Trump seeks $7.85 billion for Harvey relief, warns on debt ceiling

 

U.S. first lady Melania Trump and Vice President Mike Pence stand by U.S. President Donald Trump as he holds up FEMA map of damage assessment in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has asked Congress for an initial $7.85 billion for Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts, the White House budget director said on Friday, adding that failure to raise the budget ceiling may hinder disaster relief spending.

 

In a letter to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said the request included $7.4 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund and $450 million for the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program.

 

"This request is a down-payment on the president's commitment to help affected states recover from the storm, and future requests will address longer-term rebuilding needs," Mulvaney said.

 

Trump had been expected to request $5.95 billion for the recovery effort after Harvey flooded areas of Houston and other parts of Texas.

 

The White House has said that it would make multiple requests for aid from Congress to fund the Harvey recovery effort. White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert told reporters on Thursday aid funding requests would come in stages as more became known about the impact of the storm.

 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said that his state may need more than $125 billion.

 

Bossert said the Trump administration wanted Congress to pass the disaster relief measure on its own and not add it to other measures, such as the effort to raise the debt ceiling.

 

The U.S. government has a statutory limit on how much money it can borrow to cover the budget deficit that results from Washington spending more than it collects in taxes. Only Congress can raise that limit.

 

Mulvaney urged Congress to act "expeditiously to ensure that the debt ceiling does not affect these critical response and recovery efforts."

 

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran said in a statement that his panel "will move swiftly to consider requests for relief funding as it receives them.”

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-09-02

Excellent news.

 

Use the budget where it is truly needed.

 

Less money for some pie in the sky "wall".

A wall that will never happen.

Probably a blessing for Trump now he can say there is no money left for a wall.

It will be interesting what the illustrious junior Senator from Texas has to say about this.

I seem to recall he was rather vocal in his opposition to federal funds for Hurricane Sandy relief!

Just a small disaster compared to India and Bangladesh, but shitloads of money is available for usa only :-(  No news coverage in usa of this big disaster
america first of course.... Not 1 satang of my money is going to usa!!!

 

Off-topic post reported and removed.  

Oh, look!

 

They gave me a chart! Let me show it to you.

 

Whatta simpleton...

11 minutes ago, iReason said:

Oh, look!

 

They gave me a chart! Let me show it to you.

 

Whatta simpleton...

And Melania is waiting to get the chart because she told Donald she would put it on the fridge, just like they used to do with Bannon's homework.

 

4 hours ago, JulesMad said:

Just a small disaster compared to India and Bangladesh, but shitloads of money is available for usa only :-(  No news coverage in usa of this big disaster
america first of course.... Not 1 satang of my money is going to usa!!!

 

Sorry, it is not a small disaster. It's the largest flooding disaster in U.S. history. 

8 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

It will be interesting what the illustrious junior Senator from Texas has to say about this.

I seem to recall he was rather vocal in his opposition to federal funds for Hurricane Sandy relief!

Yes but you have to understand, this is a totally different situation. That

was NJ, and NYC, this is Texas. Totally different. Send the 125 billion starter amount that he wants.

Edited September 2, 20178 yr by Ulic

7 hours ago, Ulic said:

Yes but you have to understand, this is a totally different situation. That

was NJ, and NYC, this is Texas. Totally different. Send the 125 billion starter amount that he wants.

Sometimes you just gotta roll your eyes at the perfidy of politicians.

I often chuckle when I hear the expression 'conviction politician'. Trouble is that 'conviction seems to be capable of turning on a dime if it suits them!

Maybe Trump was actually telling the truth, for once .......Lying Ted seems appropriate

12 hours ago, JulesMad said:

Just a small disaster compared to India and Bangladesh, but shitloads of money is available for usa only :-(  No news coverage in usa of this big disaster
america first of course.... Not 1 satang of my money is going to usa!!!

 

You know, you're right, send your money to Bangledesh.   We don't need it.

 

 

16 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

It will be interesting what the illustrious junior Senator from Texas has to say about this.

I seem to recall he was rather vocal in his opposition to federal funds for Hurricane Sandy relief!

You're being unfair to Ted. The other senator from Texas opposed it as well. As did virtually all the republicans in the Texas congressional delegation. Because in their mind, all citizens of the USA deserve help in the face of disaster. Provided that they live in Texas.

1 minute ago, ilostmypassword said:

 

 

You're being unfair to Ted. The other senator from Texas opposed it as well. As did virtually all the republicans in the Texas congressional delegation. Because in their mind, all citizens of the USA deserve help in the face of disaster. Provided that they live in Texas.

Good Point LOL