House GOP to advance $1bilion disaster aid package

— Republicans controlling the House began advancing a $1 billion aid package on Tuesday to make sure that disaster relief accounts don’t run dry after massive flooding along the Mississippi River and devastating tornadoes in Missouri and Alabama.

The House Appropriations Committee approved the disaster aid cash along with two spending bills, one funding the Homeland Security Department and the other veterans programs.

The debate over disaster relief highlighted the challenge facing Republicans, who have made clear they intend to cut billions in federal spending yet are under pressure to respond to the extraordinary wave of disasters that has hit the South and Midwest this spring. Republicans vow that additional disaster aid must be funded by cuts to other programs.

At the same time, GOP leaders are demanding trillions of dollars in longer-term spending cuts as the price of raising the government’s so-called debt limit so that it can continue to borrow to meet its obligations — and avoid a market-rattling, first-ever default on U.S. bonds. Vice President Joe Biden came to the Capitol for another negotiating round with lawmakers.

Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., said the additional disaster aid money would make sure that there’s enough emergency money for victims of tornadoes in Joplin, Mo., and Alabama and for those suffering from flooding in the Mississippi Basin. Also targeted for the aid: ongoing rebuilding efforts for past disasters like hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Gustav and the massive Tennessee floods of last spring.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees disaster relief efforts, has plenty of disaster recovery money for immediate needs like food, debris cleanup and temporary shelter. But Aderholt said that this summer FEMA may have to delay grants to cities and counties for rebuilding public infrastructure like schools and sewer systems.

Such infrastructure grants were withheld for six months last year until the backlog was addressed with a $5.1 billion supplemental appropriation. The government is rapidly burning through a $1 billion infusion of disaster relief money approved last month, and a longer-term shortfall of $3 billion or more remains.

“Under the best-case scenario, the disaster relief fund will essentially run dry before the end of the year. That means sometime in mid- to late summer, FEMA will have to freeze its recovery operations and only fund what they call ‘immediate need,”’ Aderholt said. “That means recovery, rebuilding and general assistance will stop ... I cannot allow that to happen.”

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