The White House is expected to ask Congress for nearly $13 billion in Hurricane Harvey emergency relief funding as early as Friday evening, the New York Times reports.
The White House is hoping an initial round of funding will be approved next week after Congress returns from recess. The funding would include $5.5 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency; $400 million would go to other agencies, including the Small Business Administration. The remaining $6.7 billion in emergency relief funding would be added to a stopgap funding bill to raise the debt ceiling.
Some Republicans, including Representative Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina), have spoken out against linking a relief bill worth billions to legislation that would raise the debt ceiling. “The Harvey relief would pass on its own, and to use that as a vehicle to get people to vote for a debt ceiling is not appropriate,” Meadows told the Washington Post. “That sends all the wrong message: ‘Let’s go ahead and increase the debt ceiling, and by the way, while we’re doing it let’s go ahead and spend another $15, $20 billion?'”
