House Disaster Aid Bill: Fill & Download for Free

Why is the House GOP blocking $19 billion in disaster aid?$19.1 Billion Disaster Aid Bill Stalled After Republican Blocks House VoteTexas House Republican Rep. Chip Roy blocked an attempt to pass the $19.1 billion disaster aid bill by unanimous consent, likely stalling passage of the legislation until Congress returns in June.The Senate approved the measure Thursday 85-8 and House Democrats had hoped to rush the legislation through in a special session on Friday, skipping the regular voting process because lawmakers had already left town to begin a week long Memorial Day recess. The procedural vote required the consent of every House member, and Roy did not approve.The Texas Republican objected to the bill because it "spends $19 billion of taxpayer money without members of Congress being present in our nation's Capitol to vote on it." He also said the package should include money for the Department of Homeland Security to address immigration issues at the southwest border.Democrats expect to have enough votes to pass the legislation when Congress returns on June 3, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the intervention a "last-minute sabotage" of the bipartisan bill.$19.1 Billion Disaster Aid Bill Stalled After Republican Blocks House Vote

The Constitution is clear. Any bill, including a bill to reverse a previous one, can’t become law if the president vetoes it, unless you could get super majorities (two-thirds in each chamber) to overturn the veto.And it’s quite certain that either President Trump or President Pence (should Trump be impeached and removed) would veto any attempt to reverse this tax bill.Sounds like very bad news for the Democrats; on the other hand, it might indirectly be the best thing that ever happened to them. Consider:The public is opposed to this bill by very large margins.This motivates this big majority to get out and vote Democratic in the next few elections.Moreover, people who favor Democrats maybe now have learned their lesson: if they want a Democratic government, they have to get off their butts and vote in every election, including local ones and “off-year” (non-presidential) elections.Now, having said that, here are the calculations on the Republican side. The middle-class people most negatively affected include people in California and New York, because of loss of ability to deduct the state income tax. But due to Gerrymandering and the Electoral College, the Republicans have already written off these states and feel they can control the federal government without ever getting another vote from either Cal. or NY.(Who cares that so many millions of people live in one of these states; according to many Republicans, aren’t “real Americans.”)The wild card is the national debt. Republicans, gambling on the boldest, rosiest predictions of “supply side” say that they will grow their way out of it. But this didn’t happen for Reagan, who concluded he had to raise taxes.Trump himself admits we need a big influx of money to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, and finally Republicans see the need to greatly boost disaster aid.So how popular will this tax bill be, when the bottom 90% see that there’s no money left to pay for anything, so the top 1% could get most of the benefits?Stay tuned…

Because it was loaded up with all sorts of things that had nothing to do with disaster relief.I tend not to support this sort of quixotic stand, since it really doesn’t accomplish anything.But he is not wrong that spending bills intended for one purpose should not be loaded up with other things.This is not new, it has been going on for decades. It is still wrong.