September 27, 2016 | No Comments
Lawmakers are weighing a plan to strip Louisiana disaster aid money from a stalled stopgap spending bill, a move that could resolve Democratic objections to the legislation — and stave off a government shutdown at the end of the week.
Democrats voted Tuesday to reject the stopgap spending measure — which would keep the government open until Dec. 9 — because the package provides money for Louisiana but does nothing to address the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Without some Democratic support, a stopgap spending bill cannot advance in the Senate.
Eager to avoid a fiscal crisis so close to the presidential election, Senate Republicans might drop the money for natural disasters, which Democrats say is not their preference but is something they might be able to accept.
“If Louisiana were not in there, it would reduce the profile of disaster aid in this bill. And that would be helpful,” said Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin.
“There’s still really deep felt feelings by our Michigan senators and many others that this is just fundamentally unfair to the victims in flint and we don’t trust the House to help at all,” Durbin added.
Later, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested he was open to the idea. “We keep hearing that their position is no flint, no floods” the Kentucky Republican said. “That’s certainly an option worth discussing.”
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer also said Democrats wanted assistance for victims in both communities, but that they would likely back a so-called continuing resolution that included aid for neither. “I doubt that we would turn that down,” he told reporters. Hoyer said Democrats would insist the legislation still contain $1.1 billion to combat the Zika virus, which has long been stalled on Capitol Hill.
Asked how committed Republicans are to the natural disaster aid, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn demurred.
“It’s important to a number of states, including my state,” the Texas Republican said, ahead of the Tuesday afternoon vote on cutting off debate on the package. “That’s what the bill has in it now, and we’ll see how the Democrats vote.” Cornyn said he was optimistic Congress would avoid a shutdown.
Heather Caygle contributed to this story.