Gop Again Blocks $19 Billion Disaster Aid Bill in House

March 24, 2022 Post a Comment

Disaster aid bill again blocked in Firm by GOP conservative

A second bourgeois House Republican has blocked a $19 billion disaster assist pecker in the chamber, refusing to give unanimous consent that would transport the long-awaited measure to President Donald Trump's desk

WASHINGTON -- A second conservative Republican on Tuesday blocked another try to pass a long-overdue $19 billion disaster assist bill, delaying again a top priority for some of President Donald Trump's nigh loyal allies on Capitol Loma.

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said that if Democratic leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi thought the measure was so of import, they should take kept the Business firm in session in Washington late last week to slate an upward-or-down roll call vote.

"If the speaker of this House thought that this was must-laissez passer legislation, the speaker ... should have chosen a vote on this neb earlier sending every member of Congress on recess for ten days," Massie said as he blocked the measure.

"You can't accept bills passed in Congress with nobody voting on them," Massie said. "That is the definition of the swamp, and that's what people resent about this place."

Massie's movement earned swift rebukes from top Democrats. Sanford Bishop of Georgia said that his agricultural district was but 1 function of the land suffering from hurricane damage and that aid won't arrive until well later the commencement of planting flavor. "Many will non be able to institute this yr," Bishop said. Hurricane Michael struck Georgia in the centre of last fall'southward harvest season.

Another conservative, Texas freshman GOP Rep. Scrap Roy, had blocked an earlier effort Friday to laissez passer the measure under fast-rail rules, simply Democrats tried again Tuesday. Bishop flew to Washington from Georgia to request the Business firm laissez passer the popular measure under fast-track procedures that permitted any individual lawmakers to block the bill.

Rep. Austin Scott, a Republican from Georgia, criticized his GOP colleagues for holding up the disaster beak, calling them "clowns" in a tweet.

Eventual passage of the nib, supported by Trump and meridian leaders in Congress, is a foregone conclusion. Trying again on Tuesday was a political freebie for Democrats, who went on the attack right later the vote.

"I cannot understand why any fellow member would object to giving relief to then many millions of our citizens who take been desperately damaged by natural disasters," said No. 2 House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Hoyer said the bill "will be passed overwhelmingly" when the House returns.

One concern of many House Republicans was a motility by House Democrats concluding week to dump overboard Trump's request for $4.5 billion to address the crisis of Fundamental American refugees at the southern border.

Trump is a supporter of the measure, which swept through the Senate on Th in a rush to exit Washington for Memorial 24-hour interval. Many Republicans, including southerners facing reelection, are frustrated that the bill has taken so long. After being denied his border coin in a fight with House Democrats, Trump still embraced the bill, which directs much of its assistance to political strongholds of his such as the Florida Panhandle and rural Georgia and N Carolina.

Passing legislation without any objection from anyone is frequently trickier to do in the House than the Senate, however.

"I just recollect a unanimous consent, voice vote, on the way out the door — there'south always, out of 535 (members of Congress), there's always a few who recollect maybe that's not advisable," said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., a conservative who presided over a momentslong pro forma session of the Senate on Tuesday.

Cramer, who moved over to the Senate this year after spending three terms in the House GOP majority, also pointed out that the final disaster bill "actually took out some of the things that the House conservatives wanted," such equally billions of dollars to care for the influx of migrants seeking asylum afterwards crossing the southern edge.

In that location are also newer additions to the measure to help Midwestern areas suffering from springtime floods, forth with big chunks of coin to rebuild military bases such as Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida that were damaged past a cord of disasters dating to terminal autumn'southward hurricane flavour. The mensurate ordinarily would have passed months ago, but Trump injected himself into the debate, demanding that funding sought past Puerto Rico's elected officials, Republicans and Democrats both, be kept out.

Democrats held house in enervating that Puerto Rico, a territory whose 3 meg people are U.Southward. citizens, be helped by the measure. Their confidence was articulate from the outset, and GOP resolve on Puerto Rico, never particularly stiff to begin with, steadily faded as the impasse dragged on. The bill at present contains more coin for Puerto Rico, nigh $ane.4 billion, than Democrats originally sought.

Roy said last week that lawmakers ought to become on record either way on the legislation, which is amidst the few meaning bills to go far through the organisation despite the intense partisanship dominating Washington.

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This story has been corrected to bear witness the North Dakota senator'south name is Kevin Cramer, not Ken Cramer.