12.19.11 Enactment this weekend of a massive $1 trillion spending bill will provide funding for a new Veterans Affairs hospital in New Orleans, coastal restoration studies and a measure allowing FEMA to waive repayment of "erroneous" disaster payments to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The FEMA provision doesn't apply to any payments made as a result of fraudulent claims, and it requires households with annual incomes higher than $90,000 to pay back at least a portion of the erroneous disaster payments, although not necessarily the full amount.

FEMA hasn't said yet whether it will take advantage of the new provision, but Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., the measure's author, is confident it will.