The Senate sent President Donald Trump a $36.5 billion hurricane relief bill Tuesday that gives Puerto Rico access to $4.9 billion in low-interest Treasury loans, amid concerns that recovery efforts from the recent disasters will require significantly more funding, Bloomberg News reported. The measure, passed 82-17, also would replenish the troubled National Flood Insurance Program, which runs out of money as early as this week. The vote followed a failed push by Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas to insert more disaster recovery aid into the bill for his state, hit hard by flooding from Hurricane Harvey in late August. Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida also pushed unsuccessfully for up to $3 billion more for his state’s citrus industry. Cornyn told reporters Trump assured him that the White House would request the funds for Texas in November. The legislative package that passed the Senate also contains the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017 that will:
- Extend the temporary judgeships by 5 years in certain districts;
- Amend chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code;
- Increase the quarterly fee payable to the U.S. trustee by chapter 11 (reorganization) debtors whose disbursements equal or exceed $1 million in a fiscal year unless the balance in the U.S. Trustee System Fund exceeds $200 million.
For the full bill text and provisions, please click here.
