. 1262, which
Rep. Melancon introduced in early March). Will extend a federal waiver for
one more year - until September 30, 2008 - that gives school districts
impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita more flexibility in drawing down and
utilizing federal money for recovery efforts.  Specifically, the waiver will
allow schools to continue to use state money for the 10% local match
required by FEMA in order for them to be eligible for the 90% federal
reimbursement for recovery projects.  The bill will also allow school
districts to use federal funds appropriated by Congress in the
Defense/Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill (H.R. 2863) to pay for
expenses state money would normal! ly be used for, such as teachers'
salaries and school operational needs.  Last fall, Rep. Melancon was an
original co-sponsor of successful legislation that extended the waiver until
September 30th, 2007.  

	 

	*	$25 million for Small Business Administration disaster
loans.

	 

	*	$80 million for HUD tenant-based rental assistance.

	 

	*	$10 million for HUD and FEMA Inspector General offices, to
increase scrutiny of hurricane recovery dollars.

	 
	Rep. Melancon added, "Those of us from the Gulf Coast who lived
through Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are ever aware of the approaching
hurricane season, which begins in less than two and a half months.  Last
year we dodged the bullet, but we might not be so lucky this year and have
to be prepared for the worst.  I am very pleased this supplemental provides
over a billion dollars for levees in south Louisiana and I will keep working
in Congress until all of our people and communities are protected by a
comprehensive hurricane and flood protection system. " 
	 
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