Harvey aid is held hostage
Partisan bickering in Congress could force Texas to use Rainy Day Fund
WASHINGTON — Days after Gov. Greg Abbott’s trip to press for $61 billion in federal disaster aid for Texas, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn warned that the longer the Trump administration waited, the more likely the money would get caught up in the year-end spending battles of Congress.
His words last month proved prescient.
Now, with leading Democrats at loggerheads with President Donald Trump over “Dreamers,” immigration, wall funding, and overall spending limits, the odds are growing that a fiscal deal could still be weeks or even a month away — possibly even after a government shutdown.
Hanging in the balance is the White House’s reduced and much-criticized $44billion storm relief package, now hostage to a widening partisan gulf in Congress that has everything to do with the 2018 elections and nothing to do with the damage wrought from Hurricane Harvey.
The upshot: Texas officials could soon be faced with a stark choice between spending the state’s own money, or waiting for an increasingly rancorous Congress to fashion a hardfought deal.
Hopes for a spending deal by the current Dec. 8 government funding deadline dimmed on Thursday as Republican lawmakers, running out of time, began preparing a stopgap spending bill that could fund the government through Dec. 22 – nearly four months after Harvey hit.
But even that deadline could pass into January if Democrats raise the stakes by blocking any spending legislation that does not resolve the legal status of socalled Dreamers, immigrants brought into the country illegally as minors.
Among those threatening a shutdown over the Dreamers is Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a top Democrat in the Senate, where Republicans might need Democratic votes to overcome a possible filibuster.
The White House and many congressional Republicans want to pair any legal status for Dreamers with border security enhancements, possibly including money for Trump’s long-promised wall.
Those concerns were heightened this week when Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi canceled a meeting with Trump after he taunted them on Twitter about their positions on immigration, crime and taxes, saying “I don’t see a deal!”
Seeking a separate bill
Some Republican strategists believe it might be hard for Democrats to vote against a major spending bill that contains disaster funding. But the Trump administration’s decision to cap the current aid package at $44 billion could make it easier.
“First of all, that $44 billion is nowhere near what our delegation on a bipartisan basis wants,” said U.S. Rep. Gene Green, a Houston Democrat. “Plus, I’d like to see the Dreamers dealt with … I’ve never voted for a government shutdown, but I’m not going to vote for a conglomeration of a package that does a lot of harm on other issues.”
Though Texas Republicans generally support the administration’s policy goals on immigration and spending, some also expressed frustration that the request for disaster aid has become caught up in year-end spending politics.
“The fact that it has gotten bogged down is very problematic,” said Friendswood Republican Randy Weber, whose coastal district was one of the hardest hit in the region. “It’s extremely concerning to me.”
In addition to setting 2018 spending levels, Congress also faces divisive year-end battles over tax cuts, increasing the debt limit, and the future of the Obama era Affordable Care Act.
“That is why I pressed very hard for a separate and independent vote on hurricane relief, because there’s no doubt that rolling it into an omnibus spending bill (for 2018) risks it being held hostage for other unrelated matters,” said U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
Cruz said he, Abbott and Cornyn have made the case to other Senate Republican leaders for a separate vote on disaster relief. “That position did not prevail,” he said.
Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said Thursday that he fears his dire prediction of a month ago might come true, with talk of spending negotiations possibly spilling in to early 2018.
“I’ve been concerned all along that following the terrible tragedy of Hurricane Harvey that memories would fade and people would get distracted and not follow through on their commitment to make sure that Texans were treated fairly,” he said. “We’ve had to fight and claw with everything we’ve gotten so far, and it’s been wholly inadequate.”
Lawmakers also have tangled over the administration’s request that the $44 billion in requested storm aid be offset by spending cuts in other parts of the budget — a condition that was not part of the aid packages for other major disasters like Hurricane Katrina and Super Storm Sandy.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, nodding to the “dissatisfaction” of lawmakers from disasterstricken areas in Texas, Florida, California and Puerto Rico, indicated Thursday that he wants to give them more time to draft legislation increasing the administration’s request.
“We have asked the appropriators to get together with these delegations to discuss the disaster supplemental (bill) and work with them,” he said. “We do anticipate moving as quickly as we can. But, we do know a few days is not going to do it.”
One of those working on the new appropriation is Houston Republican John Culberson, whose district was heavily hit by Harvey. Culberson said Thursday he can’t say what the final spending figure will be, other than to say “I’m trying to get the number where it needs to be.”
Texas ‘should step up’
He also said he hasn’t lost hope in a stand-alone bill for disaster relief, separate from the rest of the spending battles.
“Right now I’m pushing for and optimistic that it will be a stand-alone bill,” he said. “And I’m working to ensure that it is done before we leave town” for the holidays.
Texas already has received about $30 billion in federal aid for Harvey recovery. Congress approved more than $15 billion in emergency funding in September. That was followed by another tranche of about $36.5 billion in October for general disaster relief, about half of which was expected to benefit Texas.
In addition to the direct aid, Congress also passed a basket of special tax benefits designed to help storm victims recover. “We’ve seen bipartisan agreement, and I hope and believe we’ll continue to see bipartisan agreement,” Cruz said. “We’ve had significant success in doing so to this point, but it’s going to take continued work.”
Texas officials, meanwhile, have pushed up the damage estimate from Harvey to $180 billion, up from the original estimates of $150 billion. The latest official damage calculations show that nearly 307,000 Texas homes were affected, damaged or destroyed by Harvey. The damage to public property totaled more than $663.9 million.
With disaster funding stalled in Washington, Texas officials have publicly blasted the delay. Abbott, who earlier had accused the Texas delegation of getting “rolled” on disaster aid, also criticized the White House request for an additional $44 billion, calling it “completely inadequate.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders then ramped up the dispute, suggesting that Texas needed to pony up more state funds.
“Up until this point, Texas has not put any state dollars into this process,” she told reporters at a White House briefing. “We feel strongly that they should step up and play a role and work with the federal government in this process.”
Texas officials, who put more than $1 billion in state funds into Harvey recovery initiatives, said the White House has since walked back Sanders’ statements.
Although the state’s so-called Rainy Day Fund savings account contains more than $10 billion, the Legislature has to approve those transfers.
To avoid a special legislative session, Abbott is allowing agencies to spend down their current two-year budgets — which can be replenished by the Legislature from the savings account in 2019, for whatever is necessary above what federal disaster reimbursements cover.
Texas earlier got an agreement from federal officials to reimburse the state for 90 percent of its expenses, rather than the usual 75 percent, because of the extent of Harvey damage and the fact that Texas was hit by three weather emergencies — two hits by Harvey and then flooding from record rainfall.
Rethinking development
So far Texas has shelled out more than $437 million through various agencies, more than $100 million from a gubernatorial disaster fund, approximately $90 million for debris removal and related cleanup operations, and $400 million in school expenses.
In recent weeks, Abbott aides have said privately they are continuing to press for additional federal recovery funding for Texas — through they acknowledge that political fighting over the budget has hampered fast approval of additional funds.
Along with the sparring over disaster aid, some voices in Congress also have been raised over the need for sprawling regions like Houston to rethink how development is done to cut losses to the federal government from future storms and hurricanes.
U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, a top Republican on the House Transportation Committee, which approved legislation Thursday reforming the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), called for a new emphasis on disaster planning and flood mitigation.
“The federal dollars help tell the story,” he wrote in an essay in The Hill newspaper. “This year alone, more than 4.7 million Americans have registered for disaster aid so far … These are massive numbers that weigh heavily on an already strained federal budget. Yet, as the density of American communities continues to increase, so do those in the firing line of disasters. Population growth and suburban sprawl will continue, increasing the number of Americans exposed to potentially damaging storms.”
“That is why I pressed very hard for a separate and independent vote on hurricane relief, because there’s no doubt that rolling it into an omnibus spending bill risks it being held hostage.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas