COCHRAN: MISSISSIPPI DISASTER NEEDS AFFECTED
BY SENATE-PASSED EMERGENCY SPENDING BILL
Senate Passes Measure to Fund U.S. Military, Disaster Relief Fund & Oil Spill Needs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today voted with the Senate to approve an emergency spending measure that, among other things, replenishes the Disaster Relief Fund used for disaster recovery and provides resources to aid the federal government response to the Gulf Coast oil spill.
The Senate on Thursday evening approved the FY2010 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill (HR.4988). The bulk of the $58.5 billion bill, which passed on a 67-28 vote, will fund U.S. military and diplomatic operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The House of Representatives must approve its version of this legislation before a final measure can eventually become law.
“We have worked to keep this emergency spending measure focused on the most pressing needs facing our nation,” Cochran said. “The Senate has produced a bill that meets our responsibilities to our military men and women in the field, as well as our need to take care of those Americans recovering from disasters.”
“Thousands of Mississippians today are counting on federal help as they recover from devastating tornado damage. In other parts of the country, floods and other natural disasters have left communities in desperate need of federal assistance,” he said.
The Senate-passed bill provides $5.1 billion to replenish the Disaster Relief Fund administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The fund currently has less than $900 million available to respond to disasters and owes states more than $1.5 billion for projects already approved in designated federal disaster areas.
The legislation also contains $68 million in emergency funding to address immediate federal needs to respond to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Within this appropriation is $13.0 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address the economic impacts of the spill on fishermen and fishery-dependent businesses.
Cochran also supported an amendment by Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) to reallocated funds within the Department of Commerce to provide NOAA with $15.0 million for fisheries disaster relief related to commercial fishing failures due to the oil spill, and $10.0 million to conduct an expanded stock assessment of fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. It also included $1.0 million for the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a long-term ecosystem impact study on the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Cochran discussed the oil spill in his opening address to the Senate Monday and pointed out that the firms responsible for the accident and its aftermath will be responsible for paying for the cleanup and associated damages.
“For those of us who represent the Gulf Coast, our states are dealing with a different kind of disaster. While it is not a natural disaster, it is a very serious event that will have very serious consequences for the natural environment, as well as for local economies throughout the region. We cannot predict now and we cannot now know what the long-term impacts of this spill will be. While the federal government is intimately involved in the response and cleanup efforts, clearly the parties responsible for the spill must bear the ultimate costs of cleanup and associated damages,” Cochran told his colleagues.
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