Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), the chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee, on Monday warned Republican leaders against tying disaster relief funding for Hurricane Harvey to legislation raising the debt ceiling.
“What happened in Texas is a tragedy and it needs an urgent Congressional response. Congress is united behind this effort, but I worry about jeopardizing an agreement with such legislative games,” Walker said in a statement responding to comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday urging Congress to tie Harvey aid to the debt limit hike.
“As we have stated for months, the debt ceiling should be paired with significant fiscal and structural reforms. The alarming trajectory of our debt imperils all supplemental appropriations for dealing with disasters like Harvey in the future,” Walker added in his statement. “If we resort to just kicking the can down the road on the debt, it only shows that Republicans do not take the problem of our $20 trillion debt seriously.”
Republicans in the House have introduced an initial Harvey aid bill providing $7.85 billion, but it’s not clear leaders are willing to tie the funding bill to legislation to raise the debt limit. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, has also rejected calls to tie Harvey Funding to the debt limit hike.
