Federal Highway Administration Emergency Relief

FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION EMERGENCY RELIEF

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as the ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and General Government, I rise to discuss a matter of great importance to my State and 33 other States-namely, the continuing backlog of claims for the Federal Highway Administration's Emergency Relief program.

The Military Construction Appropriations conference report that we are currently debating includes a title containing emergency disaster assistance. Within that title, a total of $1.202 billion is made available for the Emergency Relief Program. This appropriation carries with it the necessary language designating the funding as emergency spending.

While I support the overall funding for the Emergency Relief Program, I strongly object to the bill language governing this appropriation. At present, there are 90 projects from a total of 34 States that have been waiting to receive emergency relief funds for road projects stemming from Presidentially declared disasters. A great many of these projects stem from disasters that took place years ago and those States have been waiting an inordinate length of time for reimbursement. Despite this fact, the language governing the appropriation contained in this conference report effectively places the needs stemming from the four recent hurricanes as well as one hurricane that took place 2 months ago to the head of the list. This language makes the $1.2 billion in the bill available only for those five hurricanes and then stipulates that, if there is any funding remaining after those needs are met, that remaining funding can be used for the projects on the backlog list.

To my knowledge, we have never allowed certain natural disasters to get preferential treatment over other disasters under this program. And this new precedent will work a hardship on my state and a great many others. My State of Washington is still waiting for reimbursement of some $19.4 million stemming from six separate disasters dating as far back as the Nisqually earthquake in February 2001. The same can be said for 33 other states that are also owed varying amounts.

Based on my objection and those of several other Senators, I understand that there have been a series of discussions among the appropriate congressional and administration leaders to set forth a plan on how this backlog of emergency relief claims will be addressed in the near future. This plan was discussed during the conference committee deliberations on the military construction bill so I would welcome the comments of the managers of that bill on this matter.

Mrs. HUTCHINSON. I thank my friend from Washington for raising this issue. I share her concern that the existing backlog of emergency relief projects has not been adequately addressed under the disaster assistance title of this bill. Indeed, my State of Texas is still waiting to receive at least $17.2 million from no fewer than seven separate disasters including floods, hurricanes and ice storms dating all the way back to the end of calendar year 2000.

During our conversations leading up the final conference meeting on this bill, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Mr. YOUNG of Florida, assured me that an agreement had been reached on this matter between himself, the Speaker of the House and our majority leader. Under that agreement, sufficient emergency funding will be provided in the final omnibus appropriations bill for this year to ensure that the existing backlog of projects will be fully compensated. I made mention of this agreement during our open conference committee deliberations and I want to assure my friend from Washington that our mutual concern over this matter will be addressed fully in the final omnibus appropriations bill.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I too wish to thank the Senator from Washington for raising this critically important issue. Indeed, no State has been more disadvantaged than my own by the decision to target the available emergency relief funding in this bill largely if not exclusively to the recent hurricanes. That decision was not made by the conferees on the military construction portion of the bill. Rather, it was made by the full committee leadership. As such, I am grateful to the subcommittee chairman, Senator HUTCHISON, for working with her own leadership and Chairman YOUNG in gaining their assurance that these outstanding emergency relief claims will be fully funded in this year's omnibus appropriations bill.

Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the managers of the bill for their attention to this matter and I'm pleased that they have received assurances that this problem will be addressed fully in the omnibus appropriations act. For the interest of all Senators, I ask unanimous consent that the most up-to-date backlog list provided to me by the Federal Highway Administration be printed in the RECORD.