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House Bill Would Create $100M Disaster-Aid Revolving Loan Fund | Columbus Ohio Dump Trucks

Bill follows recommendations of mayors of Mississippi River towns and cities dealing with flooding

Resilience Revolving Loan Fund Press Conference
Rep. Rodney Davis (R. Ill. 13) speaks at a press conference introducing the Resilience Revolving Loan Fund Act.
Also present, Mayor Sean Dowse of Red Wing, Minn.; Mayor Rick Eberlin of Grafton, Ill.; Mayor Lionel Johnson of St. Gabriel, La., and Rep. Angie Craig (R Minn. 2). Photo Courtesy of Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative

Midwestern legislators, still reeling from lengthy river flooding, introduced a bill July 24 to establish a $100 million low-interest federal revolving loan fund for resilience projects. The measure, brought by U.S. Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), would provide one time grants totaling $100 million federal funds tor any dump trucks columbus oh community to construct infrastructure to make them more resilient.

When the loans are repaid, that money would be made available for future disaster relief.

"That's what communities want to do, they don't want to be calculating disaster costs, then go beg FEMA for a disaster declaration every time something happens," Davis says.

Mayor Rick Eberlin, of Grafton, Ill,, stressed he and the other mayors were, "not asking for a handout,” he said, “we’re simply asking for a helping hand. And I believe this bill and this loan fund will do that for all of our communities.”

The bill largely mirrors requests made in March by the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, a coalition of nearly 80 mayors and other officials from communities along the river.

"I heard from mayors across my district, including Mayor Sean Dowse from Red Wing, Minn., that the severity of this year's spring floods overwhelmed communities and stretched already limited resources beyond their breaking points," Craig said in a press conference announcing the bill's introduction. "It's clear that natural disasters are getting deadlier and more severe and they are costing our communities money, displacing families, delaying farmers planting seasons, and impeding local businesses."

HR 3779, drafted with help from FEMA, would fund projects such as flood plain mapping, levee reconfiguration and port protection. The fund could also be used for natural infrastructure such as wetlands, marshes, riparian buffers, reconnected floodplains and reconnected backwater areas. The American Society of Civil Engineers supports the bill.

Davis said money for loans communities take out of the fund would be replenished after they are paid back. Davis represents the 13th district of Illinois which includes many towns along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The representatives' legislative strategy for passing the bill was not yet clear. House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Chairwoman Dina Titus (D. Nev.) said that she will schedule a quick vote to get the bill through to the House floor.

"There is a lot of support for it in our committee. We've been working with FEMA, so I think you'll see it moving rather quickly. Mr. Davis and I worked with a lot of the mayors around the country, I would say to encourage their members, both republicans and democrats, to get on board with this bill as quickly as possible," she said (in a statement?).

Davis sponsored a bill passed last year, the Disaster Declaration Improvement Act, to change the funding formula for disaster relief. He said discussions of what the new measure could lead to or how eventual passage of it could happen, including the implications of the proposed two-year budget deal announced by the president and congressional leaders last week, is premature.

"Let's not jump ahead of ourselves," he said. "That [the budget deal] is not necessarily a guarantee right now. Our job, and as soon as you serve authorizing committees, regardless of what's happening on the larger budget deal scale, once we have the authorizing language, we then can go in and fight for appropriations dollars. But it starts with the committee that we all serve on."

It was also not clear exactly where initial funding for the $100 million fund could come from in the federal budget.

"We have to authorize certain amount of dollars and then get those dollars appropriated. This is a one year program," Davis said.