Congress has responded to the recent onslaught of hurricanes and wildfires with more than $50 billion in disaster aid and more is on the way, reversing years of Republican resistance against unfettered federal spending.
House lawmakers on Thursday easily passed a $36.9 billion supplemental spending package to help with the recovery efforts in states ravaged by three hurricanes, as well as western states burned by devastating wildfires. The spending measure more than doubles a $15.3 billion disaster aid bill Congress cleared on Sept. 7 and came with a pledge by lawmakers in both parties that they will provide even larger funding packages in the near future to help the affected states and territories recover.
None of the funding approved so far is offset with cuts or revenue increases, which means it will add to the nation’s $440 billion deficit.
The latest measure includes a $4.9 billion loan to the nearly insolvent Puerto Rico government that will likely never be repaid, lawmakers acknowledge.
All of it passed with Republican majorities, the same majorities that just a few years ago voted against big spending measures for states needing help recovering from natural disasters.
What changed?
“Partly, the shoe is on the other foot,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee.
In 2013, when 179 Republicans opposed a $50 billion measure for states damaged by Superstorm Sandy, a Democrat was president and the money was headed to blue, East Coast states. This time, 164 Republicans voted in favor of the spending bill. President Trump is in the White House, and most of the impacted places are in Texas and Florida, which are filled with Republican voters.
“That actually creates a great deal of empathy,” Cole said. “And people look back on [Sandy] and no matter what they say, they know that was not a good debate to have for the country. That was not the appropriate way for us to have acted.”
Cole also cited “a greater trust” the GOP has in Trump and the GOP administration, and strong leadership on the issue in both the House and Senate.
“Everybody here has behaved better,” Cole said.
But fiscal conservatives want lawmakers to start finding offsets.
“The magnitude of the disasters is stunning, and Heritage Action is supportive of emergency spending that truly fits the criteria of emergency,” said Dan Holler, a spokesman for the conservative Heritage Action. “However, we are rapidly moving towards recovery and rebuilding, which by definition are no longer emergencies in a budgetary sense. As the line blurs, we need more lawmakers to step up and demand those efforts be carried out in a physically responsible manner.”
The latest supplemental spending package has drawn criticism from taxpayer advocates.
Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said the package “is a rush to open up the nation’s piggy bank” without needed reforms.
The bill bails out the nation’s insolvent flood insurance program, canceling out $16 billion of its $25 billion debt. But it does not include any provisions authored this year by the House Financial Services Committee to reform the program.
Panel Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, attempted to add a provision to the $15.3 billion disaster aid package that would have opened the government-run flood insurance program to potentially cost-saving privatization.
But Republican leaders stripped it from the bill due to bipartisan opposition.
“Canceling the debt doesn’t help anyone at flood risk, and it certainly doesn’t help taxpayers,” Ellis told the Washington Examiner. “Adding insult to fiscal injury, it doesn’t make a single reform to this troubled program that even before these storms was $25 billion in the hole.”
Republicans are now faced with whether to find offsets for the next round of spending requests, which are coming as early as this month.
Texas wants $18.7 billion more for help recovering from Hurricane Harvey, which caused extensive flooding.
Florida lawmakers are asking for $27 billion to rebuild counties damaged by Hurricane Irma.
In Puerto Rico, government officials say it will cost $95 billion to rebuild the island, a U.S. territory flattened by Irma and Hurricane Maria.
Budget Committee Chairman Diane Black, R-Tenn., said the House must consider establishing a “rainy day fund” to deal with natural disasters.
“I do think there has got to be a decision made on how you set aside money … rather than the way we do it right now,” Black said. “There is always a concern about overspending. Obviously, we continue to do that, or we wouldn’t have trillions of dollars in debt.”
