Members of the conservative Republican Study Committee are warning that they will not support a House bill expected to be passed on Wednesday to provide initial relief funding for Tropical Storm Harvey does not include language to raise the debt ceiling, the legislative tool used to allow the federal government to borrow more money.
“What happened in Texas is a tragedy and it needs an urgent Congressional response,” Rep. Mark Walker, chairman of the committee, said in a statement released on Monday.
“Congress is united behind this effort, but I worry about jeopardizing an agreement with such legislative games,” Walker said. “Our obligation is to assist those impacted by this great flood, but it’s past time the swamp waters in DC begin receding as well.”
Walker said lawmakers can be “both compassionate and fiscally responsible.”
“These two principles are not at odds,” Walker said.
“As we have stated for months, the debt ceiling should be paired with significant fiscal and structural reforms,” Walker said. “The alarming trajectory of our debt imperils all supplemental appropriations for dealing with disasters like Harvey in the future.
“If we resort to just kicking the can down the road on the debt, it only shows that Republicans do not take the problem of our $20 trillion debt seriously,” Walker said. “Republicans passed spending reforms with Barack Obama as president.”
“We have no excuse why we can’t do it now with Republican leadership,” Walker said.
Walker’s statement is at odds with what Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday.
“The president and I believe that it should be tied to the Harvey funding. Our first priority is to make sure that the state gets money,” Mnuchin said. “It is critical, and to do that, we need to make sure we raise the debt limit.”
“The House Appropriations Committee released a $7.85 billion bill Sunday, which includes $7.4 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and $450 million to to support the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program,” CBS reported.
“Congress must raise the debt ceiling by Sept. 28 to prevent a default on the nation’s debt and pass a government spending package to prevent a shutdown by Sept. 30,” CBS reported.
In the House, however, conservatives seem to be standing firm on a clean Harvey bill, even if after the Senate has its hand in crafting it, it could come back as Harvey/debt ceiling legislation.
“Republican leaders for now are bowing to the demands of their most conservative members and won’t combine legislation raising the U.S. debt ceiling with Harvey aid, a House Republican aide said Monday,” and Bloomberg Government reported.
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