Trump sets emergency Harvey aid in motion
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ignored seething Republicans and made good on his deal with Democrats, signing legislation that links $15.3 billion in disaster aid to an increase in the U.S. borrowing limit.
The law is a first installment in replenishing depleted federal emergency coffers. Trump signed it Friday as Hurricane Irma approached Florida and as Texas picks up the pieces after the devastation of Harvey. All 90 votes in opposition were cast by Republicans, some of whom hissed and booed administration officials who went to Capitol Hill to defend the package.
Conservative Republicans were upset Trump cut the disaster-and-debt deal with Democratic leaders with no offsetting budget cuts.
“You can’t just keep borrowing money,” said GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina. “We’re going to be $22 trillion in debt.”
The aid measure, which passed the House on a vote of 316-90, was the first injection of emergency money that could rival or exceed the $110 billion federal response after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, though future aid packages may be more difficult to pass. The legislation also finances the government through Dec. 8.
In a closed-door meeting before the vote, more than a dozen Republicans stood up and complained about Trump cutting a deal with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi instead of GOP leaders trying to deliver on the president’s agenda.
Budget chief Mick Mulvaney, a former tea party congressman from South Carolina who took a hard line against debt increases during his House tenure, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin faced a rough time in pleading for votes.
Mnuchin elicited hisses when he told the meeting of House Republicans “vote for the debt ceiling for me,” said Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C.
Republicans were in disbelief after Mnuchin argued the debt ceiling shouldn’t be a political issue in the future, said Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.
Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa., described a surreal scene with Mnuchin, a former Democratic donor, and Mulvaney, who almost certainly would have opposed the very measure he was sent to pitch, pressing Republicans to rally around the legislation.
“It’s kind of like ‘Where am I? What’s going on here?’” Costello said. “If it wasn’t so serious it kind of would have been funny.”
Mulvaney was booed when he stepped to the microphone, though lawmakers said it was goodnatured. He defended the deal and Trump.
“It was absolutely the right thing to do,” Mulvaney told reporters after the meeting. “The president is a results-driven person, and right now he wants to see results on Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma and tax reform. He saw an opportunity to work with Democrats on this particular issue at this particular time.”
But Mulvaney further upset Republicans when he wouldn’t promise spending cuts as part of a future debt limit vote.
Trump on Wednesday had cut a deal with Schumer and Pelosi to increase the debt limit for three months, rather than the long-term approach preferred by the GOP leaders that would have resolved the issue through next year’s midterms.
Conservatives disliked both options. Voting on the debt limit is politically toxic for Republicans, and the deal will make the GOP vote twice before next year’s midterm elections.