Information about the vote from special interest groups and other information providers in our Report Cards:
FreedomWorks
On the Motion: $36.5 Billion of Disaster Relief Funding Without Spending Offsets.
No one disagrees with the need for assistance for areas recently impacted by disasters. Nevertheless, the concern with the Additional Supplement Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act is that Congress is spending $36.5 billion without any spending offsets. Sadly, some, like Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), are demanding more money, attempting to extort additional funds by blocking a conservative nominee. Currently, the national debt is $20.4 trillion. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the projected budget deficit for FY 2017 and FY 2018 is $804 billion and $855 billion, respectively. Congress is only a few years away from the $1+ trillion deficits that Republicans frequently and rightly criticized under President Barack Obama. Long-term budget projections are even more ominous. Unfortunately, Congress continues to kick the can down the road, avoiding difficult decisions.
National Taxpayers Union
s2017-248.
s2017-248.
NAACP
EMERGENCY DISASTER APPROPRIATIONS.
Motion to concur, or agree, to the House proposal to make $36.5 billion available in emergency supplemental funding to partially cover the costs of responding to multiple natural disasters, including hurricanes and wildfires. Specifically the bill contained almost $5 billion in disaster relief loans to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and would release $1.2 billion in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food stamps) monies to Puerto Rico. The bill was agreed to.
The John Birch Society
Disaster Relief.
This bill (H.R. 2266) would make available $36.5 billion in emergency supplemental funding for fiscal 2018 to partially cover the costs of responding to multiple natural disasters, including hurricanes and wildfires. It would include $18.7 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund and would cancel $16 billion of the Treasury debt incurred by FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program.
The Senate agreed to pass H.R. 2266. This group did not support this legislation because federal involvement in natural disaster relief is not only unconstitutional, but also wasteful, inefficient, ineffective, and often harmful, as The New American has pointed out numerous times. Federal intervention into natural disaster recovery efforts typically makes matters worse for those who are afflicted by the disaster, as federal bureaucrats are often ill-informed of the needs of those affected and attempt to take control of relief efforts away from state and local organizations that better understand the situation. Disaster relief is much better handled by states, counties, and local communities, coupled with volunteer efforts from across the country. As it stands now, most disaster relief work is already done by private entities.
The Club for Growth
Passage of a bill to provide $36.5 billion for disaster relief and cancel $16 billion of flood insurance debt.
Passage of a bill to provide $36.5 billion for disaster relief and cancel $16 billion of flood insurance debt.