Yesterday, the House of Representatives made another attempt at a ?unanimous consent? to approve a disaster relief bill (HR2157) which passed the Senate, last Thursday, with bipartisan support and an amendment. However, the House is adjourned for the Memorial Day Recess and hardly any members are in town for a vote on the $19.1 billion-dollar package.
The Pro-Forma session started with Representative Sanford Bishop (D-GA 2nd) asking for a unanimous consent vote for HR2157 and the attached Senate amendment.
Support for passage was given by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD 5th). Hoyer stated millions of people have been affected by natural disasters.
The action was then immediately objected to by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY 4th). Massie said a bill of this importance should have been voted on before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi adjourned the house for a ten-day recess.
The bill is supposed to provide disaster relief funding to victims of Hurricane Michael, which hit Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas last October. It also had funding to support flooding on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. This would include flooding on the Missouri river from this spring. There was also wildfire relief for California, tornado relief for the Delta states, and more.
The Senate amendment also included grain stored in bins. This was something which hadn?t been considered before. Many bins burst due to the flooding. Bins which contained grain already sold at a contract, but not yet delivered. Prior to this, disaster relief usually focused on commodities still in the fields.
The bill has not been without some political intrigue. President Trump was wanting to use the bill as a vehicle to get more border security funding. It took persuasion from Senators David Perdue (R-GA) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) to get the President to drop his push for border security riders. However, this decision didn?t sit well with some politicians. Some still called for the funding to be a part of the disaster bill. In fact, this was part of the argument made by Representative Chip Roy (R-TX 21st). It was Roy who blocked the first attempt at a unanimous consent passage, last Friday.
Of course, opponents of Roy’s move question how one can call a spending bill “fiscally irresponsible” in one breath and complain there needs to be $4 billion dollars more in the next.
Puerto Rico also figured into the debate. Senate Democrats blocked the passage of an earlier disaster bill because it did not have enough funding for Puerto Rico. This drew the ire of Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley earlier this month.
Senator Grassley has repeatedly called for partisanship to be put aside in passing disaster assistance. He has stated this is a non-partisan issue. However, it has become a very partisan issue. Grassley questioned how many of his colleagues could come to Iowa, in good conscience, to campaign for Presidential primary votes after they had voted down disaster aid to the state.
Both sides of the aisle are accusing each other of political grandstanding at the expense of the American people. Democrats are claiming Republicans have no intention to help people affected by natural disasters. Republicans have countered Democrats are trying to pass too big of a bill while the House is on recess, and Speaker Pelosi should have made this a priority before adjourning. There is more effort being made to turn this into a 2020 campaign issue than there is to get a bill done. As it stands, the House will not return from their recess until June 4th. This means there is a very good chance the bill will have no chance of passage before then.
What does this mean for the people affected by these natural disasters? It means more waiting. For those who suffered through Hurricane Michael, it has now been 236 days since the storm made landfall. It?s been more than two months since the flooding began in Nebraska and Iowa. Thanks to more rain and earlier damage, we are starting to see the beginning of another flood event. California residents are still waiting for assistance from 2018?s wildfires. Meanwhile, we have had widespread tornado activity through the Midwest, Plains, and Great Lakes regions. People are needing help to get back on their feet, but Politicians seem more worried about who you will vote for in 2020, and if they can turn this to their advantage.
