House Passes Revamped Disaster Relief Package Despite Trump Eruptions

House Passes Revamped Disaster Relief Package Despite Trump Eruptions

House Democrats pushed through another multibillion-dollar disaster aid offer Friday — a vote that will be in vain if they can’t strike a deal that defuses President Donald Trump’s hostility toward funneling more money to Puerto Rico.

In the legislative scheme of things, the passage vote is a negligible step given that there is no bipartisan accord yet. But the president raised the political stakes in the hours leading up to the roll call, warning House Republicans to fall in line with his opposition to the Democratic plan to send more than $19 billion in rebuilding assistance to communities hit by hurricanes, extreme flooding, tornadoes and wildfires.

GOP lawmakers “should not vote for the BAD DEMOCRAT” aid package, Trump urged in a Twitter missive Thursday night, following up in a midnight proclamation that “Republicans must stick together!”

While 150 Republicans voted against the bill, 34 voted in support. A number of Republicans who backed the aid package represent states recovering from hurricanes and flooding, like Florida, Texas, Georgia and Nebraska.

The measure passed 257-150, allowing House Democrats to formally stake their latest negotiating position, four months after passing their first disaster aid offer in January.

That initial bill has languished in the Senate amid failed test votes and pushback from the president, who has chimed in during the intervening months with insults against Puerto Rican officials and an insistence that the federal government has already given the U.S. territory more than enough money to rebuild from the Category 5 hurricanes that hit the island in 2017.