White House proposes stopgap bill with disaster aid for Hurricane Ida and Afghan Resettlement

The Biden Administration recently proposed a stopgap-spending bill of $30 billion to fund disaster aid and Afghan refugee resettlement as the 2021 fiscal year comes to a close on September 30th. The White House is pushing lawmakers to consider a continuing resolution to allow more time for Congress to pass a funding bill.

As lawmakers work through a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and a Democrat-backed $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package, the stopgap measure would provide funding for Hurricane Ida recovery efforts and relocating those Afghans who recently fled Kabul.

A Biden Administration official explained, “The Administration is committed to delivering the funding necessary to help impacted states and tribes recover from recent extreme weather events and natural disasters. This includes disasters from the last eighteen months — such as Hurricanes Laura and Delta — for which there are remaining unmet needs, as well as more recent and immediate needs such as those stemming from ongoing wildfires and Hurricane Ida.”

As a part of the stopgap measure, the White House is requesting $6.4 billion to resettle evacuated Afghans. About 40% of that funding would go to the Defense Department to continue providing transportation and operating its “lilypad” sites overseas that house thousands of Afghans waiting for clearance to enter the United States.

Furthermore, the Health and Human Services Department would receive $1.7 billion to provide health screening, COVID-19 vaccinations and similar services to refugee resettlement, while the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development would get $800 million to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.

Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young emphasized the need for a continuing resolution as the FY 2022 budgeting process unfolds. She said, “The window provided by a short-term [continuing resolution] will allow movement toward bipartisan agreement on smart, full-year appropriations bills that reinvest in core priorities, meet the needs of American families, businesses and communities, and lay a strong foundation for the future.”

So far, the House has approved several spending bills for FY 2022. These bills did not receive Republican support as they included large spending increases for nearly all federal agencies.