Andrew Desiderio, Punchbowl News:
Yes, look, Speaker Mike Johnson has said that that’s a possibility. He also floated the idea, for what it’s worth, of attaching it to a raising of the debt ceiling, which I will just plant the marker right now, is highly unlikely.
That will not work. It will not happen. That is not the vehicle for it, in other words.
I do think that Russ Vought, who is Trump’s nominee for OMB director — this is the office that controls all of this aid that goes out, both domestic and foreign, by the way. He’s going to get questions about this at his confirmation hearing on the Hill this week.
And I will say too that Senate Republicans, who we just talked to earlier this evening on the Hill, made very clear that they’re not really comfortable with this idea either, including, and especially, I should say, people like Senator Rick Scott from the state of Florida, for example, who deals with these natural disasters on a yearly basis, Senator Thom Tillis, who just successfully pushed for a major disaster relief package for his home state of North Carolina, due to, of course, the hurricanes that ravaged the western part of his state as well.
So we’re seeing these Republicans who have traditionally supported disaster aid without conditions when and where it’s needed come out and say, hey, that’s not a good idea.
And I will note too, the filibuster still exists in the Senate, and Democrats will not vote for disaster aid that has conditions on it, especially in the manner in which some congressional Republicans and President Trump might be suggesting.
