House heads toward passage of Harvey aid bill, debt hike

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative grumbling aside, the House is heading toward backing a $15.3 billion disaster aid package President Donald Trump and Democrats have linked to a temporary increase in America's borrowing authority and keeping the government funded through December.

The House vote today would send the massive package to Trump for his signature, replenishing rapidly dwindling emergency accounts as Florida braces for the impact of Hurricane Irma this weekend and Texas picks up the pieces after the devastation of the Harvey storm.

The must-do legislation, backed 80-17 by the Senate on Thursday, would provide money to fund government agencies through Dec. 8, eliminating the threat of a shutdown when the new fiscal year starts Oct. 1. Republicans cast all 17 no votes.

Trump stunned Republicans by cutting a deal with Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi to increase the debt limit for three months, rather than the long-term approach preferred by the GOP. Voting on the debt limit is politically toxic for Republicans, and the deal will make the GOP vote twice ahead of next year's midterm elections.

Fiscal conservatives have clamored for deep cuts in spending in exchange for any increase in the government's borrowing authority. The storm relief measure had widespread support, but the linkage with the debt ceiling left many Republicans frustrated.

"It's like the Washington that Trump campaigned against," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. "So, as much as I want to help Texas, I can't vote for something that just is a blank check on the debt."

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, a former tea party congressman from South Carolina who took a hard line against debt increases during his years in the House, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin planned to travel to the Capitol today to sell the measure to skeptical rank-and-file Republicans.