After months of negotiations, the U.S. Senate voted 85-8 on Thursday afternoon to pass a $19.1 billion disaster aid bill for communities recovering from hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters. The bill will now be sent to the House of Representatives, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) will try to pass the legislation by unanimous consent. President Trump has supported the final agreement, even though it jettisoned a provision for migrant aid at the southern border that was sought by his Administration.
The final disaster supplemental proposal includes several provisions that would aid rural counties and other communities recovering from destructive wildfires:
- Emergency Forest Restoration Program: $480 million is provided for the Emergency Forest Restoration Program for non-industrial timber restoration.
- Emergency Conservation Program: $558 million is provided for the Emergency Conservation program for repairs to damaged farmland.
- Emergency Watershed Protection Program: $435 million is provided for the Emergency Watershed Protection Program for rural watershed recovery.
- Rural Community Facilities: $150 million is provided for Rural Development Community Facilities grants for small rural communities impacted by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019.
- U.S. Forest Service: $720 million is provided to repay funds borrowed from non-fire accounts to cover the cost of wildfire suppression activities from Fiscal Year 2018. Also included are funds to take action to reduce hazardous fuels on federal and non-federal lands, and to prevent an increased risk of significant wildfires from timber resources that were decimated in the storms.
These provisions provide substantial opportunities for rural counties to seek federal assistance in their recovery from devastating wildfires. These funds will also promote forest management activity to improve forest health and reduce the threat of wildfires in the future. A link to the full summary of the disaster supplemental can be found here.