Spending bills include disaster assistance for Florida and Puerto Rico

The U.S. Senate approved a massive two-year government spending bill that includes, among other things, $89.3 billion in disaster assistance to help areas, such as Florida and Puerto Rico, recover from the devastating 2017 hurricanes.
The bill will provide $2.36 billion to help farmers in states affected by last year’s storms, including Florida’s citrus growers who sustained more than $760 million in losses due to Hurricane Irma. It also provides $2.7 billion for schools impacted by the storms, including schools in Florida that have experienced a sudden influx of students who evacuated from Puerto Rico; and $10.4 billion for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to use for construction projects in states impacted by the hurricanes, such as the Herbert Hoover Dike that helps protect residents and businesses on Lake Okeechobee.
Also included in the bill is $2 billion to help Puerto Rico rebuild its power grid, where nearly a third of the island still remains without power; and $4.8 billion to fund Puerto Rico’s Medicaid program for at least two years.

This is a big win for all those who are still struggling to recover from last summer’s devastating storms, and it’s something I’ve been urging Congress to pass for months now.

For some, the funding in this bill will be a light at the end of the tunnel and a major step forward in helping them return to the way life used to be before these storms.

This much-needed disaster assistance wasn’t the only thing we got approved last night – also included in the overall $300 billion budget agreement were several other legislative items I’ve been pushing hard for recently, including:

• $6 billion to help combat the opioid crisis.

• Closing Medicare’s prescription drug “donut hole” by 2019. At my urging, Senate leaders agreed to include a provision in this budget deal that will close the so-called Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” by 2019, instead of 2020. It also shifts more of the cost to drug makers, instead of Medicare. Getting this provision approved will help lower the cost of prescription drugs for thousands of seniors in Florida, and it will also save taxpayers billions of dollars over ten years.

• Reauthorizes the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for 10 years. Included in this budget deal is a provision similar to the legislation I cosponsored to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Now signed into law, this bill will extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which more than 370,000 children in Florida rely on, for a total of 10 years. 

• Seniors’ Tax Simplification Act of 2017. A little over one year ago, Sen. Rubio and I filed legislation to make it easier for seniors to file their taxes – and thanks to our constant pushing, we were able to get it included in the budget bill approved last night. Now approved, this legislation will allow seniors to file a new tax form, similar to the 1040EZ, instead of the more complicated Form 1040 or Form 1040A they are currently required to use because of the income they earn through Social Security, capital gains and other retirement benefits, and the special tax credits they receive. 

• $7 billion to help fund Community Health Centers. Included in this budget deal is a provision, similar to one I cosponsored in the Senate recently, to provide an additional $7 billion for Community Health Centers. These health centers provide much-needed medical services to some of the nation’s most vulnerable individuals, including more than one million Floridians each year.