House defeats Republican spending planBy the CNN Wire Staff
updated 7:49 PM EST, Wed September 21, 2011
Washington (CNN) -- In a major blow to the Republican leadership, the U.S. House on Wednesday defeated a temporary spending measure that would have required spending cuts to offset additional money for federal disaster relief efforts.
The vote was 195-230, with 48 Republicans joining all but a handful of minority Democrats in opposing the short-term spending plan that would keep the government funded for seven weeks after the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
After the result, House Republican leaders met in Speaker John Boehner's office to decide if they would revise the measure and hold another vote on Thursday. Options under consideration included removing or changing the spending offsets opposed by Democrats, or reducing the total amount of spending to appease conservative Republicans.
At issue was a short-term bill to fund government agencies through November 18 that would allocate fewer resources to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers for disaster response than the Democratic-led Senate approved last week.
Additional funds are needed because of recent major floods from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee along the East Coast, and wildfires in Texas that required emergency responses exceeding the amount the agencies have left in their coffers to support recovery and rebuilding efforts.
The House measure included a total of $3.6 billion in disaster relief money -- $1 billion in emergency funds available when the bill is enacted and another $2.6 billion to be budgeted for those federal response agencies for the 2012 fiscal year that begins October 1.
In addition, House Republican leaders are insisting that the $1 billion in immediate disaster funding be offset with $1.5 billion in cuts to a loan program that helps automakers retool their operations to make more fuel-efficient cars.
Democrats objected to cutting spending for disaster funding, calling it unprecedented and politicizing emergency relief for Americans. Conservative Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, argued that the nation's expanding deficits require as much spending restraint as possible.
I wonder where old Teaflopper Perry sits with his ********* buddies after moaning, groaning, whining, begging, and crying to the Federal government to help out his "pull themselves up by the bootstraps- we don't need any steeenking US federal government" all hat/all big talk Texicans out :???: :roll:
He was one of the top Teabaggers calling for cutting out disaster payments and/or doing totally away with FEMA (and/or telling folks we don't need any Federal government)...
But that was when the "UNION of the United States" was helping out other states hit by little disasters like floods and hurricanes-- and before these "joke socalled independent Teabaggers" butt got put on the line with drought and wildfires (drought that is predicted for at least anouther year- and with wildfires that will only get much worse under his leadership without intervention)..... :wink:
:lol: :lol:
