Rand Paul wants to fund Harvey relief with cuts to foreign aid - "America First"
Rand Paul wants Harvey relief and the debt ceiling bill split into 2 separate bills. Will also push ‘America First’ amendment, which would cover $7.85 billion Harvey relief aid by cutting foreign aid. https://bigleaguepolitics.com/rand-p...irst-amendment
Quote:
Rand Paul to Fight Linking Harvey Relief Funding and Debt Ceiling with ‘America First’ Amendment
Cassandra Fairbanks - Sep 6, 2017
On Wednesday, the House will be passing a clean funding bill for Harvey relief and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is planning to add an increase in the debt ceiling to the bill. A source has confirmed to Big League Politics that Senator Rand Paul will be fighting the effort.
Paul will be doing two things to throw a wrench in McConnell and Paul Ryan’s plans to marry the issues.
First, Paul plans to push for an ‘America First’ amendment which would cover the $7.85 billion Harvey relief funding through foreign aid cuts. In theory, the debt ceiling will still need to be raised soon, but not in conjunction with the FEMA relief funds if the money is offset with budget cuts.
“It’s a mistake to raise the debt ceiling without having some dramatic reform to our budget process,” Paul told Politico on Tuesday. “A $20 trillion debt is really our no. 1 security risk so to just keep raising the debt I think is a huge mistake.”
The senator added that “if you are simply adding to the debt to give people money I think it’s not really appropriate,” explaining that the costs should be offset from elsewhere.
Second, the Kentucky senator will be fighting for the debt ceiling and the Harvey bill to be split so that senate will have to vote on and debate the issues separately.
With FEMA saying that they will be out of funds by Friday, pressure is on for a funding bill to be passed quickly. By attaching the two issues, senators will be forced to either pass funding with the changes to the debt ceiling or be responsible for not providing aid money to the devastated areas in time.
Obviously, the disaster relief funding on its own has overwhelming bipartisan support and would easily pass, but Paul Ryan and McConnell appear to be determined to complicate things by adding the politically charged debt ceiling legislation to an otherwise easy vote.
Multiple members of the Freedom Caucus have also made it clear that they will be forced into not backing the package if it doesn’t include meaningful fiscal reforms.
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/rand-p...irst-amendment
Amendment Tabled... 87-10 vote
We all knew how this was going to go. :mad:
Great speech, though...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRxCy3r2CmQ
Quote:
Senate Tables Amendment Calling For Harvey Aid To Be Taken From Foreign Aid Fund
JULIE GRACE BRUFKE - Capitol Hill Reporter
1:10 PM 09/07/2017
The Senate voted to table an amendment aimed at paying for Hurricane Harvey relief using cuts to foreign aid in an
87-10 vote Thursday.
The “America First” amendment — introduced by GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — would have offset the House-passed $7.85 billion aid package while providing an additional $2.5 billion to be used for Harvey recovery efforts or preparation for Hurricane Irma.
Paul’s office noted that the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) latest information shows that roughly $20 billion in unobligated foreign aid is currently available, which the senator believes would be better spent on domestic emergencies.
“There have been people who argued that our $20 trillion debt is the number one threat to our national security. So what I am asking is: Why don’t we pay for this?” Paul said on the floor ahead of the vote. “Why don’t we simply take some money that we were going to spend someone else for something not as valuable in another country and why don’t we spend it here?”
The Senate is slated to take up the lower chamber’s Harvey relief legislation, where it will attach a continuing resolution to keep the government funded and language on a raising the debt ceiling to the bill before sending it back to the House.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/07/se...g-foreign-aid/
