US Congress feuds on disaster aid

Lawmakers seemed torn between eagerness to avert a stalemate sure to batter the already unpopular Congress's reputation, and efforts to pump up core party voters with the race to the November 2012 election heating up.

With the cash-strapped Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) just days from running out of money, the rift threatened efforts to help communities devastated by Hurricane Irene, Texas wildfires, and other disasters.

The Republican-led House of Representatives narrowly passed its version of a so-called “continuing resolution” or “CR” to keep the U.S. government operating to Nov. 18 in a vote held after midnight (0400 GMT).

But leaders of the Democrat-held Senate have vowed to kill the measure, chiefly over Republican insistence on paying for US$3.65 billion in disaster aid with about US$1.6 billion in cuts to clean energy programs.

“We're fed up with this,” the number-two Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin, told reporters on Thursday, accusing Republicans of taking the “outrageous” view that “you have to kill jobs in America to pay for disasters.”

“They know what it takes for us to extend this CR and keep the government in business. And this brinksmanship ... we're sick of it, we're tired of it, the American people are sick of it too,” said Durbin.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called for nearly US$7 billion in disaster aid, including an immediate injection of more than half a billion dollars.

The proposal from House Republicans includes US$1 billion for the fiscal year that runs to October 1, when non-essential government operations may shut down because Congress has not approved annual spending bills.

“There's no threat of government shutdown. Let's just get this out there,” Republican House Speaker John Boehner said hours before the vote.

On Wednesday, the speaker suffered an embarrassing reversal when 48 Republicans seeking deeper spending cuts joined an overwhelming majority of Democrats opposed to Boehner's cuts to reject his bill.

Republican leaders appeared to have brought their flock back in line by altering the bill to cut US$100 million from a program that provided a loan to Solyndra, a bankrupt solar-panel firm with ties to the White House.

But with the Senate set to reject the plan, it was unclear how lawmakers would be able to leave Washington for a week as they were scheduled to do on Friday.

“The Senate is ready to stay in Washington next week to do the work the American people expect us to do, and I hope the House Republican leadership will do the same,” said Reid.

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