iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The House will vote Wednesday to approve nearly $8 billion in Hurricane Harvey relief funds, days after President Trump requested $7.85 billion from Congress in immediate supplemental aid.
The bulk of the funds would replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief coffers. An additional $450 million would help finance disaster loans to small businesses through the Small Business Association.
The bill, the first of several installments in hurricane aid that Congress will consider, is expected to pass overwhelmingly in the House. It will then head to the Senate, where GOP leaders are planning to tie the funding to a controversial must-pass measure to raise the debt ceiling to avoid a U.S. government default.
House conservatives have been critical of tying the two measures to each other and voting on the debt ceiling without corresponding spending cuts.
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