Hurricane relief bill set to pass House as aid funds nearly gone

Bloomberg

The House is set to pass $7.4 billion for a federal disaster-relief fund two days before it’s set to run out as Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida and bills mount for a storm that flooded tens of thousands of houses in Texas.
Senate Republican leaders want to use the Federal Emergency Management Agency funding measure to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling past the November 2018 elections, and possibly add a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open after October 1. The House would then have to give final approval— a move that would roil that chamber’s most conservative members.
“These are the president’s immediate priorities: Pass disaster relief. Prevent a default. Fund the government,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said. “They are my immediate priorities as well. I’m sure colleagues feel the same. We have to get all three of these things done, and we have to do it very quickly.”
The initial bill before the House, HR 3672, would only include funds for FEMA and additional money for the Small Business Administration—aimed at helping victims of Hurricane Harvey, which devastated Houston and other parts of the Gulf coast — despite a suggestion by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to include a debt-ceiling increase to prevent a US default.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California told the House will vote on a combined Harvey aid-debt limit combination bill if the Senate sends it over. Still, a GOP aide who asked for anonymity said President Trump may need to personally appeal to Republicans to get the bill passed.