US Senate Passes Spending Bill with NM Wildfire Relief

The US Senate today passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government through Dec. 16—legislation that includes $2.5 billion for the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire Assistance Act. As of press time, the bill needed to be passed by the US House and signed by President Joe Biden before midnight on Friday.

All of the Democrats in New Mexico’s congressional delegation backed the bill, which was introduced by US Sen. Ben Ray Luján in the Senate and by US Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez of the 3rd Congressional District in the House. Last May, upon the bill’s introduction, Luján told SFR he modeled the bill on the Cerro Grande Fire Assistance Act, sponsored by the late US Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM, in the wake of the 2000 Cerro Grande Fire, which, like Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon, grew from a prescribed burn.

Following today’s passage by the US Senate, Luján told SFR he is “optimistic” the House will pass the bill. Including the bill in the continuing resolution was the most expedient way to pass the legislation, he says.

“I’m very proud that my legislation was included in the [continuing resolution] and that we were able to get this done, and especially applaud the effort of [US Sen. Martin Heinrich] and other senators that were assisting till the very end to make sure this would happen.”

Without the additional $2.5 billion package, he says, families applying for aid would have only been eligible for existing programs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“For example, there’s a housing program for families that would have registered that caps out at $37,000 and on average FEMA gives out about $4,700 for home reimbursed,” he said. The legislation creates a separate program with the additional $2.5 billion in funding.

“I’m so sorry to the families from Mora and San Miguel and all the families with what they have had to go through here,” Luján said. “This is a package that was a result of visiting with families, listening to them and identifying what could be done. We knew it would not be easy…to earn the support of colleagues from across America. But in the end, the support and the direction and the commitment from families across New Mexico, and their prayers, it all came together for us to get this done.”