Order Code RL33226
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations
Legislation for Disaster Assistance:
Summary Data FY1989 to FY2005
January 9, 2006
Justin Murray
Information Research Specialist
Knowledge Services Group
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Legislation for
Disaster Assistance: Summary Data FY1989 to FY2005
Summary
This report provides summary information on emergency supplemental
appropriations enacted after major disasters since 1989. More recently, Hurricane
Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast of the United States on August 29, 2005, as
a Category 3 hurricane after passing over South Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on
August 25, 2005. In response, on September 2, 2005, President Bush signed into law
a $10.5 billion supplemental appropriations measure, P.L. 109-61, which provided
disaster assistance funds for the affected areas. On September 9, 2005, the President
signed into law a second supplemental measure totaling $51.8 billion in
appropriations, P.L. 109-62. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
administers most of these funds.
Hurricane Rita passed the vicinity of the Florida Keys on September 20, 2005,
as a Category 2 hurricane and made landfall along the Gulf Coast of Texas and
Louisiana as a Category 3 on September 25. This report will be updated as events
warrant.

Contents
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Selected CRS Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
List of Tables
Table 1. Presidential Requests and Appropriations, Emergency
Appropriations for Disaster Assistance, FY1989-FY2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Emergency Supplemental Appropriations
Legislation for Disaster Assistance:
Summary Data FY1989 to FY2005
Overview
From FY1989 through FY2005, Congress appropriated more than $150 billion
for disaster assistance in 28 appropriations measures, primarily supplemental
appropriations acts, after significant catastrophes occurred in the United States.1 The
median annual funding during this 17-year period was $3.5 billion; the mean, $8.9
billion. Disasters during FY2001 and FY2005 were especially costly. In FY2001,
supplemental appropriations for disaster assistance totaled $20.3 billion, most of
which went towards recovery following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
In FY2005, after hurricanes devastated parts of Florida in the summer of 2004 and
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast in the summer of 2005,
supplemental appropriations for disaster assistance reached an all-time high of $73.4
billion — 49% of the total appropriated for disaster assistance for the entire 17-year
period of FY1989 through FY2005. Two high-cost years, FY2001 and FY2005,
account for 62% of the 17-year total.
This report provides summary information on emergency supplemental
appropriations legislation enacted since 1989 after significant catastrophes. The data
in this report include funds appropriated to the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF)
administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and funds
appropriated to other agencies.2 Emergency assistance funding includes
appropriations for disaster relief, repair of federal facilities, and hazard mitigation
activities oriented toward reducing the affects of future disasters. DRF
appropriations are obligated for all major disasters and emergencies issued under the
1 This amount does not include disaster assistance funding made available through regular
annual appropriations legislation (with one exception in FY2000 after Hurricane Floyd) or
funding enacted for agricultural disasters. For information on emergency agriculture
funding, see CRS Report RL31095, Emergency Funding for Agriculture: A Brief History
of Supplemental Appropriations, FY1989-FY2005
, by Ralph Chite.
2 Disaster relief funding allocated in P.L. 107-117 was not included in the table below
because it was an allocation of funding appropriated in P.L. 107-38. The majority of federal
emergency assistance funding listed in this report was provided through the Disaster Relief
Fund. More information on the emergency funding provided to the DRF appears in CRS
Report RL33053, Federal Disaster Assistance: Presidential Declarations, Eligible Activities
and Funding
, by Keith Bea.

CRS-2
Stafford Act,3 not only those significant events that lead to supplemental
appropriations. Counterterrorism and national security appropriations are not
included in the emergency assistance compilation.
As reflected in Table 1 below, most supplemental appropriations were enacted
as stand-alone legislation. However, in some instances, emergency disaster relief
funding was enacted as part of regular appropriations measures, continuing
appropriations acts (continuing resolutions), or in omnibus appropriations legislation.
Requested funding levels noted in the third column of the table reflect House
Appropriations Committee data on total requested funding for the entire enacted bill.
Where possible, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) data taken from
correspondence to Congress requesting emergency supplemental funding is used to
identify dates of Administration requests for supplemental funding.4
Table 1. Presidential Requests and Appropriations, Emergency
Appropriations for Disaster Assistance, FY1989-FY2005
(Nominal dollars in thousands)
Emergency
Disaster Event
Assistance
Administration
and Date of
Funding and
Request, by Date
Date Signed
Major Disaster
Total
Percentage of
Fiscal Year
and Amountb
into Law and
Declarationa
Appropriation
Appropriation
.
(nominal dollars
P.L. Number
(nominal dollars
(nominal
in thousands)
in thousands)
dollars in
thousands)
2005
Hurricane Katrina
Sept. 7, 2005
Sept. 8, 2005
$51,800,000
$51,800,000
Aug. 29, 2005
$51,800,000
P.L. 109-62
100%
2005
Hurricane Katrina
Sept. 1, 2005
Sept. 2, 2005
$10,500,000
$10,500,000
Aug. 29, 2005
$10,500,000
P.L. 109-61
100%
2005
Hurricanes Ivan,
Sept. 14, 2004
Oct. 13, 2004
$14,500,000
$11,103,887
Jeanne
$3,100,000
P.L. 108-324
76.6%
Sept. 1, 2004
2004
Hurricanes
Sept. 6, 2004
Sept. 8, 2004
$2,000,000
$2,000,000
Charley, Frances
$2,000,000
P.L. 108-303
100%
Sept. 1, 2004
3 The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5121 et
seq.
4 The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website on Supplementals, Amendments,
and Releases [http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/amendments.htm] contains a list of
the presidential submission transmittals and estimates from calendar year 2003 to the
present. Calendar year OMB 2004 submissions and estimates are available at
[http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/04amendments.htm]; calendar year OMB 2003
submissions and estimates are available at [http://www.whitehouse.gov/
omb/budget/03amendments.htm].

CRS-3
Emergency
Disaster Event
Assistance
Administration
and Date of
Funding and
Request, by Date
Date Signed
Major Disaster
Total
Percentage of
Fiscal Year
and Amountb
into Law and
Declarationa
Appropriation
Appropriation
.
(nominal dollars
P.L. Number
(nominal dollars
(nominal
in thousands)
in thousands)
dollars in
thousands)
2004
Wildfires
$417,500,000
$500,000
— c
Aug. 8, 2004
various dates
P.L. 108-287
0.12%
2004
Hurricane Isabel
$87,000,000
Nov. 6, 2003
$87,500,000
$813,000
Sept. 18, 2003
Sept. 17, 2003d
P.L. 108-106
0.93%
2003
Storms
July 7, 2003
Sept. 30, 2003
$3,500,000
$820,700
various 2003
(continued from
P.L. 108-83
23.4%
dates
$1,900,000
request below)
2003
Tornados
July 7, 2003
Aug. 8, 2003
$983,600
$983,600
May 6, 2003
$1,900,000
P.L. 108-69
100%
2002
Terrorist attacks
Mar. 21, 2002
Aug. 2, 2002
$26,600,000
$6,167,600
Sept. 11, 2001
$27,100,000
P.L. 107-206
23.2%
2001
Terrorist attacks
Sept. 12, 2001
Sept. 18, 2001
$40,000,000e
$20,000,000
Sept. 11, 2001
$20,000,000
P.L. 107-38
50%
f
2001
Nisqually
July 24, 2001
$8,980,000
$365,700
Earthquake
P.L. 107-20
4.9%
2000
Hurricane Floyd
Sept. 21, 1999
Oct. 20, 1999
$99,500,000
$2,480,425
Sept. 16, 1999
$97,500g
P.L. 106-74
2.5%
h
1999
Tornados
May 21, 1999
$13,100,000
$1,296,723
various dates
P.L. 106-31
9.9%
1999
Hurricanes
$7,780,000i
Oct. 21, 1998
$21,000,000
$1,830,977
Georges, Bonnie
P.L. 105-277
8.7%
flooding
various dates
1998
El Niño floods
Mar. 24, 1998
May 1, 1998
$6,006,000
$2,602,173
Feb. 9, 1998
$22,560,000
P.L. 105-174
43.3%
1997
Dakotas flooding
Mar. 19, 1997
June 12, 1997
$9,163,000
$5,863,883
Apr. 7, 1997
$3,480,000
P.L. 105-18
64%
j
1995
Oklahoma City
July 27, 1995
$7,453,000
$6,599,531
bombing
P.L. 104-19
88.6%
Apr. 25, 1995
1995
Northridge
$90,100,000k
Sept. 28, 1994
$90,100,000
$417,500l
Earthquake,
P.L. 103-327
0.46%
Tropical Storm
Alberto
various dates

CRS-4
Emergency
Disaster Event
Assistance
Administration
and Date of
Funding and
Request, by Date
Date Signed
Major Disaster
Total
Percentage of
Fiscal Year
and Amountb
into Law and
Declarationa
Appropriation
Appropriation
.
(nominal dollars
P.L. Number
(nominal dollars
(nominal
in thousands)
in thousands)
dollars in
thousands)
1994
Midwest floods,
Sept. 28, 1994
Feb. 12, 1994
$11,535,000
$8,837,952
CA fires and
$11,430,000
P.L. 103-211
76.6%
Northridge
earthquake
Jan. 17, 1994
1993
Midwest floods/
July 14, 1993
Aug. 12, 1993
$4,411,000
$3,494,750
June 11, 1993
$3,980,000
P.L. 103-75
79.2%
m
1993
Hurricanes
July 2, 1993
$3,500,000
$52,345
Andrew, Iniki
P.L. 103-50
1.5%
various dates
1992
Hurricanes
Sept. 8, 1992
Sept. 23, 1992
$12,775,00
$5,767,116
Andrew, Iniki
$6,530,000
P.L. 102-368
45.1%
Aug. 24, 1992
n
1992
L.A.
June 22, 1992
$1,191,000
$ 469,650
riots/Chicago
P.L. 102-302
39.4%
flood
various dates
1992
Hurricane Bob
June 28, 1991
Dec. 12, 1991
$6,849,000
$943,000
various dates
$693,000
P.L.102-229
13.8%
o
1990
Hurricane
May 25, 1990
$4,300,000
$670,412
Hugo/Exxon
P.L. 101-302
15.6%
Valdez
various dates
p
1990
Hurricane Hugo
Oct. 26, 1989
$ 2,850,000
$2,850,000
Loma Prieta
P.L. 101-130
100%
Earthquake
Oct. 18, 1989
q
1989
Hurricane Hugo
Sept. 29, 1989
$1,108,000
$1,108,000
Sept. 20, 1989
P.L. 101-100
100%
1989
Fires on federal
June 30, 1989
$3,564,000
$348,969
r
lands
P.L. 101-45
9.8%
various dates
Sources: Supplemental funding totals based on compiled CRS data on Emergency Appropriations After Disasters, FY1989-
FY2005. Other supplemental funding totals obtained from Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Supplemental Appropriations
series, including “CBO Data on Supplemental Budget Authority for the 2000s” available at
[http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/66xx/doc6630/SuppApprop.pdf], Supplemental Appropriations in the 1990s
[http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/27xx/doc2768/Report.pdf].
Totals for Administration requests were obtained from OMB correspondence to Congress (see footnote above) and from the
House Appropriations Committee Budget Estimates volumes, Table VIIIa. Editions for recent Congresses (through the 107th)
are available on the Government Printing Office GPO Access Congressional Documents site at [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/
serialset/cdocuments/budgets.html].

CRS-5
a. Data in this column represent the date the President issued a major disaster declaration for the disaster that appeared to be
the primary catalyst for the supplemental appropriations legislation. In a series of disasters (such as the Midwest floods
of 1993), this date represents the first of several declarations associated with that particular disaster. In some instances,
identifying which disasters were primarily associated with consideration of the supplemental appropriations is not
possible.
b. Data in this column represent the date the President submitted a request to Congress for supplemental funds. In some
instances funding was not requested by the White House but was included by Congress in regular appropriations
measures.
c. FY2004 supplemental funds to meet wildfire suppression requirements were included in the FY2005 Department of
Defense Appropriations Act, P.L. 108-287. For more information on the statute, see CRS Report RL32783, FY2005
Supplemental Appropriations for Iraq and Afghanistan, Tsunami Relief, and Other Activities
, by Amy Belasco and
Larry Nowels.
d. The President submitted a supplemental request of $87 billion for ongoing military operations and for reconstruction
assistance in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. During conference on H.R. 3289 (P.L. 108-106, the Emergency
Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense and for the Reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan Act, 2004), $500
million for FEMA for disaster relief for Hurricane Isabel and the California wildfires was added to the legislation,
bringing the total enacted funding for P.L. 108-106 to $87.5 billion.
e. P.L. 107-117 allocated funds appropriated in P.L. 107-38, which was enacted shortly after the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001. Under P.L. 107-38, $20 billion was available immediately, whereas the remaining $20 billion became
available when allocated in P.L. 107-117, enacted on January 10, 2002. $11.579 billion of the second half of the $40
billion was provided for emergency disaster assistance.
f. An OMB supplemental request for the Nisqually earthquake could not be identified.
g. The appropriations associated with Hurricane Floyd were not supplemental appropriations but were incorporated into the
regular FY2000 appropriations legislation, P.L. 106-74, Department of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban
Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000. These data are included because Congress
increased FY2000 DRF funding primarily in response to Hurricane Floyd.
h. An initial administration request of $687 million was submitted on February 16, 1999 (see discussion in H.Rept. 106-064,
p. 7) for relief funding for Hurricanes Georges and Bonnie, but additional emergency disaster funding was added to the
legislation to address tornado damage and other natural disasters during 1999.
i. Emergency relief funding for flooding caused by Hurricanes Georges and Bonnie was included in P.L. 105-277, the
FY2000 Consolidated Appropriations Act.
j. P.L. 103-211 provided $11.53 billion in DRF appropriations largely in response to the Northridge earthquake in California.
See White House press release from FEMA Director James Lee Witt on January 12, 1995, [http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/
archives/whitehouse-papers/1995/Jan/1995-01-12-fema-director-witt-on-california-flood-relief.text], visited on
November 3, 2005. Administration supplemental request correspondence to Congress for subsequent funding for
Northridge and Okalahoma City could not be identified.
k. An OMB supplemental request or requested Administration funding level for Tropical Storm Alberto could not
beidentified. Tropical Storm Alberto disaster funding was included in P.L. 103-327, the FY1995 Department of
Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act.
l. The CBO scored supplemental funding as $357.0 million.
m. An OMB supplemental request for Hurricanes Andrew and Iniki could not be identified.
n. An OMB supplemental request for the Los Angeles riots and Chicago flood could not be identified.
o. An OMB supplemental request for Hurricane Hugo and the Exxon Valdez incident could not be identified.
p. No OMB request for this funding could be identified. Disaster funding in P.L. 101-130 was enacted as a continuing
resolution, which amended the previous continuing resolution enacted as P.L. 101-100 to extend its provision until
November 15, 1989.
q. No request could be identified.
r. An OMB supplemental request for the 1989 fires on federal lands or the requested Administration funding level could not
be identified.

CRS-6
Selected CRS Reports
CRS Report RL31999, Disaster Relief and Response: FY2003 Supplemental Appropriations,
by Keith Bea.
CRS Report RS22239, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Hurricane Relief, by Keith
Bea.
CRS Report RL33053, Federal Disaster Assistance: Presidential Declarations, Eligible
Activities and Funding, by Keith Bea.
CRS Report RL32783, FY2005 Supplemental Appropriations for Iraq and Afghanistan,
Tsunami Relief, and Other Activities, by Amy Belasco and Larry Nowels.
CRS Report RL32581, Supplemental Appropriations for the 2004 Hurricanes and Other
Disasters, by Keith Bea and Ralph M. Chite.