{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.billnelson.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/congress-averts-shutdown-approves-41-billion-in-emergency-disaster-funds", "Congress averts shutdown, approves $4.1 billion in emergency disaster funds", "2016-12-09", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "FL", "Bill Nelson", "N000032", "www.billnelson.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 The U.S. Senate today, by a vote of 63 \u2013 36, approved a short-term spending bill that funds the government through April 28 and avoids a government shutdown.\nIn addition to keeping the government funded at its current level for the next five months, the bill provides $4.1 billion in emergency funding to several states recovering from recent natural disasters, including Florida.\nAmong the lawmakers pushing to get the emergency funding provision included in the bill was U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, of Florida, who sent a letter to President Obama last month urging him to request the funding before Congress adjourned this week so it could be included in the bill. \u00a0\n\u201cThere are several communities in Florida that are still recovering from Hurricane Matthew,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cThe emergency funding in this bill will help the hardest-hit communities make some much-needed repairs.\u201d\nOf the total $4.1 billion in emergency funding, $1.8 billion will go to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help low-income communities affected by the storm, $1 billion will go to the Federal Highway Administration to repair highways damaged by the storm such as State Road A1A in Flagler Beach and $1 billion will go to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood prevention and beach restoration projects. \u00a0 \u00a0\nAlso included in the $4.1 billion total is $74 million for NASA to repair storm-related damage at the Kennedy Space Center.\nThe bill, which the House passed yesterday, now heads to the president\u2019s desk to be signed into law.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.billnelson.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/congress-averts-shutdown-approves-41-billion-in-emergency-disaster-funds"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5547859948128462, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}