WASHINGTON—Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the legislative text for the FY 2017 Omnibus Appropriations bill. This bill includes vital funding to help Louisiana recover from recent natural disasters.
Dr. Cassidy released the following statements:
“Our sheriffs and law enforcement agencies are always on the front lines when disaster hits. This funding will ensure those agencies are restored to full capacity so they can continue protecting our state.
“This bill also ensures that NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility will be rebuilt preserving the livelihoods for many Louisiana families.
“Louisiana’s state and federal officials have worked together as a team to make sure Louisiana families have the resources they need to recover, rebuild and prosper,” said Dr. Cassidy. “We are still waiting to hear exactly what portion of the $400 million in new Community Development Block Grant funds Louisiana will receive, but today marks another big step in making our state and families whole.”
For the full legislative text, click here.
The bill includes funding for major Louisiana priorities such as:
- $400 million in CDBG funding for emergency disaster assistance (Sec. 421), of which Louisiana can expect a significant portion. To date, Congress appropriated over $1.6 billion in CDBG funding for Louisiana’s 2016 floods.
- $109 million for NASA to rebuild the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans that was damaged as a result of the February 2017 tornado (Sec. 540).
- $8.6 million out of USDA’s Working Capital Fund for travel, information technology, financial management systems and related expenses as a result of the February 2017 tornado at MAF (Sec. 702).
- $15 million to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs for State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance grants for emergency law enforcement assistance resulting from natural disasters occurring during FY 2016 and FY 2017 (Sec. 542). The vast majority of this funding would go to help Louisiana Sheriffs recover from the historic 2016 floods.
- Allows USDA to reserve up to 4% of the Working Capital Fund to pay for the replacement or acquisition of capital equipment, information technology and other unforeseen, extraordinary costs of reconstructing the National Finance Center facility (Sec. 702).
- The Agriculture Appropriations Title of The bill explicitly states that none of the funds made available in this Act (Omnibus) shall be made available to make any changes to the National Finance Center without notification to and prior approval of the Appropriations Committee (Sec. 702).
- $10.5 million under the Army Corps of Engineers to continue construction of projects that principally include improvements to rainfall drainage systems that address flood damages. The vast majority of these funds would be utilized for flood damage and storm reduction and flood control projects at Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project (SELA) (pg. 10, Energy & Water title of Omnibus Appropriations bill).
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