After pledging to donate $1 million of his self-reported $10 billion net worth, and with Republicans looking to slash disaster relief in order to fund part of the border wall project, Donald Trump’s latest attempt to fund the Hurricane Harvey recovery may affect debt ceiling negotiations. According to Bloomberg, an initial disaster relief bill may include a request for an increase to the debt limit. The relief package of $5.95 billion would give $5.5 billion to FEMA, and nearly $500 million to the Small Business Administration, while covering costs for the next month as the financial year draws to a close.
The administration hopes that joining the two issues will lead to a easier passage of a debt limit increase when those discussions begin in earnest, thereby avoiding a government shutdown. However, the Freedom Caucus — the extremely conservative arm of the House Republicans — apparently do not want Harvey aid connected to the debt ceiling.
“The Harvey relief would pass on its own, and to use that as a vehicle to get people to vote for a debt ceiling is not appropriate,” Freedom Caucus leader and North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows said. “That sends all the wrong message: ‘Let’s go ahead and increase the debt ceiling, and by the way, while we’re doing it let’s go ahead and spend another $15, $20 billion?’ That’s not to undercut the importance of Harvey relief. We’re going to fund Harvey relief without a doubt, but I think it just sends the wrong message when you start attaching it to the debt ceiling.”
So far, over 300,000 have applied to emergency aid and over 100,000 houses are thought to have been affected by Harvey. Both Homeland Security and sources in Congress claim it’s within the realm of possibility that the eventual relief package could be more expensive than the $120 billion appropriated for Katrina and Rita in 2005. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that spending on Harvey aid could move up the debt ceiling deadline: “[A]t the end of the day, I just want it raised.”
(Via Bloomberg & Washington Post)