Mnuchin: Congress should tie Harvey aid to debt limit bill
WASHINGTON — Congress needs to combine a $7.9 billion disaster relief package for Harvey with a contentious increase in the nation’s borrowing limit, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says, arguing it is needed to ensure storm victims in Texas get the help they need.
“The president and I believe that it should be tied to the Harvey funding,” Mnuchin said. “If Congress appropriates the money, but I don’t have the ability to borrow more money and pay for it, we’re not going to be able to get that money to the state. So, we need to put politics aside.”
House leaders later said they planned to vote Wednesday on a bill to deliver disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. The move announced Monday would replenish a rapidly depleting disaster aid fund even as another storm, Hurricane Irma, churns out in the Atlantic.
The vote would come as a stand-alone measure, and not be tied to the contentious issue of increasing the nation’s borrowing limit. The Senate has not said when or how it will vote on Harvey aid.