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Legislators have approved the granting of disaster relief funds to communities like Reno, in the state of Okla., Which was affected by tornadoes last week.
Sue Ogrocki / AP
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Sue Ogrocki / AP
Legislators have approved the granting of disaster relief funds to communities like Reno, in the state of Okla., Which was affected by tornadoes last week.
Sue Ogrocki / AP
Updated at 7:10 pm ET
The House approved a disaster relief program of $ 19.1 billion, despite earlier objections by Republicans.
The legislation has been approved 354-58. All those who opposed it were Republicans. The Senate has already passed the bill by an overwhelming majority and is heading to the president's office for signature.
President Trump said he supported the measure, even though it did not include money at the border, he urged Congress to add. He said that he would continue to press for this under separate legislation.
With Trump's signature, the bill would help speed up relief funds for communities affected by tornadoes, forest fires, volcanoes, drought, floods and other disasters. It also includes funds for Puerto Rico, which is still rebuilding after the hurricanes of 2017 that devastated important parts of the island.
The bipartisan leaders had anticipated a quick action by the House on the bill during the Memorial Day break because the legislators had already returned home. But three times, Republicans in the House have blocked it. In three separate attempts to pass the bill by unanimous consent, representatives Chip Roy, R-Texas; Thomas Massie, R-Ky .; and John Rose, R-Tenn., is opposed to approving a funding program of this size without the presence of the entire House to vote.
Other Republicans in the House rejected the spending bill because it did not include extra money for the agencies responsible for managing migrants on the US border with Mexico. Senate negotiators deliberately excluded this funding from the bill in order to make the bill less controversial among Democrats.
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