Senators Introduce $13.6 Billion Disaster Relief Package

A bipartisan group of eight senators introduced a $13.6 billion disaster relief package (S. 572) on February 26. The bill includes $1.06 billion in Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds for states impacted by disasters in 2018 and $610 million for the Nutrition Assistance for Puerto Rico (NAP) program – which faces a fiscal cliff in March that would cause over 100,000 people to lose assistance. The bill also provides relief to farmers impacted by the recent disasters. The funding levels proposed in this bill fall between a Senate Republican proposal introduced in February and the disaster package included in HR 268, which passed the House in January.