Republicans and Democrats appear to agree on the main issue at hand: The need to replenish funds for communities recovering from disasters.
But they disagree on whether to allocate funds toward certain programs at agencies like the Department of Education — creating hurdles for what would otherwise be easily agreed-upon legislation.
“It needs to be a very robust package. We understand that. We agree with that,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters last week.
“Where we have some disagreement at this point is some of the programmatic … adds the administration wants and there’s some things we think they left out that they ought to consider,” he said.
Asked what he would like to see in the package, Cole said “more infrastructure, less programmatic money.”
However, he added that he hopes lawmakers will be able to come up with bill text by the first week in December, with a package passing by the end of the year.
“I think it would be a good way to end this year — is to get out of here with … a disaster relief bill attached to a CR,” he said, referring to a continuing resolution (CR), a stopgap funding measure that would prevent a government shutdown.
Major storms in recent months, including hurricanes Helene and Milton, have depleted the nation’s Disaster Relief Fund, which pays for response to and recovery from major disasters.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell told lawmakers this week that the fund has dwindled to less than $5 billion. That’s down from $11 billion in October.
If the fund runs out entirely, the U.S. will still be able to respond to immediate emergencies, but it will not be able to pay for longer-term recovery projects.
This would hurt efforts to rebuild infrastructure in places like Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas in the wake of the recent hurricanes, as well as Hawaii, which is still recovering from last year’s wildfires.
This week, the White House put forward a $98 billion proposal to replenish the nation’s disaster aid — jump-starting negotiations on Capitol Hill.
“It’s very clear that we need to have a disaster relief package. Whether $98 billion is the right number or not I don’t know. There’s some provisions that I have questions about,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
But the GOP took issue with the specifics.
“I think we need to scrub it and make sure we don’t have extraneous things in there for education. … I think some of it will fall out,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), top Republican on the Senate subcommittee that crafts annual funding for the Education Department.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said he would want to add tax cuts to the legislation.
Read more at TheHill.com.
