BURSTSens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) threatened Thursday to vote against any government funding package that doesn’t include disaster relief for the victims of hurricanes Helene and Milton, which ravaged their states.
The GOP lawmakers issued their warning after President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance called on Congress to pass a clean stopgap funding measure paired with language to raise the debt limit.
Trump and Vance, however, voiced support for providing support for farmers and disaster relief in the year-end funding package.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) would face a wave of Republican defections if he attempts to move a funding package without relief for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and other states hit by natural disasters.
“We need disaster relief in the tens of billions of dollars,” said Tillis, who asserted that the $100 billion in disaster relief included in the continuing resolution unveiled this week would be insufficient to repair the damage caused by the storms.
“I don’t think $10 billion or $20 billion and a promise we’ll do something more in March is an acceptable solution,” he said. “We know what the need is today, it was negotiated in the package, and it needs to be in a package to get my support to get out of here.”
Graham called disaster relief “essential to South Carolina,” emphasizing that the damage inflicted by the storms surpassed that of Hurricane Hugo, an infamous storm in 1989.
“I cannot tell you the level of destruction that’s hit South Carolina,” he said, noting that Trump has committed to include disaster relief in any deal to fund the government.
“Disaster relief is an absolute must to get my vote and my support,” Graham said.
The South Carolina lawmaker said he’s urging colleagues to knock extra funding provisions out of the continuing resolution and pass a relatively “clean” stopgap paired with disaster relief.
The senators made their comments as House Republican leaders were gathered in Johnson’s office to hash out a plan B to avoid a government shutdown Saturday.
Republican sources told The Hill that Johnson plans to hold a vote that will fund the government until March 14 that would include $100 billion in disaster relief and $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers.
Republicans have decided to remove language to give members of Congress a pay raise and a provision to allow the year-round sale of gasoline with a higher ethanol blend known as E15.