[House Document 115-80]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]




115th Congress, 1st Session - - - - - - - - - - House Document 115-80
 
   REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL FISCAL YEAR 2018 FUNDING AND THE NECESSARY 
    AUTHORITIES TO ADDRESS ONGOING RECOVERY EFFORTS DUE TO THE 2017 
                       ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON

                               __________

                             COMMUNICATION

                                  from

           THE DIRECTOR, THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

                              transmitting

  A REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL FISCAL YEAR 2018 FUNDING AND THE NECESSARY 
    AUTHORITIES TO ADDRESS ONGOING RECOVERY EFFORTS DUE TO THE 2017 
                       ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON

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  November 24, 2017.--Referred to the Committee on Appropriations and 
                         ordered to be printed
                         
                                  ______

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                 Executive Office of the President,
                           Office of Management and Budget,
                                 Washington, DC, November 17, 2017.
Hon. Paul D. Ryan,
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Speaker: This year's Atlantic hurricane season has 
resulted in historic, widespread destruction that continues to 
affect the lives of millions of Americans. While the road to 
recovery from these devastating forces of nature will be long 
and difficult, the President, myself, and all members of the 
Administration remain steadfast in our commitment to not only 
help our communities recover, but to rebuild stronger than 
before.
    Given that Hurricane Maria made landfall only 58 days ago 
and conditions remain extremely challenging in Puerto Rico and 
the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), detailed damage assessments are 
not yet available for these communities. Accordingly, the 
Administration will continue to identify, refine, and 
articulate additional emergency funding requirements working 
with the governments of Puerto Rico and USVI, and this 
supplemental request does not represent the final request for 
their needs.
    To date, the President has signed into law the Continuing 
Appropriations Act, 2018 and Supplemental Appropriations for 
Disaster Relief Requirements Act, 2017 (Public Law 115-56), 
which provided $15.3 billion in emergency funding and necessary 
authorities to respond to and recover from these storms. The 
President also signed into law the Additional Supplemental 
Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act, 2017 
(Public Law 115-72), which provided an additional $20.5 
billion, for a total of $35.8 billion. This same Act also 
provided $16 billion in debt cancellation for the National 
Flood Insurance Program. All told, the cost of the disasters 
thus far exceeds $50 billion.
    At this time, the Administration is requesting additional 
fiscal year (FY) 2018 funding in the amount of $44 billion and 
the necessary authorities to address ongoing recovery efforts. 
Because the need for this funding arises from unforeseen and 
unanticipated events, the Administration requests that the 
amounts proposed be provided and designated as emergency 
requirements pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the 
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 
(BBEDCA).
    As a matter of comity, also provided in this total is $5 
million in emergency funding for property damage as requested 
by the Judicial Branch.
    As noted in congressional briefings and discussed in my 
October 4, 2017 letter to the Congress requesting disaster 
relief and other emergency funds, it takes 60 days to assemble 
initial recovery cost estimates after a major hurricane and can 
take up to 90 days to prepare reliable estimates. Federal 
agencies and the affected States have been working diligently 
to collect the information needed and have been able to 
generate these cost estimates for areas impacted by Hurricanes 
Harvey and Irma. As a result, this request includes recovery 
costs in States impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The 
request also includes costs of repairing Federal property, 
replacement of lost or damaged equipment, and, in a limited 
number of cases, extraordinary personnel costs that cannot be 
absorbed within current appropriations, for all of the Atlantic 
hurricanes.
    Because Hurricane Maria occurred more recently, damage 
assessments are ongoing, including in Puerto Rico and USVI. The 
Administration is also aware of the unique challenges facing 
these Territories. Thus, this supplemental request includes 
funding for the continued disaster response and initial 
recovery activities for Puerto Rico and USVI including funding 
to address the Territories' fiscal liquidity needs. Adequate 
funding for these activities in FY 2018 will be critical to 
continued response and near-term recovery efforts, such as 
emergency power restoration and the ongoing distribution of 
fuel and commodities, as well as initiating efforts under 
permanent work categories. For Puerto Rico in particular, the 
Administration seeks, as part of this request, authority to 
provide public assistance under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act without limitation of pre-
disaster condition and causation. Related to that, the 
Administration will work closely with Puerto Rico to develop a 
plan for rebuilding, which will inform the future request for 
long-term recovery funding.
    Additional details on specific programmatic funding 
requirements are discussed in an attachment to this letter. In 
summary, the Administration recommends $25.2 billion for 
traditional disaster relief administered by the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business 
Administration, $1.0 billion for emergency agricultural 
assistance, $1.2 billion for an Education recovery fund, and 
$4.6 billion for repair or replacement of damaged Federal 
property and equipment and other Federal agencies' disaster 
programs and recovery costs. The Administration also proposes a 
$12.0 billion appropriation for the Community Development Block 
Grant Disaster Recovery program focused on flood mitigation 
projects, which would be awarded competitively to States and 
Territories that had more than one flood-related major disaster 
declaration in the past four years. Those States and 
Territories must present cost-effective solutions to reducing 
future disaster risk and lowering the potential cost of future 
disaster recovery. Furthermore, the competition will 
incentivize those States and Territories to engage in 
partnerships that will bring non-Federal resources to expedite 
delivery of the projects. Eligible projects may include 
projects typically undertaken by and with the U.S. Army Corps 
of Engineers.
    The Administration recognizes that Puerto Rico will need to 
contribute funds toward its share of the Medicaid program in 
order to access its remaining FY 2018 Federal Medicaid funding. 
In addition, Puerto Rico is expected to reach its Federal 
Medicaid funding cap in early calendar year 2018, at which 
point the Territory would be responsible for any health care 
expenditures for this population above the annual capped 
allotment. Though the Administration expects to work with 
Puerto Rico and the Congress on medium-term liquidity issues 
through a future request, the Administration is aware of 
legislation being considered to address Medicaid sooner.
    Due to this year's historic and widespread wildfires, 
thousands of families in California are struggling to rebuild 
their homes and communities. Accordingly, the Administration 
requests targeted tax relief that will directly aid in the 
rebuilding process in areas covered by a major disaster 
declaration. This relief should include: non-itemized 
deductions for casualty losses waiving the current-law 
requirement that losses exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross 
income, penalty-free access to retirement funds, disaster-
related employment relief, earned income tax credit reporting-
year flexibility, and enhancement of charitable giving 
incentives. Together, these provisions mirror the tax relief 
provided in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria 
(Public Law 115-63).
    In addition, the Administration notes its support for 
legislation that would make houses of worship eligible for 
disaster relief funding (provided they meet the other relevant 
criteria for private non-profit facilities) and offers 
technical assistance regarding the timeframe for applicability.
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
    The Administration would like to reemphasize the need for 
swift action to reauthorize and reform NFIP. On October 4, 
2017, the Administration provided the Congress with a set of 
commonsense reforms that would begin to put the program on a 
sound financial footing and enable the private market for flood 
insurance to expand. The Administration is encouraged by House 
passage of H.R. 2874, the 21st Century Flood Reform Act, and 
encourages the Congress to reach an agreement on reforming the 
NFIP, along the lines of H.R. 2874, as soon as possible.
Offsets for Additional Spending
    The Administration believes it is prudent to offset new 
spending. These offsets include the cancellation of unobligated 
balances that are no longer needed for the purposes for which 
they were appropriated, as well as for projects and activities 
that are not as high of a priority as responding to this year's 
hurricanes in a fiscally responsible manner. Many of these same 
cancellations were proposed in the President's FY 2018 Budget, 
and for the purposes of this request are not in addition to 
those amounts. To the extent that these cancellations would 
have been considered as part of the FY 2018 appropriations 
bills, the Administration will work with the Appropriations 
Committee to find reductions elsewhere if needed. In order to 
offset increases to the new emergency spending we are 
requesting, the Congress should also consider designating 
offsets from base appropriations as an emergency.
    To offset the remaining cost of this request, the 
Administration suggests that the Congress extend the non-
defense Joint Committee mandatory sequestration pursuant to 
251A of BBEDCA for two additional years.
    Finally, these proposed spending reductions are not 
intended to offset any specific component of this request or of 
previous requests. We look forward to working with you to find 
the most appropriate time and manner for the Congress to 
consider these offsets.
Department of Defense Budget Amendments
    On November 6, the President asked the Congress to consider 
FY 2018 Budget amendments for DOD. This request included an 
additional $4.0 billion to support urgent missile defeat and 
defense enhancements to counter the threat from North Korea, 
$0.7 billion to repair damage to U.S. Navy ships, and $1.2 
billion in support of the Administration's South Asia strategy. 
The Administration is pleased that this request was 
incorporated into the conference report for the FY 2018 
National Defense Authorization Act, and is reiterating the need 
for the Congress to act on funding this request in a timely 
manner.
    As mentioned in the November 6 request, I also ask the 
Congress to act on the FY 2018 Budget request for the border 
wall of $1.6 billion within the Department of Homeland 
Security's Customs and Border Protection Procurement, 
Construction, and Improvements account. Providing for the 
safety of the American people is a top priority of the 
Administration.
    Thank you for your consideration of these requests, 
additional details for which are included in the attachment to 
this letter. The Administration looks forward to working with 
the Congress to support continuing recovery efforts.
            Sincerely,
                                             Mick Mulvaney,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosures.


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