BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana stands to benefit from billions of dollars in relief aid for hurricane recovery included by Congress in a must-pass spending bill.
But just how much money the state will receive to repair the damage of hurricanes Gustav and Ike will be up to federal agencies.
Emergency aid for victims of the recent hurricanes and summer floods in the Midwest totaled $23 billion in the spending bill that was approved by the U.S. House. The bill is up for discussion in the U.S. Senate on Thursday.
The bill includes $8 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide disaster relief and $6.5 billion in disaster block grant aid for states.
Hundreds of millions of dollars also are included for highway repairs, health care, business grants, rental assistance and fisheries damage.
Federal agencies will divvy up much of the money to states how they choose.
 
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