U.S. SENATE PASSES $15B DISASTER AID PACKAGE.
$15B package doubles Trump’s funding request
• The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly backed a $ 15.3- billion aid package for victims of Harvey, nearly doubling President Donald Trump’s emergency request, and including a deal between Trump and Democrats to increase America’s borrowing authority and fund the government.
The 80- 17 vote s ends the massive package to the House for a Friday vote, with emergency accounts running out of money and Hurricane Irma barrelling toward the East Coast. Trump is expected to sign the measure.
The must- do legislation would provide money to government agencies through Dec. 8, eli minating t he threat of a government shutdown when the new fiscal year starts next month.
Thursday’s vote came a day after Trump stunned GOP leaders by siding with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D- Calif., and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, in backing a shortterm extension to the debt l i mit i ncrease and t he spending bill.
The move angered fiscal conservatives, but left them with little recourse.
“Yesterday we saw Washington’s swamp continue to rise: Chuck Schumer wrote the art of the steal by taking hurricane relief hostage to guarantee a December showdown that favours Democratic spending priorities,” said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb.
A looming cash crunch is worsening because of unanticipated Harvey spending, increasing the pressure to raise the debt limit and avoid an economy-shattering default.
Republican leaders, such as Speaker Paul Ryan, RWis., had sought a longer extension of the debt- limit increase to spare GOP lawmakers multiple votes on the politically difficult issue ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
GOP leaders fumed, but Ryan backed the idea on Thursday, telling reporters that the president didn’t want to have “some partisan fight in the middle of the response.”
“We are literally funding this government on 90- day notes,” complained Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
“That is not the way to fund the largest, most relevant entity in the world. But given all the things we are dealing with — Harvey and Irma — then I’ll accept it.”
The aid money comes as Irma is taking aim at Florida. It’s just the first instalment on a recovery and rebuilding package for the twin hurricanes that could eclipse the more than $ 110- billion cost to taxpayers of Hurricane Katrina.
In a surprise move late Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell added $7.4 billion in rebuilding funding to Trump’s $ 7.9 billion request to deal with the immediate emergency in Texas and parts of Louisiana.