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US-POLITICS-DISASTER-BUDGET
US Congress sends huge disaster relief bill to Trump
WASHINGTON, June 4, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The US Congress overcame months of
delays to finally pass a $19.1 billion relief package Monday to help victims
of flooding, wildfires and hurricanes that have devastated communities from
Puerto Rico to California.
The House of Representatives, back in session after a week-long break,
easily passed the measure and sent it to President Donald Trump, who is
expected to sign it into law.
The package will fund infrastructure development, rural community
assistance, and disaster damage mitigation in the US island territory of
Puerto Rico and states such as California, Florida, North and South Carolina,
Iowa and Texas.
It also provides some $3 billion to farmers who lost crops due to natural
disasters.
The lopsided vote of 354 to 58 belied the months of dispute over disaster
relief.
Trump himself weighed in last month to express criticism about the amount
of funding earmarked for Puerto Rico.
But after a deal was struck between Republican and Democratic leaders, the
White House signalled Trump was willing to sign the measure — even though it
did not include $4.5 billion that Trump and other Republicans wanted for
border security, including for construction of a wall along the US border
with Mexico.
The disaster relief cleared the Senate last month. House Democratic leaders
had hoped to push it through by consent, without a recorded vote, before the
break, but Republicans objected to the manuever on three separate occasions.
“I am pleased that we have finally rejected the political stunts &
grandstanding that have made it difficult to deliver much-needed relief to
Americans struck by recent natural disasters,” House Appropriations Committee
chairwoman Nita Lowey said.
Despite billions of federal dollars already allocated to Puerto Rico, the
island is still reeling from two hurricanes which hit in quick succession in
2017, killing 3,000 people and devastating the island’s infrastructure.
Senator Richard Shelby, the Republican who helped shepherd the bill through
the Senate, said the measure took “longer than I’ve ever heard” to pass.
“A lot of people waited too long” for relief, he said. “I don’t think it
was our best show.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/0834 hrs