[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 132 (Monday, September 30, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S7014]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  DEFICIT-NEUTRAL DISASTER RELIEF ACT

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I believe the Deficit-Neutral 
Disaster Relief Act Senator Bennet and I have drafted is at the desk. 
It is my understanding both sides have cleared the bill, I would add, 
after a lot of pushing from Senator Bennet and me and other Coloradans, 
along with the Governor and Department of Transportation.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of S. 1560, introduced earlier by Senators Bennet and 
Udall of Colorado, that the bill be read three times and passed, and 
the motions to reconsider be made and laid upon the table, with no 
intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 1560) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                S. 1560

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Deficit Neutral Disaster 
     Relief Act''.

     SEC. 2. EMERGENCY RELIEF PROJECTS.

       (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     law, the Secretary of Transportation may obligate not more 
     than $450,000,000 of the amounts made available to carry out 
     section 125 of title 23, United States Code, under chapter 9 
     of title X of division A of the Disaster Relief 
     Appropriations Act, 2013 (Public Law 113-2; 127 Stat. 34) 
     under the heading ``emergency relief program'' under the 
     heading ``federal-aid highways'' under the heading ``Federal 
     Highway Administration'' for emergency relief projects in the 
     State of Colorado arising from damage caused by flooding 
     events in that State in calendar year 2013.
       (b) Emergency Designation for Congressional Enforcement.--
     In the Senate, this Act is designated as an emergency 
     requirement pursuant to section 403(a) of S. Con. Res. 13 
     (111th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for 
     fiscal year 2010.
       (c) Emergency Designation for Statutory PAYGO.--This Act is 
     designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 
     4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (Public Law 
     111-139; 2 U.S.C. 933(g)).

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I wish to thank my colleagues 
and once again outline what this important act we passed will do. It is 
critically important.
  I was on the floor Friday, and the Presiding Officer was here on 
Friday and was patient and listened to the case Senator Bennet and I 
made at that time. This is critically important because it will allow 
Colorado to begin rebuilding our battered roads and bridges and 
highways without having to wait years for relief. We are close now to 
getting this legislation to the President's desk, and I look forward to 
working with my colleagues in the House, with Senator Bennet, to get 
this bill signed into law as soon as possible.
  Senator Bennet and I have been on the floor on a number of occasions 
in recent days to highlight how devastated certain parts of our 
beautiful State are as a result of these biblical floods we suffered a 
few weeks ago. Many communities are just now beginning to comprehend 
how serious the damage is and to see firsthand how many hundreds of 
miles of highways, roads, bridges, and other parts of our 
infrastructure are ruined or in some cases even washed away entirely.
  I have had many occasions to see this damage firsthand in the last 
few weeks, starting in my own neighborhood, which was evacuated, but 
all over the northern front range. I was in Jamestown on Saturday. 
Senator Bennet was there a few days earlier. It is one of the worst-hit 
communities in Boulder Canyon. It is almost beyond description. The 
homes are literally washed off their foundations, cars were embedded in 
the ground, completely buried. Families were left in some cases with 2 
to 3 feet of mud and silt, river cobbles literally inside their homes. 
I was in one home in Jamestown standing on the mud and silt, and my 
head was touching the ceiling because of the 3 feet of debris that was 
inside that house. We have seen entire roads and highways completely 
decimated. Without this help, it is a fact that communities will not be 
able to rebuild.
  By passing the Deficit-Neutral Disaster Relief Act, we have lifted 
the statutory cap of $100 million to a limit of $450 million. The money 
applies to highway relief, so it will be enough to help us rebuild 
swiftly.
  As I have done here before, I want to again make it clear that this 
isn't new money. It doesn't increase budget authority or increase net 
outlays. It simply allows us to access an already existing appropriated 
fund of money.
  Historically, this $100 million cap on relief has routinely been 
recognized by Congress as an unwise impediment to helping States 
recover and it has been raised for nearly every natural disaster in 
recent years. Examples would be familiar to anybody listening. We 
raised the cap on transportation disaster relief for Hurricanes Gustav, 
Ike, Irene, Sandy, as well as during the Missouri River basin flooding 
in 2011.
  I am truly appreciative and truly grateful that all of our colleagues 
have come together to recognize that the floods in Colorado are no 
exception. We are all in this together when it comes to responding to 
national disasters. I am glad that today we can say to Coloradans 
Members of Congress from all across the United States of America have 
stood with us in our recovery efforts, and we will stand with them in 
their recovery efforts as we have in the past as we experience natural 
disasters.
  I thank the Senate for clearing this crucial legislation.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and look forward to the remarks of 
my colleague Senator Bennet.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I will be brief because I think Senator 
Udall has covered it very well. But I also want to rise today on this 
floor to thank all 100 of our colleges who were necessary for getting 
this done and for getting it passed. We have to move it along to the 
President's desk.
  There are a lot of times when people at home wonder whether anybody 
in this place is listening to them and whether we are doing something 
other than playing politics with each other. This is a clear case where 
people here have listened to the people in Colorado, who have 
generously from time to time helped people in other States that were 
confronting disasters. Now it is our turn to ask for help, and that 
help has been granted.
  I wish to thank Senator Udall for his leadership in particular, but 
also all the Members in the Senate who made this possible.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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