Disaster Relief and Response: FY2003 Supplemental Appropriations
Publication Date: October 2003
Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service
Author(s):
Research Area: Social conditions
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Abstract:
Federal departments and agencies are authorized to undertake a range of emergency management activities, including disaster relief and response efforts. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has primary responsibility, but other departments and agencies provide grants and loans to disaster victims and reimburse state and local governments overwhelmed by costs associated with clearing debris and rebuilding facilities, among other forms of assistance. FY2003 supplemental funding for these activities has been the issue of debate.
On September 30, 2003, President Bush signed into law H.R. 2657 (P.L. 10883), the appropriations measure for the legislative branch for FY2004. Title III of the statute, titled the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2003, appropriates $938 million for four departments, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the federal judiciary for FY2003. Roughly half of the funding is appropriated to DHS for disaster relief; the majority of the other funding would be appropriated for costs associated with wildfires, flood control, and other emergencies.
P.L. 108-83 constitutes the third FY2003 supplemental; the others are P.L. 10811 and P.L. 108-69. The first, P.L. 108-11 (H.R. 1559), signed by the President on April 18, 2003, appropriated $78.5 billion for the war in Iraq, homeland security grants, and other purposes. (See CRS Report RL31829, Supplemental Appropriations FY2003: Iraq Conflict, Afghanistan, Global War on Terrorism, and Homeland Security, by Amy Belasco and Larry Nowels, for more information on P.L. 108-11.) The second, P.L. 108-69 (H.R. 2859), signed on August 8, 2003, appropriated $984 million for the disaster relief fund administered by DHS. This report provides information on both P.L. 108-69 and P.L. 108-83. It will not be updated.