II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1610

To authorize additional emergency disaster relief for victims of Hurricane

Dennis and Hurricane Floyd.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 21, 1999

Mr. EDWARDS (for himself and Mr. ROBB) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,

and Forestry

A BILL

To authorize additional emergency disaster relief for victims

of Hurricane Dennis and Hurricane Floyd.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS OF AD4 DITIONAL AMOUNT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2000

5 FOR DISASTER RELIEF FOR THE VICTIMS OF

6 HURRICANE FLOYD.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) between August 29 and September 9, 1999,

9 Hurricane Dennis hovered off the coast of North
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1 Carolina and eventually made landfall off Cape Hat2 teras;

3 (2) Hurricane Dennis brought 20 inches of rain

4 to portions of North Carolina, wiped out significant

5 portions of the highway network on the North Caro6 lina Outer Banks, and flooded homes and busi7 nesses;

8 (3) Hurricane Dennis caused millions of dollars

9 in damage to houses, businesses, farms, fishermen,

10 roads, beaches and protective dunes;

11 (4) between September 14 and 16, 1999, Hur12 ricane Floyd menaced most of the southeastern sea13 board of the United States, provoking the largest

14 peace time evacuation of eastern Florida, the Geor15 gia coast, the South Carolina coast, and the North

16 Carolina Coast;

17 (5) on September 16, 1999, in the early morn18 ing hours, Hurricane Floyd made landfall at the

19 Cape Fear River, dumping up to 18 inches of rain

20 on sections of North Carolina only days after the

21 heavy rainfall from Hurricane Dennis;

22 (6) the result of the landfall of Hurricane Floyd

23 was the worst recorded flooding in the history of

24 North Carolina;
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1 (7) after making landfall, Hurricane Floyd con2 tinued to move up the eastern seaboard, causing

3 flooding and tornadoes in Virginia, Maryland, Penn4 sylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut;

5 (8) Hurricane Floyd is responsible for the

6 known deaths of 54 people, 35 of whom were con7 firmed dead in North Carolina, 3 in New Jersey, 2

8 in New York, 6 in Pennsylvania, 4 in Virginia, 2 in

9 Delaware, 1 in Vermont, and 1 in Connecticut, with

10 many people still missing;

11 (9) as the flood waters recede, the death toll

12 from Hurricane Floyd is expected to grow;

13 (10) farmers and fishermen have been among

14 the most drastically affected by Hurricane Floyd;

15 (11) in North Carolina alone, the agricultural

16 loss estimates are already $1,300,000,000, and are

17 likely to rise far higher;

18 (12) North Carolina is the third most agri19 culturally diverse State in the country, producing,

20 among other products, tobacco, cotton, peanuts, soy21 beans, corn, sweet potatoes, livestock, dairy, and

22 produce;

23 (13) last year in North Carolina, the total com24 modities sold from the State topped $7 billion, and
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1 in Virginia they generated $2.4 billion in cash re2 ceipts;

3 (14) in North Carolina, more than 100,000

4 hogs have drowned, and more than 3,000,000 poul5 try have been killed by the flooding;

6 (15) an estimated 120,000,000 gallons of hog

7 waste have spilled into the environment, polluting

8 rivers and ground water, and dozens of waste la9 goons have been destroyed or flooded;

10 (16) millions of other animals in North Caro11 lina are in danger of starving to death, trapped in

12 areas where it is impossible to deliver feed;

13 (17) 80 percent of the North Carolina cotton

14 crop, 25 percent of the Virginia cotton crop, 75 to

15 80 percent of the soybean crop, and 75 to 80 per16 cent of the peanut crop (including 25 percent of the

17 Virginia peanut crop) are expected to be lost;

18 (18) the North Carolina sweet potato crop may

19 be a complete loss;

20 (19) seed crops in the area have been almost

21 completely destroyed;

22 (20) farming equipment throughout the area

23 has been destroyed;

24 (21) debris cleanup in affected areas will be

25 overwhelming, and the possibility of soil contamina-
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1 tion will have to be assessed on farms across the

2 State; and

3 (22) hundreds of fishermen have lost their

4 boats as a result of the force of Hurricane Floyd

5 and Hurricane Dennis.

6 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

7 (1) AGRICULTURE.—There is authorized to be

8 appropriated for the Department of Agriculture for

9 fiscal year 2000, $3,000,000,000, to remain avail10 able until expended, for expenses of the Department

11 relating to the provision of disaster relief for agricul12 tural producers affected by Hurricane Floyd and for

13 other Hurricane Floyd-related relief under—

14 (A) the flooded land reserve program, in

15 accordance with section 1124 of the Agri16 culture, Rural Development, Food and Drug

17 Administration, and Related Agencies Appro18 priations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105–277; 7

19 U.S.C. 1421 note);

20 (B) the Wetlands Reserve Program, au21 thorized by subchapter C of chapter 1 of sub22 title D of title XII of the Food Security Act of

23 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3837);

24 (C) the Environmental Quality Incentives

25 Program under chapter 4 of subtitle D of the
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1 Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa

2 et seq.);

3 (D) the Emergency Conservation Program

4 under title IV of the Agricultural Credit Act of

5 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.);

6 (E) the rural housing insurance fund

7 under section 502 of the Housing Act of 1949

8 (42 U.S.C. 1487);

9 (F) the program to provide low income

10 housing repair grants under section 504 of the

11 Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1474); and

12 (G) any other program that provides ap13 propriate disaster relief, as determined by the

14 Secretary of Agriculture.

15 (2) COMMERCE.—There is authorized to be ap16 propriated for the Department of Commerce for fis17 cal year 2000, $50,000,000 for expenses of the De18 partment of Commerce to provide emergency dis19 aster assistance to persons or entities that have in20 curred losses from a commercial fishery failure de21 scribed in 308(b)(1) of the Interjurisdictional Fish22 eries Act of 1986 (16 U.S.C. 4107(b)) and due to

23 Hurricane Floyd, to remain available until expended.

24 (3) FEMA.—There is authorized to be appro25 priated for the Federal Emergency Management
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1 Agency for fiscal year 2000, $250,000,000 for emer2 gency expenses resulting from Hurricane Floyd, to

3 remain available until expended.

4 (c) CONSTRUCTION.—The amounts authorized to be

5 appropriated by subsection (b) are in addition to any other

6 amounts authorized to be appropriated for the Depart7 ment of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce or the

8 Federal Emergency Management Agency for fiscal year

9 2000 for the expenses described in that subsection.

10 (d) DESIGNATION AS EMERGENCY SPENDING.—The

11 appropriation of any amount under an authorization of

12 appropriations in subsection (b) shall be—

13 (1) designated as emergency spending in ac14 cordance with section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced

15 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985

16 (2 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(A)); and

17 (2) made available on an emergency basis.

Æ