By Sherry Koonce

The News staff writer

In less than two weeks after Hurricane Ike struck the Southeast Texas coastline, disaster assistance has been appropriated by the U.S. Congress.

On Wednesday, the House passed a Continuing Resolution that has $630 billion in temporary spending to provide Fiscal year 2009 federal government funding, including $22 billion for disaster relief.

The House also voted to end a quarter-century ban on oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.

Both actions, said U.S Congress Ted Poe (R-Texas) should be beneficial to Texans and the rest of the country.

Poe said he expects the state to get the majority of the disaster funds included in the bill. Other areas of the nation will receive disaster aid for victims of summer floods in the Midwest, wildfires in the West and other hurricanes and tropical storms.

“Congress has moved very rapidly on this,” Poe said during a telephone interview from Washington. “We are quite pleased Congress saw this need and immediately responded instead of waiting until a new administration came into office.”

Although it has not been determined which states will receive what, the disaster funding is divided as follows: $6.5 billion for Community Development Block Grants, $7.9 billion for FEMA, $1.3 billion the Army Corps of Engineers.

Poe said the Community Development Block Grant funding would prove beneficial to Southeast Texans because local communities get to decide how best to spend the money.

“That puts money back into our communities, and our communities know best how to spend it,” Poe said.

Since Ike struck the Texas Gulf coast on Sept. 13, the U.S. Coast Guard has been studying the extent of debris damage. Among those affected areas is the Sabine-Neches Waterway.

Poe said he expected the Coast Guard study to be completed possibly as early as this week.

While what is included in the bill is important to coastal Texas residents, what was not included is important to the entire nation, Poe said.

A quarter-century ban on offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific expired this week. Language that would have continued the ban was omitted from the spending bill.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Republicans have made lifting the ban a key campaign after gasoline prices soared beyond $4 a gallon this summer and public opinion turned in favor of more drilling. President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling in July.

The Interior Department estimates there are 18 billion barrels of recoverable oil beneath coastal waters now off-limits, the AP reported.

“This is great news for energy independence,” Poe said. I think it will immediately help stabilize or decrease the cost of fuel because of the threat of competition with OPEC.”

Poe said the nation would likely have seen a greater decrease in fuel prices, had it not been for the damage sustained to Texas refineries because of the Hurricane.

The spending bill is expected to be voted on in the Senate this week, and has the support of President Bush, Poe said.

Also in the bill:

• $600 billion appropriated for 2009 budges for the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.

• $25 billion in federal loans to help Detroit automakers retool factories to produce automobiles meeting new emissions and fuel efficiency standards.

• Funding for heating and air conditioning subsidies were doubled to $5.2 billion.

• Keeps most domestic agencies operating at current funding levels through March unless Congress separately enacts their budgets.

Contact this reporter at skoonce@panews.com.