Why senators opposed hurricane aid
Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake joined 15 other Republicans to vote against the $15.25 billion hurricane relief and debtlimit package negotiated by President Donald Trump and Democratic House and Senate leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
But McCain and Flake, both Arizona Republicans, objected not to the emergency funding for the Hurricane Harvey recovery in Texas and Louisiana or raising the debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on debt.
Rather, they objected to the inclusion of yet another continuing resolution: the temporary stopgap spending legislation required to keep the government operating in the absence of a federal budget.
The senators said they are fed up with Congress’ reliance on what McCain called “a mechanism of last resort” rather than passing normal appropriations bills in regular order for U.S. departments and agencies, a process that gives lawmakers oversight of their activities and allows adjustments for current and emerging needs and challenges.
The continuing resolution and debt limit included in the hurricane-relief package, which Trump signed into law on Friday, were both short term, extending fiscal year 2018 funding only and the debt limit only through Dec. 8. That means Congress will have to revisit those issues in three months.
“Attaching emergency funding for hurricane relief to a must-pass CR and debt-limit increase is irresponsible and a dereliction of our most routine duties,”
McCain said Thursday in a Senate floor speech. “It is a result of yet another selfinflicted crisis. Instead of returning to regular order by moving individual spending bills to fund our government and our national-security priorities, with ample time for debate and amendment, we are shirking our responsibilities and kicking the can down the road.”
McCain’s sentiments were echoed Friday by Flake and Sen. Joni Ernst, RIowa, in interviews with The Arizona Republic.
Ernst, who also voted against the hurricane package because of the continuing resolution, was in Phoenix to headline two events for Flake’s 2018 re-election campaign, including a “Women for Flake” breakfast at the Arizona Biltmore resort.
“We just can’t govern by CR forever,” said Flake, who has called for “structural” spending reform. “The Harvey spending wasn’t the issue. It was the CR.”
Ernst, a conservative first elected to the Senate in 2014 and who is considered a GOP rising star, said the idea of funneling the three separate issues — the hurricane relief, the debt-limit increase and the continuing resolution — into a single, must-pass package is “just Washington, D.C., as usual” and that Americans are getting sick of such behavior.
“My point has always been, OK, we want to keep the government up and operating, but for heaven’s sake, are we going to keep doing these CRs forever? That’s not regular order, and that’s not doing our taxpayers any sort of service,” Ernst said. “... Let’s be serious about getting our budget done, getting our appropriations bills passed.”
Despite the opposition from McCain, Flake and Ernst, the Senate on Thursday voted 80-17 to pass the measure, which Trump agreed to in discussions with Schumer, the Senate minority leader from New York, and Pelosi, the House minority leader from California.
House GOP and Senate leaders had misgivings but went along with Trump’s plan. The House of Representatives on Friday voted 316-90 to pass it.
Among Arizona’s House delegation, the bill was supported by Democratic Reps. Ruben Gallego, Raúl Grijalva, Tom O’Halleran and Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Rep. Martha McSally.
Republican Reps. Andy Biggs, Trent Franks, Paul Gosar and David Schweikert opposed it. But Arizona’s most conservative contingent in the House were restrained about Trump’s dealmaking with Democratic leaders, even as they voted against it Friday.
U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, for example, wrote off Trump’s actions as an effort to secure aid for Houston. “He made this deal that gave him a sure way forward on that,” Franks told Fox Business ahead of the Friday vote.
He also repeated his long-standing complaint about the Senate’s filibuster rules, lamenting the need for Democratic support to pass something in that chamber.
U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar acknowledged in an interview with KTAR-FM (92.3) that Trump “threw a curveball high and tight and brushed back the batters on home plate.”
But Gosar also dismissed ideas of the current deals as a means to securing future Democratic help on more vital issues as “wishful thinking.” Still, he didn’t condemn Trump’s approach outright and shared on social media a story that Republicans need to continue backing Trump or face political defeat.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday in a written statement that, “The President appreciates Congress putting aside partisan politics and acting quickly to ensure that first responders, local officials, and Federal emergency management personnel have the resources they need to respond to the natural disasters impacting our Nation.”
Republic reporter Ronald J. Hansen contributed to this article.
Nowicki is The Arizona Republic’s national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter, @dannowicki.