COMMITTEE SETS ASIDE $39 MILLION FOR STATE STORMS

STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON — At least $39 million in storm recovery aid for Arkansas is contained in an emergency war spending bill the Senate is expected to consider next week.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday tacked on the funding to legislation that authorizes $168.9 billion in new spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The money for Arkansas is among $10.4 billion set aside for recovery from hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other natural disasters.

Republicans killed a similar war spending bill in the House on Thursday in a protest over money for domestic projects attached to the legislation. The failed House version did not include money for Arkansas storm recovery.

The Senate bill would appropriate $33 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to repair and restore navigation channels affected by this spring’s heavy flooding, evaluate condition of levees and floodwalls and complete other flood-related projects.

About $6 million would be used to purchase flood plain easements under the federal Emergency Watershed Protection program.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both D-Ark., requested the funding.

“I assured Sens. Lincoln and Pryor that the deeply seeded concerns they have for their constituents’ welfare were not falling on deaf ears, and that we would do our best to bring relief to the people in their state,” Byrd said in a statement.

Severe storms and flooding left damage across Arkansas, with the majority of the state’s counties being declared federal and state disaster areas.

At least 26 people have died in Arkansas this year because of the storms.