AMERICA IS Under Siege

[crazy horse 0]

Disaster aid becomes hostage to funding fight


A massive disaster aid package is getting caught up in a broader political fight on Capitol Hill over spending, immigration and other contentious issues.

The stalled relief money may wind up in the next round of government funding, as the issue is quickly being overtaken by a race to prevent a shutdown and automatic across-the-board spending cuts.

Senate Democrats are holding up the disaster aid because they say it doesn’t provide enough relief to hurricane-ravaged places like Puerto Rico. They are seeking changes to the legislation before allowing it to move forward.

But some Republicans have reacted angrily to the move, accusing Democratic senators of blocking the disaster bill so that they can have more leverage in the spending talks.

“Why do Senate Ds slow walk disaster relief (for Puerto Rico, Florida, Texas and the West) plus defense needs in order to force a DACA deal?” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Friday in a tweet, referring to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which Trump is ending.

Democrats are seeking protections for people enrolled in DACA, a program that has allowed some undocumented immigrants to live and work in the United States.

Cornyn said lawmakers “are negotiating in good faith on DACA and will beat the deadline if Ds do so as well; no need to abandon USG's other responsibilities.”

The impasse in the Senate comes after House members from Florida and Texas demanded that Congress tackle the disaster funding before the end of 2017.

Right before leaving town for the holidays, the House passed a mammoth $81 billion relief bill — nearly double the White House’s request — aimed at helping communities impacted by recent hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as wildfires in California.

The package includes nearly $28 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), more than $26 billion in community block grants and more than $12 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Congress has already approved more than $50 billion in disaster aid since September to help areas affected by hurricanes and wildfires. If the latest $81 billion package is enacted, it would bring the total amount spent on helping people affected by natural disasters to more than $130 billion.

House GOP leadership was forced to pass the relief money as a stand-alone bill, rather than part of last month’s continuing resolution (CR), after some conservatives balked at spending $81 billion without offsets.

But Senate GOP leadership punted the recovery aid into 2018, leaving the bill to languish as leaders scramble to hash out a deal to fund the government past Jan. 19 and raise federal spending caps.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) signaled the disaster money has been folded into the larger spending talks, urging leadership to secure a “global” agreement that addresses several outstanding issues, including the relief funding.

"We said we want to come to an agreement and a quick agreement, but it has got to be fair, and it has got to be involving the things we think are important, as well as the things they think are important,” Schumer told reporters, referring to a meeting between congressional leadership and top White House officials.

Democrats argue they were left out of the loop on the disaster aid bill by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans.

Schumer said the House-passed bill didn’t do enough to help states ravaged by fires, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/367694-disaster-aid-becomes-hostage-to-funding-fight