President Trump signed the latest disaster relief legislation today. The $36.5 billion emergency spending bill provides: $18.7 billion for FEMA’s ongoing response to this year’s hurricanes and California wildfires, $16 billion for the National Flood Insurance Program, $576.5 million for the wildfires, and $1.2 billion in nutrition assistance program relief for Puerto Rico.

It is important to note that the bill did not include any additional CDBG-DR funding, which had been requested by Congressional Representatives from Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. In order for the emergency bill to pass in the Senate, assurances were made by the Trump Administration that another supplemental funding bill would be passed before the end of the year.

However, Congress will likely have to make spending offsets in other areas to pay for any new disaster recovery or rebuilding funding. This could impact non-defense discretionary spending budgets such as HUD’s and also result in the more challenging passage of the necessary third disaster funding bill.