Deal over disaster aid?

Deal over disaster aid in flux as recess fast approaches

By MARIANNE LEVINE

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed that the Senate would vote on a disaster aid bill before it leaves Washington for a weeklong recess.

But with negotiations still in flux, it’s not clear what the Senate will be voting on.

The stalled aid package, which provides $17 billion in much-needed aid for communities hit by natural disasters, has faced several setbacks — including over President Donald Trump’s reluctance to provide more money to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. More recently, talks stalled over a White House request for more border funding.

House Democrats sent an offer Wednesday night to Republicans, according to a Democratic aide.

“Not sure if it will get us there or not, but our offer does bring us closer together,” the aide said.

A Senate Republican aide said that staff is still working to reach an agreement and that the holdup is not funding disaster relief but over immigration provisions.

Aides have cited the White House request for funds to help ease the humanitarian crisis at the Southern border and Democratic conditions for asylum as among those provisions.

“We are hopeful we can get there, but we still have difficult issues to resolve,” the aide said.

In the absence of a deal, some raised the possibility that McConnell could bring up disaster aid legislation to the floor that failed in April over Trump’s insistence that Puerto Rico receive less funds. One Republican Senator said that while that was not the “preferred option,” it would at least show that the Senate was trying.

The clock is ticking on disaster aid, with the House scheduled to leave Thursday. Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) raised the prospect this week that the Senate could stay until Friday to get disaster aid done.

Failure to reach a deal would be an embarrassment for Congress, which once viewed disaster aid negotiations as routine. Democratic and Republican lawmakers have already complained that Congress has not done enough legislatively, including Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) who lambasted both houses on Wednesday for doing “nada. Zero. Zilch.”