The News
Outgoing US President Joe Biden has requested $98 billion in disaster relief money; now Capitol Hill needs to figure out what to do with it.
“I’d like to get it done. We hope the Republicans go along,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told Semafor.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, called the number a “good start” and said that the aid could potentially pass before the end of the year if attached to a “largely clean” extension of federal spending.
Still, there’s lot of variables for the House and the Senate to work out – namely, how to handle that funding. “It’s too early to say, but I am eager to move the disaster bill,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee.
Of course, it’s not yet clear what House Republicans will seek to pass.