The Senate passed a package combining hurricane relief, a three-month debt ceiling extension and three months of government funding Thursday, 80-17. This is the deal popular vote loser Donald Trump negotiated with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer the day before, a deal that enraged Republicans, but which they acquiesced to.
The bill doubles the funding in the stand alone hurricane relief bill the House passed Wednesday, and includes $22 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund. More than $15 billion of that is new money, added to the $6.7 billion that was included for FEMA in the continuing resolution that will fund the government through mid-December.
The bill goes back to the House, where Speaker Paul Ryan is going to be forced to rely on Pelosi and Democratic votes to get it passed, since his caucus is still steaming about the deal Trump cut with Democrats.
The leaders of the Republican Study Committee, an alliance of more than 150 conservative House members, panned the deal Thursday, even as Speaker Paul Ryan—who initially opposed it as well—praised Trump for seeking a bipartisan approach. The measure is expected to be attached to a bill that would send billions of dollars worth of disaster aid to Texas for its recovery from Hurricane Harvey.
"While some have advocated for a 'clean' debt limit increase, this would simply increase the borrowing authority of the government while irresponsibly ignoring the urgency of reforms," RSC chairman Mark Walker (R-N.C.) wrote in a letter to Ryan. "Worse yet is attaching the debt limit to legislation that continues the status quo or even worsens the trajectory on spending, such as the deal announced yesterday by the President and Congressional Leadership."
Add on top of the 150 RSC members the always disgruntled Freedom Caucus and Ryan is really going to have to have Democrats to get this done. Which is just going to make the maniacs more disgruntled with him. That reality gives Pelosi and the Democrats leverage in return if they play their cards right. Ryan needs them now, and he's going to need them again come December, when there's another vote on the debt ceiling and government funding. Between now and then, Democrats intend to secure a vote on the DREAM Act.