$36.5B in disaster relief OK’d; more promised to Abbott
House leaders say they will pass another bill after governor’s criticism.
The U.S. House passed a $36.5 billion emergency funding package Thursday to help victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and California wildfires, a day after Gov. Greg Abbott urged the 36 House members from Texas to vote against it.
Abbott’s harsh criticism of the bill in a Houston Chronicle story Wednesday — and of the Texas GOP members of Congress, in particular, as “spineless” — for falling short of what he expected, prompted late night meetings with Texas lawmakers and House leadership. On Thursday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., made a dramatic entrance at the weekly Texas GOP delegation lunch carrying his phone with Abbott on the line to broker a resolution.
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, who was at the luncheon, said, “I think we’re always better together working as a united front. The good news is: we’re united.”
The result was that House leaders promised another spending bill
in 30 days to include fund-
ing that Abbott and Texas lawmakers had requested. Under the procedures that the bill was being considered under, it could not be amended.
Abbott spokesman Matt Hirsch said, “Gov. Abbott was assured by House leader- ship that, as soon as November, Texas will get the disas- ter assistance funding we’re requesting for Army Corps of Engineer projects, Community Development Block Grants, and funding for dredg- ing Texas ports, expanding bayous and critical flood mitigation projects, among other priorities. The governor will hold House leadership to that promise on behalf of Texans whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Harvey. In the meantime, the governor and the Texas delegation will con- tinue working together as a team to help Texans recover and rebuild.”
The Texas GOP lawmak- ers who are on the spending committee that was respon-
sible for the bill, Reps. John Carter of Round Rock, Kay Granger of Fort Worth and John Culberson of Houston, identified $15 billion in the bill that will go to Texas, notably an injection for the depleted flood insurance program, which has pend-
ing claims from thousands of Texans in the Houston area affected by Harvey and $4 billion for the Federal Emer- gency Management Agency disaster relief fund for Texas.
The measure passed 35369, with six Republican members from Texas voting against it: Reps. Roger Williams of Austin, Joe Bar- ton of Ennis, Louie Gohmert of Tyler, Jeb Hensarling of
Dallas, Kenny Marchant of Coppell and John Ratcliffe of Heath. None are from areas affected by Harvey.
All of the 69 “no” votes were from GOP members.
Williams said in a state- ment that the National Flood Insurance Program “urgently needs an overhaul, and until the House passes legislation that reforms this fractured program, I cannot support a $16 billion bailout that fur- ther kicks this problem to the future.”
Carter, Granger and Cul- berson said in a joint state- ment, “Our top priority is to make sure money doesn’t
run out in the next few weeks for Texas homeowners eager to rebuild their homes, as well as communities count- ing on FEMA funding for temporary housing, debris removal and infrastructure repairs for roads and schools.”
Accord i ng to a news release from Granger’s office, “In a telephone call with members of the Texas delegation, Gov. Abbott expressed his commitment to continuing to work with the Texas congressional delegation and congressional leadership to ensure that Texas has the resources needed to recover and rebuild.”
McCaul said, “The governor certainly got attention from leadership,” noting that Texas lawmakers were already asking for more for Texas. “We, the delegation, approached leadership and said, ‘This is not good enough for our state.’ ” McCaul said that lawmakers were taken aback by Abbott’s harsh words: “Nobody likes to be called ‘spineless.’ ” Asked if Abbott apologized, McCaul said, “No.”
The Austin lawmaker said that Texas GOP members
urged Abbott to visit Washington and meet with President Donald Trump to press his case for additional disaster relief money for Texas.